fresh air overdose
May 07, 2006,

What a full day Sunday turned out to be!

I got up early-ish (5:45) and jumped right into the shower, as I knew Spouse intended to go out, once he got up. Then Raji and I headed out for a long and winding walk, cutting through the park and enjoying all the loveliness of a perfect spring morning. Birds, flowers, sunshine, and fresh cool breezes�what�s not to love?. I�m working on improving my deep breathing, and so I practiced that periodically during our walk. I felt pretty good by the time we wound up our 45-minute trek.

Once we got home, I brewed a pot of coffee, and puttered a bit outside, watering my hanging baskets and disinfecting Raj�s scoop. Spouse popped out of bed about two hours earlier than I expected him to, and joined me in the backyard for a cup of coffee before he headed to the showers.

Once we were ready to head out, he decided he was hungry so we went to the diner for breakfast. I was in the mood for one of their lovely, puffy omelets anyway. We bumped into a friend and chatted for a while, had a great breakfast, and then headed to Lowe�s to check out building supplies for our flowerbed project. I picked out a deep red wall block called �Castlewall�, and Spouse did some calculations as to the number of blocks and timbers he would need. That stop was just recon, as Spouse has a helper and a truck lined up for next week, when he goes to actually buy it.

We headed out to Antioch, again, to the Wal-Mart, so I could get the flowers & dirt for my big pots, and pick up some groceries we needed. Then back to town, and a stop at Stein�s because Spouse has decided we need to put in some shrubs along the back fence line. He let me pick�we went with a Korean Lilac called �Miss Kim�, which will grow to about 6-8 feet, and something called a maple shrub.
I fell in love with it when I saw it, and Spouse humored me.

So I humored him when he fell head over heels for the most gorgeous New Zealand Impatiens either of us had ever seen. A big hanging basket that was utterly decadent in its voluptuous tropical lushness. And it was on sale!

We had to get the lilac first, run home and unload our groceries and the 160 pounds of soil, and all the plants--
Then we switched cars and headed back to Stein�s for the larger maple shrub. It fit better into the Cruiser than it would in the Grand Prix. And we had to go back to Lowe�s, again, to get another iron pot-hanger hook for his new basket.

And then�just one more stop. At the pool dealer. He bought this. So if the excavator�s ever come, and the installers ever come, and I ever actually get my pool?
It will be a lighted one!

Once we finally got home, I slipped out of my shoes, into a pair of shorts, and donned my gardening regalia�a straw sun hat, my sunglasses, and a good pair of gloves. And headed to the backyard to bygolly garden.

I dug out my big pots and gave them a good scrubbing, and then proceeded to get planting. Learning from last year�s miscalculations, I placed smaller plastic pots, inverted, inside the planters before I filled them. That acted to displace a lot of potting soil, enabling me to buy less, and make the pot lighter for moving around. Then I added the dirt, and (again basing it on last year�s miscalculations) I went with just a spike and about 5 petunia plants. No sense condemning innocent Dusty Millers to death again this year. The green planters on the ends got petunias in a lovely mulberry-color edged with white. The beige pot in the middle got a lovely fresh pink. They look a bit puny at the moment, but I know from experience that they will take off and fill in soon enough.

Spouse mowed and trimmed the yard, we got the new shrubs planted, we out up the new hook & basket, and gave everything a good watering. Then?

We sat down in our new chairs, in the shade from our new umbrella, had a drink (Him beer, me wine. Yes. Me. Wine.) and enjoyed the dickens out of our backyard, and our sense of accomplishment. Then we ate hot dogs off the grill with potato salad and coleslaw, and went to bed early because we were utterly pooped.