Another Week

They seem to go whooshing by lately. We got home last Sunday evening from the New England Regional Cook Off. We didn't cook, but did help out in the judging area. It was a two day event this year, and let me tell you, we were pretty darn wiped by the time it was over. It's a different kind of tired, not so much physical, since you are not hauling all the "stuff" around. It's more mental, but it's tired just the same. We grabbed a pizza on the way through town and just did a quick, simple dinner.

The rest of the week was rather quiet. It rained most of the week, so no outdoor work got done. Saturday, I started cleaning out the pond, getting the dead leaves and gunk out of the bottom. It needs to get pulled out every year, or the pump and filter get too clogged up. I also got the reed trimmed back. They survive quite nicely in the pond over the winter, but the dead, dried stalks from last year do need to be trimmed out to make room for this year's growth. And it looks like there is only one fish left in there now. We had a great blue heron in the yard several days, and it looks like he got most of the fish. Darn bird! We've had that pond in the yard for many, many years and not a single heron until this year. I'm not adding any more fish until I can get floating cover plants in there. Most places around here won't start selling those for a few weeks yet.

Yesterday, we did a lot of yard work. I got the bed around the aspen at the driveway cleared out of the miscellaneous growth that springs up, so that the vinca I am trying to encourage has more room to grow. I put the big stone mushroom I bought last year out there, and I got three glow in the dark smaller mushrooms at Christmas Tree Shoppe and those went in there, too. We'll see how "glow" they are tonight. I also trimmed in the front foundation bed. A lot of the crap that Kleber cleaned out for us last year is sprouting again, because we just couldn't get all the stumps and roots out. So I trimmed it back again and pulled more roots, hoping that if I keep that up, eventually it will die. Five of the six mums I planted last year survived the winter, and are leafing out nicely. I will add more this year to fill the front edge. The dwarf burning bush, echinacea, and lilies are also coming back nicely. I need to get a couple azaleas in the back, and fill in the rest with flowers, mostly perennials. And I want to add some bulbs in the fall for Spring color.

And then we started clearing brush for the new fencing. We are going to try to really keep the chickens in our yard this year, so we are putting up five foot plastic mesh fence across the back. That should be high enough to keep them from flying over. Chickens can fly, but not that well. I will anchor the bottom as well so they can't slip under. The front part will eventually be split bamboo, which will look much nicer. We decided on the mesh for the back so that it doesn't interfere with what little view we have out that way. And the BaldMan mowed the lawn, which sorely needed it after all that rain this week.

Now we need to cut his meat for the coming weekend's Doc Dowling Memorial cook off, and get all the rest of the chili stuff sorted and reloaded for the season. This is the first cooking competition this year. The BaldMan is the cook this season. I'm not cooking this year. I decided to take the season off and get some other things done with the time I'd spend on cook off prep. I will be back next year, however!

On to another week. I hope it's a good one, for all of us!