A walk, a drive, and digging in the dirt

I finally got out to walk around the neighbourhood on Sunday morning. The photo from Wednesday was taken in a park nearby. There were actually four of the hares; one ran off when I came near. The others didn't seem to be fazed by my presence. I had my Merlin app on the phone turned on and it picked up the sounds of several birds. I heard many house sparrows, a chipping sparrow, yellow warblers, robins, crows, and even a Northern Flicker. I spotted the latter, but couldn't get my cellphone up fast enough to capture a photo. The robins and crows were more visible, however I didn't capture any photos of those. I did stop to take a photo of the lilacs and to enjoy the scent.

On Monday, I met my friends K and L for coffee which was especially wonderful, as it has been sometime since I've seen either both in person. I picked K up at her home as she's managed to fall a couple of times in the past six weeks or so. The first time she shattered her wrist, resulting in a surgery and insertion of a plate and 8 screws. A few weeks later, she fell on a set of stairs and broke her clavicle. Poor girl! She's started physio for the wrist, but the shoulder is giving her grief so she's unable to do as much as she'd like. L is our friend and travel agent. She's busy planning a trip for her family to Italy, Greece, and Austria this August. We were laughing because, she said she was doing exactly what she warns her clients not to do, travelling to the various countries and trying to see as much as possible in a short period of time. 

After I dropped K off, I ran a few errands before heading back to the house. It was a lazy afternoon, binge watching some old NCIS episodes. The clouds had come in earnest and it looked like we would get some rain - we did not and I ought to have been doing some weeding, but wasn't in the mood. Since I was heading out to my daughter's on Wednesday, that meant Tuesday was much busier.

A Walmart run for a few groceries, the pet store for cat litter, and later a visit to Value Village. It was senior's day, with 30% off, and I was able to find a summer dress and a pair of jean capris. I had been looking for place mats but had no luck. There is a community wide garage sale being held in the small town this weekend, and D and I plan to attend. Perhaps I'll find some there.

I spent part of the afternoon in the front yard digging in the dirt and moving rocks. Using rocks I'd dug up in the bed outside the front window, I've created a sort of creek. I put down weed barrier under the rocks, in the hopes of keeping the weeds at bay. My goal is to ensure that any water is diverted away from the foundation of the house and towards the street. In the large bed out front, I've shifted some rocks into a pile closer to the edge of the bed. Before I started they were all piled up in the middle of the bed, catching leaves and other debris. After a bit of research I've got some ideas how I want it to look. 

I've decided the back yard will wait until next week when I return from my daughter's. My son took care of the front yard on the weekend, mowing, trimming the edges and raking the lawn. There are more rocks in the back yard too, that will get moved around to the front at some point. 

Wednesday saw me on the highway about 7:00 a.m. - so I was able to see Eli before he left for school. We dropped him off and then went over to the old house for a walk through. I was disappointed to see that while she had done some cleaning, D had left a number of items at the house. Since the realtor was expected on Friday, I made the suggestion we spend Thursday morning at the old house and get the rest of the stuff done.

Back at the new house, we unloaded my car before taking it over to the autobody shop to have the mirror replaced. At home, we planted the annuals I'd bought before I left for the city. It has been too chilly overnight but the forecast looks good from now on. Some of the plants were looking a little sad - D needs to learn to water all of them well but I planted while she did some weeding. There were a few holes to fill so we went the garden centre to pick up just a few more plants including some herbs. 

Then it was my turn to weed. I started with the garden bed. The radish, lettuce and a few peas are up. Only a couple of sweet.peas had germinated, so I took the seeds indoors and set some more to soak. I'm determined to see sweet peas in July! The flower bed with the Alyssum, Oriental poppy, and false lamium was filling up with thistle, dandelions and more bellflower. I spent a good hour or so moving rocks, when I could, and digging out the roots, as much as I could. It looks much better now, but I know it will require frequent weeding.

After lunch, I continued my weeding and when I had as much done as I could manage, I grabbed a book and went out to read. Our temperature reached 26C (79F) and it felt very warm but with the breeze, it felt very nice in the shade. D went to pick up Eli, and around that time the autobody shop called to say that my car was ready to go. Hooray, it was done that day, for less than the price the company in Regina had quoted.

We spent a few hours at the old house on Thursday morning. It was clear D hadn't done all of the cleaning either, so while she cleaned carpets, I scrubbed down appliances, re-installed the cold air vent covers, cleaned the main floor bathroom, and swept out the garage. She was able to put the door to the stove together too. From there, we went to the appliance store, as she hadn't heard from the owner about the burner she had requested. They were able to order the piece that day, and we'll pick it up on Saturday.

No yardwork was done that day, it was cloudy for much of the morning, and a thunderstorm rolled through mid-afternoon. We had some good claps of thunder and the rain poured down. We'd had about a 1/2 inch overnight, and another 1/4 inch during the day. Everything is lush and green.

Our realtor wasn't able to make it on Friday, so I took the day off (at least mostly). I planted a few more peas and some sweet peas, along with six pepper plants we had picked up at Canadian Tire on Thursday. Guess what? Eli's carrots have sprouted, but the ones I planted a couple of weeks ago have not. :p  Only one of the sweet peas, now two, had popped up and I counted 11 pea plants so I added another half dozen or so of each. 

The community wide garage sale is starting on Saturday but many of the sales were set up on Friday, so D and I went for a drive and stopped at a few. She found a small side table, two 30X60 stretched canvases, a tool chest, and a couple of bread pans and a bowl. I found a book and a jug to make juice or in this case, iced tea. We plan on hitting a few more sales this morning too. You just never know what treasures one might find.

The realtor called to say he wouldn't be able to make it out until Sunday. We've decided to head into the larger town about 20 minutes away after the garage sales. We'll stop at Walmart for a few things we can't get here, and Eli will get to play at his favorite park.

Finally, I'll leave you with a photo of several peony bushes out front. There are lilies in front of these, and don't mind the weeds. I haven't got there yet. The number of buds on the peonys is amazing, and though I likely won't see them bloom, D has promised to send photos.

P.S. For those who weren't certain of the Friday funny - small children have a habit of blowing bubbles when given a straw to drink through. :)