Caught by Surprise

Spring catches me by surprise. I don’t know how it happens every year, but it does. I’m always certain that I have a few more weeks before yard work begins full force, and then smack, here’s spring!

Last year, spring came about a month early. That was a legitimate surprise. This year, winter seemed to drag on and on. I was salivating for spring. The thoughts of warmer days, growing grass, and garden planning filled my thoughts, but even with such great anticipation, spring still caught me off guard. We had snow on the ground one day and summer temperatures a couple of days later. Amazing!

I have anticipated starting this blog. I bought the domain this time last year and procrastinated through the summer, fall, and winter. It’s something I have always wanted to do, but I kept finding reasons to put it off…too busy, too tired, not inspired, a hangnail, etc. My goal was to launch right before spring really hit, but I delayed a bit at the start. Anyway, I am here!

During the past couple of weeks, I did manage to catch up to spring a bit. I have managed to shake off the winter cobwebs…both literally and figuratively.

Three weekends ago, I picked up sticks in my front yard, which seemed to take forever. In fact, during that time I was picking up sticks, I fantasized about big machines with claws scooping down and picking up the twigs, sticks, branches, tree trunks. I imagined that I wouldn’t mind having unattractive machines in the yard as long as I never had to pick up sticks again. I also thought about making an 80’s-style workout video. I could wear a shiny leotard, a terrycloth headband, and leg warmers…oh and frosty pink lipstick! I could jump in place and then stretch down to grab a bunch of sticks, informing the world about this awesome tummy toning workout. In reality, I got worn out after loading the wheel barrow four times, felt dizzy and sick, cast myself on the couch in my den, watched a bunch of episodes of Call the Midwife, and picked up KFC for dinner. I didn’t finish picking up sticks in the front yard that day, and they mocked me the rest of the week every time I came home from work.

Two weekends ago, I hand-pulled weeds in my veggie garden. Though the Mantis tiller arrived a few days earlier, I knew I couldn’t just till the weeds and feel good about it. The ground was tight with weeds of all sorts. As I pulled the weeds, I thought about them as problems that needed to be resolved. Each pulled weed was one more resolved problem, but every time I looked up, the problems seemed to multiply. I decided to change my perspective. Each weed became a zombie I must kill. Then, I got distracted with “pretty” weeds. I had so many violets, and they didn’t look ugly. I almost convinced myself that they could stay. In the end, I decided to pull enough weeds to be good enough. The tiller could do the rest!

This past weekend, I busted out the tiller for the first time. I had never used a tiller in my life. Earlier this spring, my Mom (who’s also my neighbor) and I bought a Mantis together. In my dreams, I could just unleash it on the veggie garden and let it do all the work. Though it did make working up the soil easier, I had no idea it would involve that much work. My arms hurt today! The good news is that the garden is tilled, and I planted some seeds despite the better advice of the seed packets. The risk of frost in this area does not pass until after Derby Day. I’m living dangerously! I hope the summer squash, bibb lettuce, green onions, and bush beans survive and thrive.