A gardening slave driver and the dead aminal patrol

hickenI had a plan to work on the Landfill Dungeon this weekend. Particularly the room where the washing musheen and dryer and a whole shit-ton of junk reside. This was a dicey prodject because a lot of that “junk” doesn’t really belong to me. But that room is feeling dirty and kind of creepy-crawly to me* and I neeeeeeed to clean it. Actually what I really need to do is take everything out of it and turn a fire hose on it. Alas, I won’t be doing that.

So, today I made some minor inroads toward getting that prodject done. But the best plans of mice and men often go awry and so did mine. Sort of. Mouse has been waiting for a day when she could come over and get some garden beds going. Today was the day. And Mouse really isn’t a slave driver. What happened is that I went outside to see what was going on and the next thing I knew, I was pulling old dead oak leaves out and away from struggling crocus shoots. I did most of this without a rake, bending over and scooping up leaves and sticks and pulling out some sort of vine that was *not* poison ivy (I figgered out, thank you god or whatever). I am no stranger to exercise but that particular form of exercise served to help me discover muscles I don’t think I knew I had. It’s okay, it’s that good thank you for using me feeling.

And so, as I was pulling weeds away from new crocus shoots, I, uh, encountered a dead aminal. I recoiled in horror before I touched the aminal (because I am a wimp) but I also had fancy rubber gardening glubs on so, if I had… Oh Veeelhelm! Dead aminal in the back yard! He gallantly threw the chipmunk over the fence into the woods. And yes, it was the chipmunk that died in our house a while back. Don’t ask. Then. Walking by the birdhouses hung on the north side of the Landfill, I saw for the umpteenth time what I thought was the remains of a dead bird sticking out the entrance. Veeelhelm! Dead bird alert. It was a dead bird and a whole bunch of other bird hoarder crap and a long tirade about house sparrows and their housekeeping habits ensued, yada yada…

And so I worked outside today instead of inside? Okay, it was actually WARM out today. It won’t be for much longer. There will be plenty of time to work down in the dungeon in the next couple months.

That’s Hicken there in the photooo, not Mouse…

3 Responses to “A gardening slave driver and the dead aminal patrol”

  1. Margaret Says:

    Yikes, dead animals. Yikes. I won’t ask about the chipmunk, but I am curious…

  2. Becky Courtois Says:

    Oh, Oh, what will your garden grow???? I had a rototiller back in the day. That thing was great for breaking up the clay and adding the compost in. My yard was pretty much all clay, so that helped tremendously. Once the soil was workable, I would improve it annually with compost. I will probably do some basil, tomatoes, and other misc herbs in patio pots this year. Got to have the makings for bruschetta…

  3. Jay Says:

    I think it was almost 70 degrees here today. And tomorrow is supposed to be similary. More importantly to many, it will not rain on the Easter egg hunts, as it frequently does. (We held several inside the house when the kids were growing up.)