Ah, Saturday.  I don't know what you did, but I worked off a small portion of my substantial ass.  Val took her folks to a graduation thing, so they sat around all day.  I unplanted a rotted off post, which means I dug out the concrete that was holding it steady, then planted a new post which I whittled out of a sequoia tree.  The park ranger was mad as hell about that...even though the post was a mere splinter off that tree.  2 bags of concrete will hold it up, hopefully this one won't rot off anytime soon.   I divided all the hostas that we got from Val's coworker and Val's mom, which were a surprise.  She needs to divide those a little more often, I think.  When I dug out the post, I dug up a Hosta that we had, don't remember that one being there, so I divided it up, I think we have a surplus of the things! 

 

Remember to call before you dig!  It's the LAW!

 

I never do, don't see the point, really.  The only utilities buried in my yard are water, sewer and gas.  If I dig thru those, they needed replaced before I got there.

 

Cut some dead limbs off some trees, unplanted the locust tree, transplanted a maple tree right next to the plum tree.  The plum tree's days are numbered....couple years, probably.  I should start practicing with the lathe now, because that plum wood is purty.  Maple is not looking happy, we'll see if he makes it.  I also dug out the bird bath and set it up.  It's Val's job this year to water the flowers, esp since her mom bought petunias and planted a basket especially for her.

 

Thanks AlGore for creating spell check, letting me know that purty is not really a word. 

 

So, I planted 10 hostas today, there's probably 20 more in the bucket to plant tomorrow.  The website I looked at said to not plant them where they'll be subjected to full afternoon sun, so right in front of the garage is out.  (faces west)...but under the lilacs is going to be filled with them.  That's where we planted Duke and Alison, you know, so I won't want to dig too deep.  I also planted the 3 rabbits that George killed there, very shallow graves, have to be really careful there!  Since I planted a new post for the swing, I need to stain it and restain the others before putting the swing back in.  Need also to load up some buckets and tubs and boxes to take to the tree place to get some bulk wood mulch.....it's a lot cheaper, and I won't have a bunch of sacks to dispose of.  reduce, reuse, recycle, you know.  The mulch stuff will keep down weeds, keep in water,  hide the dirty old dirt.

 

Since I illegally dug in the yard, I illegally burned a pile of leaves, sticks, weeds, etc in the yard as well.  What a smoky stinky event.  I'm glad the neighbor had his A/C on, because I'm sure it would have smoked up his house! 

 

Yes, we have neglected the yard work for the last 3 years, thanks very much for asking....pretty much all we did was mow and trim the low branches off the trees so they didn't pull off our hats. 

In other news:  June 4 marks Val's 10th anniversary working at the Mayo clinic. 

 

Our peony plants have achieved mammoth size this year...in an attempt to keep them from sprawling all over the yard, I've tied a string around each one.  I'll let you know how it works, if I remember.  Up here in the northland, they don't bloom till June 8 or 10, instead of Memorial Day, like in SW IA.  I should post pics, these are quite impressive.  Much larger than that row of peonies were on the farm on the corner.  Huge, in fact. 

 

Hot enough for you?  Holy crap, if this keeps up, we'll have to turn off the furnace.