Stones

Sticks and stones can break my bones--especially at this age!  The first thing I heard when I turned on the TV this morning was weathermen everywhere excited about the heat.  Not me.  I did have a few yard chores that I wanted to get done today so I decided I'd best put those at the top of the list.

Hardest chore was digging and pulling up this shrub in the front garden area.  The builder planted four and I've never liked them.  They grow fast and get bushy. Pretty much take over the area, and while blue flowers sometimes blossom on them for a short period of time, mostly they're just a magnet for tons of moths. I'm forever pruning them back and I wanted one of them gone.

I went to a nearby sand and gravel business and bought ten red stones. Less than a dollar a piece. I placed half a dozen where the bush was so I can walk through to the side gate and faucet. Took the other four and made a makeshift step for the back porch. I'll have to make a better one another day as it's still not that handy to walk down.  Better than jumping, however, and I gave up jumping years ago.

The bush showing in the foreground is like the one I yanked out. I had to cut part of the roots as they wound under the stone wall where I couldn't get at them.  I did a little weeding, transplanted some flowers from backyard pots to the front, then dumped  a wheelbarrow full of weeds in the scotch broom vacant lot a block away.  I was exhausted after all that.

Came in to take a shower and swallow a couple of iboprofen.  Made a pitcher of lemonade and now I'm gonna sit here and rest.  Need to start working on alumni newsletter articles, and if I get my second wind, I'll iron a few pieces and work on my quilt.  Both of those tasks are iffy, though. 

I think I'm gonna have to sign up for ancestry.com again.  Maybe just a month's subscription as the year one is kinda expensive.  I wrote on my Leader blog about George and Frances Hopkins selling my grandpa two lots back in the 20's (according to a deed).  Now I find out from Dotti and David Hopkins (she's here in PA and he's in Portland) that they don't know who George and Frances are.  Their folks' names are different.  I do love a mystery.

Today would have been the birthday of two of my aunts--Elva and Lorraine.  And the death day of a third aunt--Velna.  I always thought that was real unusual.

Here's another progression photo of the grass I planted in the backyard. The clover next to it sure looks greener.  Well, this is boring, even to me so I'll quit here.