Moaning and Groaning.

I'm moaning and groaning a bit tonight ... feeling every one of my years and every one of my muscles in my back ... although the hot tub helped. I've been working on the hillside that goes from the front of the property toward the back of the house. I started on it about a month ago, but still had over three hours of work to finish it ... which I did tonight. I still have a bit of cleanup, which I plan to do in the morning.


I'll have to get pictures of it later, although it's behind these forsythia and the blooming pear tree in this picture. You can see it is pretty much a mess ... or was. The State Park is on the other side of our property line and there are a lot of brush and downed trees on their side too. It is a mess ... overgrown with small trees and grape vines. I wanted to clean up our side, so it would get more sunlight. Pat and I threw out some wildflowers seeds on our side of the hill this weekend, but it still needed several hours of work to be cleared.

One of the trees we cut down was a thorn tree. I'm not sure what it was. Pat cut it down weeks ago, but I had to chop it up to get it out of there. I hauled it to the brush pile in the back using the 6-wheeler. That tree ate me up ... I have all sorts of punctures from it's long thorns, but I'll get the pleasure of seeing it burn.

Tux came home calling for me while I was still hard at work. He couldn't figure out where I was, since I wasn't in my "usual" area of the yard. He usually has found me out front where I put in a herb bed last week. He and I have already gone a couple of rounds about THAT bed, since he thought it would make a great litter box.

Tonight, after I finished hauling the last batch of stuff to the brush pile and put my tools and the 6-wheeler away, Tux and I once again enjoyed some time sitting together in the rocking chair on the porch and "talking" as I relaxed after a hard day's work. It's so wonderful to once again feel that peace as he purrs in my lap and we "talk".

Pat has even taken to Tux. He doesn't fuss when I pick him up any more and even reached down to pet him this past weekend. He thinks Tux is "ok". High praise from a man who hates cats.

Tux's leg is pretty well mended, although he walks with a limp and always will. His tail is another matter. It hangs limp with a bunch of hair gone. I never did manage to get him to the vet. Still, he manages to climb the stairs to the porch and can get up the hill behind the house ... something that I can't do, with good legs. He walks up the cliff at an angle until he gets to the cedar tree at the right of the picture, than scrambles up the rest of the way.

Of course, I'm not moving all the swift tonight anyway. I'm sore from all the work I did today. Hopefully my long soak in the hot tub and the Ibuprofin that I took will help me be able to sleep tonight. I know you aren't supposed to stay in the hot tub for very long, but I like heat (maybe because of my south Texas heritage). I turned the hot tub up to 101 and stayed in for a half hour.

I'm not sure what project I'll start on tomorrow, once the hillside is cleared a bit more. I have so many projects in the yard that I want to get done before it gets too hot.

Pat and I went to Bayer's Nursery this past weekend and I bought a couple of bushes ... a butterfly bush and a varigated weigela. Pat is going to put the auger on the tractor this weekend for us to plant them. We're also going to head back to Bayers for more bushes to plant along the wood fence at the front of the property ... which means I might dig up the rose bushes we have there and move them to the beds in the front.

I also want to fix our walkway to the driveway and wood burner. It's a mess from the Spring rains. While I'm at it, I want to turn the area between the walkway and the house into a cottage-type flower garden.

Then there is the area in front of the "wall". Pat bought a HUGE banana tree. That tree is over 8 feet tall. Right now it's in the garage, but Pat is going to build a planter for it next to the concrete patio area. I plan to make a bed in the same area by bricking in a portion and filling it with fresh dirt and mulch. I'll plant some bushes and perennials in the new bed. In front of that I'm going to put in some type of area for us to sit, either using flat rocks or pavers ... I haven't decided which or when ... and a waterfall. I may wait on that last two project for a while.

If those aren't enough chores, I also want to shovel up some of the debris from the cliff in the back. A bunch of the rock has fallen down and I want to shovel it into some of the area that is low and holding water, that is if I don't just dig up the area that is holding water and make it into a pond.

Sigh ... Just thinking about all the things I have planned is making me tired, LOL. I guess it's time for bed. I'll rest a bit before Pat gets home a little after 3:00 a.m.