Sadie's Thrilled To Walk & A Lot Of Landscaping Progress

With Heidi refusing to go outside after lunch, Sadie and Stella were already outside starting their walk, whether I intended to come or not. With the winds still strong, I could barely feel the humidity rising as we finished the walk. What a relief to feel 15°-18° cooler today. With the ground really soft I had some big plans for later this afternoon.

I had barely walked to the corner of the house when Sadie stopped to see if I was going to join her for a walk or would she and Stella take one on their own. She was between a sprint and hopping all the way from the yard to the field ... thrilled she was getting her walk.

Like after any other strong storm, the winds were still strong today. It wasn't a cool breeze but one that felt good being just a few degrees cooler than the temps. With my shoes already soaked and squishing water out of the tops of them, I was hoping this wind would hang around to help dry my shoes out this afternoon.

Sadie wasn't the only one excited about walk. Stella walked into the back of my knee to let me know I needed to step off the path so she could run by me. She NEVER moves out of her way to go around someone or another hound ... she steps on them to get by. She continued past Sadie and took the early lead of the walk.

Although my location was clear of any pending storms, the skies to the north and south of us looked as if they were still having big storms. Would all of the rain last night wash away the scents Sadie and Stella were use to or bring out that many more new ones for them?

They have always been a good 'team' when exploring the field.

Since it has been a long time since our last really good rain, the ground was still quite firm after a couple of inches of rain the past 12 hours. I could tell the field grew even while I slept. I was surprised though it wasn't muddy as we walked.

I did not have to do much herding of the hounds today. They were in continuous motion, getting all of their nose work in. It's good exercise for them and they also get me out walking a mile or two per day.

It's amazing just how fast this field is growing and all the rain last night increased the speed of that growth. Looking at pictures from a year ago that Facebook automatically provides if I posted one, the field was taller but they also cut it earlier last year.

I could barely see my shadow in the back of the field but I could not only feel it getting warmer but I could see just a glimpse of sunshine. Combine that with the humidity, I knew I'd be shutting the windows and turning on the AC as soon as we got back to the house.

Stella is showing me what I am feeling from the little amount of sunshine, is right. She is already panting heading back to the house.

Slightly veering off to the center of the field, she abruptly made a turn in my direction without me saying a word. She must have thought I knew the shortest way back to cold rooms.

Hopefully the wind will dry out the shoes. They are made for all kinds of weather, they are built to get wet. I am on my second pair of these and will try to buy the exact same model later this summer. Yet, this pair has a lot of miles left on them.

With all the plant ideas giving me some motivation of sorts, I decided it was time to pull out the Windex and clean the bird crap off of my 30+ year old thermometer. It might be as old as the house but so far I can confirm it's at least 30 years old.

Before

Now that it's clean it should have another 10 years added to its lifespan. It does not need a battery, isn't wireless ... just a good old fashion thermometer.

After

By 1pm I was pretty sure I had the plan for the new landscaping project firm in my mind and where I wanted to plant everything. With the ground much softer than yesterday afternoon, I took advantage of that and planted all the plants I bought the other day.

I'll wait and add some more as I go along. I need to find a place locally that has the Hostas in stock, plus a couple of new suggestions today ... Marigolds and Nasturtiums.

The plans were to replace the old iron carport supports next summer, once I decided to either go with new rod iron or change to wood posts. In the meantime a blog reader suggested I use Hollyhock to grow around and through the carport supports in front. Sounds like a good idea.

As usual once I come to a decision, in this case knowing where to put each plant that I had bought, I want to do it as soon as possible. With all the rain last night and earlier this morning would the ground be too wet or muddy to plant flowers?

My two assistants wanted to make you think they had important parts in digging the holes ... but while I did the manual labor of digging and planting ... they were out back eating that fresh mud that the moles had pushed up.

It didn't take long for Stella to lose interest in the job at hand. Once I told her I had to wash her nose off, she decided taking a siesta and not moving was a better idea. After all she had a bath just a few days ago.

The job didn't take me long but it was long enough for her to switch positions while sleeping and a deep sleep that she didn't know I was taking her picture.

I like to make sure the shovel is clean after it is used.

It's hard to imagine this Hemerocallis 'Happy Returns' Daylilly will grow to 14"-18" tall and 22"-26" spread ... If it does it will be perfect for the far right corner if you are looking at the front of the house.

I wanted a Azalea 'Girard's Hot Shot' just right of where Heidi goes from the carport to the front of the yard. She has already found it different since her Yews are gone. This should help bring some color to the front of the carport.

I forgot to mention the first hole I dug had dry dirt believe it or not after all the rain we had. It might have helped that it was under the roof overhang. The dirt texture was the same as peat moss.

It looks bare now but once that Azalea matures, enough of that wall to the right of the window will be covered. I not only wanted to keep the steps open but also the vent for the crawlspace. I might put a potted plant there later. Remember my septic tank is right below that window, 3' from the last step and 6' out from the foundation. That 2nd stone is about 9" behind the septic tank inlet that they would use to pump it.

Here is a closer look at the Azalea, with a lot of room to grow

I decided to go with another Azalea in the right corner instead of a yellow Daylily. That will be two reds on each end. Besides adding mulch here, I'll add more small annuals later on or mums this fall.

I think this will fill the corner nice, unless Ethan gave me some wrong dimensions when it is fully grown.

I thought the Daylily might spread out and cover a little of the entry to the crawlspace. I cant remember if it was the Yellow or the Purple de Oro. Either one will be easy to brush back so I can get down into the crawlspace when needed. I might add something smaller next spring or mums this fall.

Here I might have made a mistake and may have to replant the Azalea to the right of the dish bracket. When I sat it there it looked too open left of the dish so I moved just left of the bracket. After it's fully grown it should cover a lot of the dish bracket so it will not look as bad as it does now. You have to admit though ... that dish is storm proof.

So we can remember just how small it was when I planted it. Of course I'll be adding more topsoil and mulch in this area between the gutter downspout and Azalea along with anything showing dirt.

Early this morning I decide the Purple de Oro and Hemerocallis Happy Returns Daylily might work really well hiding my satellite dish pole for my internet service. I didn't want to go right of the pole due to the underground cable a few inches below the grass.

Based on what I have read, both of these should grow enough to hide a lot of the pole but not all of it.

This has been here since I bought the house in 1997. A few times when I have let it grow longer/taller it has pink blossoms. I do not know what it is. I usually cut it back every fall but that means I don't have flowers on it every year.

Even one year it was burned almost to the ground when I had a leaf fire get out of control. You know how I am about fires in the fall. I was so lazy that year I actually thought I'd burn the leaves I had raked right there at the base of the small bank ... poor decision and one never repeated.  LOL

After I found Sadie out back, I called her in. She actually had been walking around and at times on the Azaleas as I planted them. She was more than curious what they were and what I was doing ... until she got bored with it.

Stella went to sleep but Sadie had to roam.

After she inspected my work along with my 'rough layout' of the sidewalk ... she thought it might be best if I would add one more square stone to it and also put one of those gray stones in the middle of the red ones. 

I'll spend some time this week getting the stones level since they are just tossed in the general area so I could see what they would look like. It looks pretty empty with the full grown Yews there but I see a lot of potential from what I have done so far.

One new idea I had as I was looking through these photos ... that picture right above with Sadie standing by the covered car ... just to the right of the potted Geranium is a spot where the rain over flowing from the gutter spreads out all of the mulch.

Since it has done that over and over for 20 years, making no difference what I do to the ground, more mulch or clean the gutters ... I am going to buy and place a large rock there for some added decor and a place where the water can run on all it wants.

I still have a lot of open space to plant smaller annuals or even small perennials. Or I can leave it open with mulch and some large rocks. I think I am off to a good start even if I don't have a clue about what I'm doing and it took just a little over an hour to plant everything.

Another good day here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

I Found Out What Rain Was

I made a comment Saturday night over on Al's blog, The Bayfield Bunch, "rain??? rain??? what's that?" ... well starting about 12:30am local time last night I found out really quick what rain was, plus loud thunder, bright lightning and high winds. Even Stella stood up from sleeping to check to see if everything was okay.

I was glad to see it happen. All the storms forecasted in previous weeks were all north of us. My front yard was getting brown plus I knew it would cool those temperatures we had lived with the past week or two. It looks like one project will be moved up on my 'to do' list. Dig up the old drainage system I installed years ago and re-install something new since this is consistently having standing water after heavy rains.

I could feel the rain lightly falling on me as I tried to get some pictures after the storms this morning. Sadie didn't believe me when I told her it was still raining and we could not go for the morning walk yet. She had to find out for herself and once she did, she moved to the carport under cover, while I risked getting wet taking photos.

My pictures this morning are a mix from my Nikon D3200 and my iPhone 6s, see if you can tell the difference.

I slept through all of the storms that continued throughout the night. Based on the tweets from my local Utility Company this morning, power is out in a lot of places except mine. There are reports of a lot of trees that were blown down. Luckily I didn't hear any of those scary "cracking" noises you hear before a tree falls. Yet the storms cleared out some of the dead limbs on my Mahogany trees in back.

At this point in time as Sadie and I walked around the backyard checking for any damages, she still thought there might be an outside chance for a walk this morning. Wunderground and Intellicast are showing the rain should stop around 1pm ... I'll put on my boots made for hiking in wet fields and we will take off on a walk after their lunchtime kibble.

Since in the past I have always had my potted flowers destroyed by high winds and thunderstorms, I put my two pots of Geraniums and Elfins inside the carport away from the blowing rain that would take place later on, just as I predicted. Maybe I should apply for one of those tv weatherperson positions since I seem to be more accurate.

No damage this morning from the blowing rain last night. I think I see in that top picture a little improvement from the way the flowers looked when I potted them yesterday afternoon.

As I stepped outside into the light rain to check on the Azaleas that I had sitting in possible locations, two out of four of them had blown over. It was good I moved the flowers into the carport when I did last night before the storms started.

See those steps that are never used except by a lost stranger every year or so? I plan to keep those open with a stone walkway leading to them. I am trying to decide whether to put the walkway in front or in back of the Azaleas. I'm thinking in front of them will be the best and I'll move the Azalea a little closer to the house. I have decided to move that one in the picture over to just right of the small kitchen window. New positions are pictured below.

After more reading on the internet this morning about Azaleas plus what Ethan told me at the landscaping biz ... their root system will be very shallow, only a foot deep. They will grow as large as I let them. Since I bought the "hot shots", they will bloom into my favorite color ... or one of my favorite colors ... red.

So I started looking at the front of my bare house again and came up with a different idea about placement this morning. I moved the Azaleas to where I think will be their final resting place. The forth one you can barely see is right in front of the Directv dish bracket, which will grow enough to hide that bracket.

One reason I don't like Sycamore trees ... even after cleaning out my gutters of their bark just last week, my front gutter plugged up again last night by their bark and possible tree branches ... you can see where the rain ran over the gutter and moved the mulch around.

While Stella scratched, Sadie stood listening to me mumble plant ideas out loud to myself as I took photos. I have two Yellow Daylilies and I have been told not only do they have a deep root system but you can't get rid of them once you plant them. They keep coming back.

So I came up for an idea about them.

I will plant one to the left of the porch in the corner. I'll keep it cut back so it does not take over the porch and maybe just a little above the bottom of my low living room window.

The other one I am going to plant in front of the pole that holds my HughesGen5 satellite dish for my internet. I'll let it grow somewhat out of control where it will add some bright yellow to the corner of the house and hopefully grow tall enough to hide most of the pole the dish sits on.

With deep root system it can enjoy going as deep as it wants and wrap around the 3' feet of concrete the dish installer used when setting the pole in the ground.

Or I could trade the yellow Daylily by the porch with the Azalea that is on the south corner of the house ... that way both yellow flowers would be 'bookends' with the reds between them.

In between these 6 different plants I'll fill in with Hostas and other annuals. At the same time I'll continue to learn more about this landscaping stuff and add things as I get ideas. Feel free to comment or send me emails on my idea or any new ideas on your own. I have almost ruled out any kind of bushes or shrubs.

For those readers that receive my blog by email, I apologize for all the spelling errors I did not catch. I've corrected them after seeing what was sent out automatically.

It's 20° cooler this morning here in the wet 'tropics' of Southern Indiana.

You WILL LOVE This Senior Moment ... LOL

I'll warn you now, if you are drinking something from a glass, cup or can, you might sit it down and step away. The story I will relay to you in this post MAY make you laugh so much that you are out of control ... that nothing near you will be safe. I am still trying to believe it and after 4 hours I still cannot comprehend what my eyes told me ... and my rake.

I don't know if it was the 'excitement' of the new project of replacing the Yews or anxiety over "what did I just do"?, that led me to waking up last night multiple times. Another words, the chances of me being outside in the yard starting my 'new' landscaping project at 8am ... were slime and none.

Once I did get started at 9am, Stella did not take long to show me that letting the hounds join me this morning in the yard while I worked in front yard was not a possibility. As you can see she was caught heading over to the wooded area next door. By the time the picture was taken she had heard me and was walking home.

It was a gallant try on her part. BTW, all of these photos today were taken with my iPhone 6s. I thought I'd let those few people know, that are trying to decide what phones to buy as their first smartphone.

It does NOT work well in the zoom mode. The picture of Stella in the middle of the field walking back with the storm clouds and high power tower was NOT zoomed in but normal setting.

I decided to let the hounds have the whole house to lay around in and enjoy the cool AC. It was so hot this morning and all last night. It was so hot, that at 4am during one of my many times being awake I heard the AC running which is rare for that time of day.

I remembered to put my bowl of fresh fruit on top of the fridge and out of Stella's reach. The AC on meant my bedroom windows were closed so she could not tear out anymore screens. Things seemed safe for her to stay inside without being shut up in the bedroom.

The plan for today was to rake up what was left of the Yews after they were pulled out of the ground and taken away. I wanted to get as much of them off the yard and off the flowerbed as possible.

I was guessing that I only had a couple of hours to get this done before the blasting hot sunshine would be on this side (west) of the house. I had only three small piles of Yew branches that I raked up in the yard. All the dirt that had been drug to the yard would be moved back into the bed areas.

Okay ... make sure that drink is out of arms reach !!!

As I was raking the dirt back into the holes were the Yew root ball was, I thought my rake had pulled up some of that black landscaping ground cover I had installed 5-6 years ago to prevent the weeds growing. It was something else ... I COULD NOT BELIEVE WHAT IT WAS BUT I WAS THRILLED WITH WHAT I FOUND !!

It was one of two of my missing favorite socks that I had been looking for since March!! I remembered folding them up after taking them out of the dryer months ago and putting them in my dresser drawer of socks. I DO REMEMBER DOING THAT ... one time. 

I couldn't find them when I went back to wear them months ago. It drove me insane trying to remember where they could have been. I pulled every sock out of that draw to see if they had been mixed with dress socks. I even moved the chest of drawers in case the hounds had hid them under the chest. They were nowhere.

Since I had found one in the dirt where they Yews had been pulled from the ground I was hoping the second one was in that same area and had not been taken away yesterday. Could the second sock be stuck on one of the Yews that was taken away?

I lightly ran my rake through the loose clay dirt no longer trying to separate the Yew leaves(?) but to see if I could find that second sock. Then .... there it was. Buried in a pile of dirt because at first Ted used his backhoe to dig out the Yew instead of just pulling them out like he did the last three.

After 4 months of looking, then wondering what ever happened to those socks that I KNEW were in my drawer of socks. Who would have ever imagined having the Yews taken out and away when you thought the request was canceled ... would lead to finding the missing socks, gone for 4 months ????  I'd laugh but I am too amazed about this story.

At 65 years old we  keep telling our friends "I feel great", remind each other that 60 is the new 40 and we really won't be old until we are in our 80's. We may not recover from physical activity as fast as we use to but our minds are as sharp an the edge of a razor blade.

Then a story like that happens and you fall back to reality to see that you really aren't like you use to be.  LOL

With the Yews out of the way I could now open that window that is the entry to my crawl space. It's one where you can almost stand up under the whole house ... there is quite a hole under there. It came with a framed window that you could open to a screen so ventilation would take place in the summer.

That took only one tv cable installer to break not only the glass but the frame as he tried to get under the house to run cable years ago. I replaced the broken window with a solid piece of wood and that heavy stone to block it closed ... to keep the cats out and any other animals ... like skunks.

This vent was open but only about an inch. I don't know where the locking lever went to so with a fresh new Yew root, I could prop open the vent until I can repair it.

Here are a couple of more pictures to show just how thick the root of the Yews got. They were not deep rooted but some of these thicker ones are deeper than I can pull out. I cut them off as low as possible with the pruning shears. Ted told me they would eventually rot away.

All the recent activity must have uprooted this toad's home. He or she sat and looked at me with displeasure while I sat down drinking water and taking a break. I could remind myself just how hot it really was at 10am. Later the toad turned around facing the nice raked cleaned dirt ... and disappeared.

After looking through all the suggestions I received last night and this morning for what plants or shrubs to use to fill up these beds and cover some of my house ... I have different ideas I need to sort out. This might take a couple of weeks to complete.

While clearing this area I was thinking that an Azalea in front of the DirecTv dish might be good. They grow to only 3' high and that would hide the bracket for the dish. I might go three across but I really don't want to block the way to get under the house, so flowers such as hostas might work well there.

I am going to fill these three holes with top soil, then rake and mix it in with the light brown clay in hopes of softening up some dirt for flowers to grow. I will also be changing those downspout drains to extend out over the edging.

It was just about 11am when I noticed my shade was about to be burnt off by the hot mid-day sunshine. It was 88° in the shade and I had no plans to work after this. I just wanted to get both areas cleaned up, raked and all the dirt moved from the yard back into the flowerbeds.

Over the years I cannot ever remember having a whole baseball cap soaked with sweat. This isn't completely drenched but it's close.

To give myself a 'redemption' test ... I laid my two socks on the edge of the carport so the afternoon sun could dry them out since I washed them. MOST LIKELY this is the same spot I put them back in March after doing the yard work on the corner bank in back of the house.

OBVIOUSLY I forgot I put them out there to dry ... the storm with high winds only 5 days later probably blew the socks in the direction of the Yews under the kitchen window. Heidi never bothered to let me know the socks were there as she would walk past them almost every day as she headed to the front yard from behind the Yews.

After only two hours of light exercise, just picking up stuff and raking ... my shirt was soaked. Due to the sun's reflection on the iPhone screen I had to take the picture from this angle to keep my shadow out of the picture. If I rotated the picture right side up, the shirt and picture were at a weird angle.

Stella did 'breakout' of the house. After not doing it for many months, she lifted the door lever with her nose and was standing right next to me as I raked the last of the flowerbed. What a surprise that was. I guess watching me through the window was not good enough ... she had to be involved LOL.

I am not sure it it will look good but I am thinking of running solid boxwood hedges, cut 4-5' tall across the front of my carport to hide the cars. Then from the corners of the house to the porch on both sides of the porch ... use the Azaleas's as end pieces, maybe one or two in the middle ... then fill in with Hostas, Lilies and potted annuals with different colors.

The local landscaping business only had Lillies, Azaleas and some annuals today. I realize at least that this is not the best time of year for new landscaping projects. I have other places to check out 25 miles away.

Our second walk of the day may not take place until tonight just as the sun goes down around 9pm. The hounds were "yelling" for lunch when I finished my 2 hour yard work at 11:15am. Heidi was barking non-stop, Stella was howling, Sadie just hopping around .... ALL wanting their lunch.

Then a MINUTE after they finished eating, I started to take them outside but noticed all three hounds were sound to sleep within a foot or two of their food bowls. All was well with them ... food and sleep.

Thanks for all the emails, comments, pictures and links to help with landscaping the front of the house. If flowers were sports related I would know what to do ... but I never have answers when it comes to what or where in landscaping.

Off to make a new 3qt pitcher of ice tea ... those pitchers of ice tea are not lasting long right now.

Typical hot weather this time of year in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.