The Monkey On My Back....

Time to tackle it head on......

I have mentioned in previous posts that I was married before.  My late husband passed away 7 years ago due to complications from Cancer.  Well, 5 years ago my current husband and I moved into our new home.  And that's where this story begins.....

5 years ago my goal was to move into our current home before that Christmas.  I wanted to spend THAT Christmas in our new home.  Well, it was a tight deadline, we moved in just before Christmas.  All of the stuff from the old house that we didn't need in our new house was piled in the basement.  Along with my late husbands belongings and tons of photo albums.  For years this "mess" has tortured me and every time I thought I was going to tackle the clean up I would get overwhelmed and bury my head back in the sand.  Well, this summer I had had enough of burying my head in the sand.  It was time to tackle that "mess" head on and clean it up.  3 days it took me to sort through most of the stuff, store my late husband's belongings in a safe place and clean up.....wow, what a space I have created!

I also mentioned in previous posts that I am working on losing weight.  Well, I finally have a work out area again.  In the old house I had a spare room turned into a work out room, I missed that convenience.  When I finally made up my mind to tackle the "mess" I discussed turning the area into a work out area with my husband.  I told him "it's my reward after all the work is done, so if I don't finish my project we don't turn it into a work out area".  I needed him to know I was not getting my reward if I didn't complete the task so I had myself and him to keep me accountable.  

There is still work to be done, boxes of MY old clothes to go through, most of which I will probably just donate to charity.  Today I am throwing a chicken in the oven to roast while I tackle more clean up.  This project is much easier than what I tackled a month or so ago.  This clean up is to stack what we're saving or what needs to be sorted through ie: our junk drawer stuff that contains everything from nuts and bolts to string and odd parts from whatever they used to belong to......  The purpose of this next clean up is to make my son a nice play area beside my lovely work out area!  I picked up a bowling set at a flea market for $2, an old fashioned heavy one, one that was made sturdy and built to last, not like the flimsy disposable stuff you buy now days.  My plan is to make him a nice bowling lane with his foam mats.  It feels good to have turned a space that has tortured me for years into a fun play area for him and for me.

I considered taking "before" pictures but decided I didn't need a reminder of what the basement used to look like.  That is burned in  my memory and I hope to forget it some day.  This clean up was about moving forward, getting organized and facing what needed to be thrown out.  Here is an after photo but before my second attack at organizing it into a smaller area and making an area for my son to play while I'm exercising:

And this is after another afternoon of organizing....

I'm about 80% finished with the sorting, the boxes of clothing turned out not to be as easy as I thought.  I assumed most of it would go to charity but it appears most of it may be stuff I'd want to keep....so that means going through my dresser, cleaning that out to make room for the others......It's a big project but I'm glad I've got a good start on it.  I wish I had done this years ago but you cannot turn back time.  I had to get the courage to tackle the memories and I did it and it feels great!

'til next time!

Over The Hedge....Revisited....

Tonight as I am rushing to get our lawn mowed before the next rain starts, and as I blow the grass clippings into piles...I thought about the post I made regarding our new hedge.  It concerned me that I may have made the wrong impression.

The hedge is #1 - landscaping for our property  #2 - defines our property line....and why is this so important you ask?  Here's the MAIN reason why we planted a hedge - the WEEDMAN!  I have made phone calls to their office asking them, no begging them, to  please stop spraying our property.  We had Haskap Berry bushes planted well on our property and a Bleeding Heart plant given to me by my Great Aunt both died suspiciously, previously I had watched where the spray was being applied and requested they not apply it to our property. We have since requested they NOT spray our boxwood but their response to that was "the herbicide won't kill them"....um, okay...time will tell.  When I phoned about our dead Haskap and Bleeding Heart they said "it's not supposed to kill other plants but sometimes it does happen...."  How the heck does a herbicide know if it's a Dandelion or a Haskap?  Also, a very important reason we want to keep the Weedman off our property is the fact that we feed our grass clippings to our animals.  We DO NOT want to be feeding our animals grass containing herbicide!  And yet another important reason is our crops we have planted.  We have Rhubarb and a Strawberry bed not far from where the Haskap plants perished.  My Vegetable garden is on the back corner of our property, quite a distance from where they were spraying but on a windy day I don't know how far that spray will travel.  So, as you can see there were many factors involved in deciding to add a hedge to the landscape of our property.  

It's not a neighbourhood feud like it may have sounded in my last post.  I don't want to sound like someone airing her troubles on her blog.  We are still friendly neighbours, we just have different views on what our properties are for.  He loves his weedless lawn, I love my weeds and grass that grow tall enough to harvest for feeding my animals.  We both have a right to do whatever it is we wish to do with our own property.  That being said I would like to see the herbicide end at the property line.  Now, at least the Weedman will stay on the other side of the hedge!

The seeds are sprouting!

Well, I have already admitted I'm addicted to purchasing transplants.  Today I added a Lime Green Sweet Pepper plant and a Yellow Sweet Pepper Plant to the garden, they were on sale which makes them irresistible.  They were beautiful plants, already bearing peppers.

My lettuce and radish (only planted to mark where I planted my carrots) are sprouting already.  The tiny pepper plants I didn't think would amount to much are peeking out of their "greenhouse" containers.

We removed the "greenhouse" containers from the Brandywine and Sweet Mojo today and put the tomato towers around them.

I have 18 tomato plants in total! And 18 Sweet Pepper Plants - yellow, green/red, lime green and orange!

I am happy everything is planted and seems to be doing well.

'til next time!

The Garden Is Complete....

We had a beautiful HOT sunny weekend and I finally finished planting my garden.

Now, the waiting begins.  Watching for the little seeds to sprout.  Waiting patiently for the lettuce and spinach to grow.....

Every year I get taken up by the variety of Tomato plants available.  Every year I buy too many varieties.  What did I plant this year?  Well, here's the list:

Celebrity:  Bears clusters of large tomatoes that are prized for their flavour.

Bush Beef:  A very popular variety for shorter growing regions.  This is a short bushy plant that grows to 3 feet and yields huge amounts of 8oz beefsteak tomatoes in clusters.  I can taste the home smoked bacon and tomato sandwiches now....YUM!

Scotia:  Very popular home grown variety in Nova Scotia.  Sought after for its ability to set fruit in cool weather and produce firm, deep red, globe shaped tomatoes with good flavour.  I have planted this variety for years.  If you are unsure of what the summer weather will bring it's a safe variety to plant in our area.....

Sweet Mojo:  Red grape type tomato, extra long clusters of 20 - 21 fruit with high sugar flavour....YUM!

And I am super excited that I have finally tried this variety:

Brandywine:  First grown by the Amish over 200 years ago, Brandywine tomatoes produce large, fleshy fruit and are supposed to be the best tasting tomato available....we'll see....I know the plant is certainly out growing all the others.

And I forgot.....

Roma: These are perfect for canning, very meaty interior, few seeds.

Here is a current photo of my garden on this rainy morning.  It's soon time to take their "greenhouses" away as they are peeking out through the top and appear to be well established.....

I sure hope I left enough room between the Brandywine and the Sweet Mojo!

Thanks for visiting!