The First Step In My Master Plan

For two years, Rick and I have debated - trees or fence, fence or trees. Our hedgerow has grown completely out of control and I'm tired of trimming the mess without the reward of a well-trimmed hedge. It's more like a well-trimmed mess. So again, the debate ensued. On the quest for a few herbs my favorite nursery didn't have in, I stumbled across the deal of a lifetime at Lucas Nursery. When Rick got back in town, I told him the good news. After checking it out himself, he agreed. Trees it is!! We decided that the goal would be the first weekend in June for install. We spent the weekend before cutting down the existing treeline. After getting out what we could, we asked Geoff to come over and dig up the tree trunks. Yep, our headgerow had full-sized scrub trees in it. Digging them out by the roots was the only way to stop future growth. We attempted it ourselves with Rick's truck. However, we weren't willing to risk the damage to his 12 year Ford or deal with the exucriating labor involved. It took Geoff a total of 2 hours to dig everything up. Saturday, June 6th, we got up at 10am and started the installation of the 43 Arborvitae trees. Believe it or not, we were done by 7pm that day with one tree leftover.

Memorial Vacation Fun!!

Our Memorial Day weekend was a reunion of sorts. Rick was out of the country for the full week prior and I left for Colorado 3 days preceeding his departure for the best seminar I've been to in a while. Ninja Selling. (More to follow later). SweetPea was in the safe hands of Grandma & Grandpa Sadler for 4 days. As soon as we all arrived home, we immediately turned around to head out for our scheduled backpacking trip. I was dealing with a cold and Rick was dealing with severe jet lag after having been awake for over 27 hours. With the latter issues, we decided a nice primative campsite, some fishing, some reading and a canoe trip was a much better fit. SweetPea loves Hobo Dinners. Look at how cute she is. This makes it very hard to resist from feeding her off my plate.

Rick got a full day of sunshine, some great river fly fishing and cigar smoking time in. SweetPea and I curled up with a few good books. I finished 3 books that day. The best vacation time ever.
Afterwards we decided to go to a local fishery to feed the fish. I love how the fish are so excited to see you and just can't wait for you to throw them a pellet or two. I must admit, it's not cheap to feed the fish. Honestly $15 for admittance and pellets is absurd. If I could remember to pack SweetPea enough food we could sneak in and get our thrills for free but I'm never on top of it that much. Luckily I remembered her food at all with the preliminary circumstances to the trip.

The next day was just as beautiful. Warm, sunny with a nice cool breeze. Rick and I woke up and decided to spend it on the Au Sable canoeing. This was SweetPea's second trip. She is not a big fan of water. I have made sure she knows how to swim "just in case". Each time we take her out she gets a little braver than the last time. This round she sat on my lap the whole time. She was pretty alert the first half and then she got sleepy. I had to tuck her into my sweatshirt because her little naked belly was starting to burn.
Day three of our time off was spent exploring the gardens of the MSU campus. They have some great display gardens. The most inspiring part of the gardens is seeing all the students digging and taking notes as they plant the horizons. I got some great ideas and notes of specimens I want in my own landscape. I can't think of a better way to spend my vacation!

Earth Day the Book Club Way!

My Earth Day weekend celebration started out by volunteering at Hidden Lake Gardens. Just a simple Botanical Metal Clay class to start with on Saturday. I now know that making jewerly is probably not going to get high marks on my list of things to do. I found it very interesting to go through the process but I doubt I would do it all over again.

Sunday I rode my bike to the gym to test how long it would take. It was a little scary to install the bike rack on my car. Rick would be proud though. Then the remainder of the day was spent picking Garlic Mustard and Dame's Rocket in Miller Woods park with my gal pals. Ladies - thanks for braving the yucky weather to make an impact on the world. You rock!!

Worms Eat My Trash

Finally after over 4 months of waiting, my composting worm class arrived. Sarah Archer was a great teacher and very euthiastic. The class was an hour and a half long with loads of information. I could barely write quick enough. Just think - your standard colored storage bin, some wet shredded paper and a few red worms creates the best compost!! I now possess the knowledge to create bins for others. Let me know if you're interest in one of your own. I can hook you up. Afterall, this is the best way to protect your identity - let worms eat your trash!!

I Live

I know, I know. It's been a while.

I swear I have been "anti-computer". I believe mostly because I am itching for spring. I stare out the window and can't get out of work quick enough. By the time I get all my chores done the sun is setting and I missed another day. I can't wait for a full putzin' weekend.....May 15th and counting. A FULL weekend of hanging around the house putzing. This will entail the planting of my veggie garden too. Can't wait.