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.

The Japanese Yews Are Pulled Out By Mistake !!

It started like any other morning, except for a couple of changes. The hounds had their walk at the normal time but I was headed to Bloomington to buy some dog shampoo for Stella and an Epson printer ribbon for me. Little did I know what a shock I would have when I returned from my trip ... Not until I returned and pulled into the driveway did I see that the Yews were in the process of being pulled out of the ground and taken away !!!

I'll include the photos of the hounds from this morning's walk but this story about the yews may be too long to wait until after the hounds pictures to start what you are waiting to read about.

I've mentioned as recently as last Saturday of having the landscaping business bring up their small John Deere tractor with a bucket/backhoe and pull out, then take away the Japanese Yews in front of my house. I've discussed the 'why's in past posts so I'll not talk about the reasons for doing this.

I was not even finished trimming the Yews on Saturday where I had to pull out my pruning shears to cut through thicker stems. My electric clippers could no longer cut through some of the stems, for the first time ever.

I knew then as time went on there would be more stems becoming thicker and the ones I trimmed would be thicker the next time I attempted to trim them. So I made arrangements to have the local landscaping business to pull them out and take them away.

I continued to cut them back on Saturday so I could see what they looked like 18" shorter. I liked the shorter look ... SO I CALLED the landscaping business to let them know to CANCEL my request. The owner, who I had talked to 30 minutes earlier, had gone to lunch. I left a detailed message with the boy at the desk to pass the information to the owner about CANCELING THE REQUEST.

(Ed ... this is the grass that collects the morning dew ... no thistles)

I guess I should have called back and talked to the owner later just to confirm but when he didn't show up later that afternoon, nor Sunday or Monday I just assumed he had received the message to cancel my request. In fact by Monday afternoon I had not thought about it at all until I saw the owner drive by the house after he closed for the day.

This morning after I had picked up the printer ribbon and hound shampoo, I had planned to waste another hour then eat some pizza for lunch.  One of my favorite on campus pizza restaurants had opened a new location on 'my side' of town.

Something ... made me change my mind and head home then instead of later, after having pizza.

I had to take a photo of Stella at the end of the walk this morning because she NEVER gets to the yard before I do. Evidently it was too hot and she had enough fun and wanted to get back inside with the AC on.

Sadie gave me a look as if she was wondering what is taking me so long to get back to the house. She is also hot at 8:30am and wanted to get back inside with the AC on.

Now one good thing about this "yew story", by Sunday night I had changed my mind again and decided these yews were only going to keep trying to get taller which would mean I would have to spend more time keeping them trimmed back ... still not knowing for sure if their roots could damage my septic tank in future years.

I wanted them pulled out and removed.

I figured I would call the landscape owner in the fall when temps were cooler and have them pulled out then.

So it was quite a shock as I pulled into the driveway this morning to see they had already dug 3 of them out and was gone taking one of them to his property so they would not be a fire hazard on my property.

He wasn't sure how deep they were so he dug them out with his small backhoe. Luckily they were not that deep into the ground, so the others he could put a chain around their base and pull them out using his front tractor bucket and take them away all in one trip.

It looks like I have moved some work to the top of my priority list. I'll only work on those remaining roots before noon each day, fill in the holes with dirt, and put down more mulch. Then to add some color I'll plant different annuals but any small shrubs I decide to buy will be in pots sitting on the ground.

I'll leave the area bordered in as is and will lay some more stepping stones from the driveway to the front porch steps to make a sidewalk, even though the front door is never used. At least it will look better since the steps point that direction.

I had decided before I decided to pull any of these out, that I would have all of them pulled out. They would not look good just leaving one side of the porch full of yews and the other side empty. The tall one had to be removed because it was beginning to take a weird unattractive look as I trimmed it around two different satellite dishes to keep the shrub out of their 'line of sight'.

It was good that all the Directv cables went directly from the mounted dish into the foundation to under the house and not underground. He did not have to worry about pulling up any cable wire when he pulled the yew out of the ground.

You can see the area that lets me get into the crawl space of my house. It's not really a 'crawl' space but a huge 'moon crater' where you can almost walk standing up under the whole house. I need to get under there to inspect some things.

Once again I will put some large potted plants in this area to hide the culvert and as much of the Directv dish as possible. Maybe I can move outside the box and agree that all flowerbeds do NOT have to be level, then cover that culver with some added mulch. I'll plant some annuals and cover the rest with mulch.

I don't like having the Directv dish right there in the open and mounted to the house but it's only for it's survival and my sanity. Years prior, the satellite dish was mounted to a pole in the front yard to get a clear southern view it required. Yet, every few years straight line winds, high wind storms and possible tornados would destroy the Directv dish mounted on a pole in the middle of the front yard. So far so good in this location after 9 years of storms.

It's quite a hole to fill back in but the landscape owner will bring a tractor bucket full of dirt for me to use where all 6 yews were planted.

It does look quite different. I'll not want it to look this way long, so I have work to do whether I wanted it or not. Only between the hours of 8am - 11am.

With Sadie and Stella shut off in the bedroom while I was gone, they heard all the noise outside but was not let out to inspect until he was completely finished and gone. Heidi will be lost without her Yews to hide behind in the winter or bad weather when she relieves herself.

The house is back to looking too naked. I need some ideas from all of you plant and landscaping experts. I want to get the new changes implemented as soon as possible. I need color and plants/flowers that require minimum maintenance.

I will be looking at different landscaping ideas again. I'm never able to make up my mind on what to do with things like that. That was one reason I planted the yews ... it was easy.

Stella Expands Her Boundary

Stella's new adventure started as soon as the walk did. As usual she headed away from Sadie and I. By the time I looked back to see where she was, she was already past the north edge of the yard, heading next door. I yelled her name and for some strange reason she reacted immediately with an 'about face' and trotted toward our path.

It was much cooler this morning so I thought I might see some running from her but that 50' trot was about all the energy she had. At least while she was within my view.

She continued to walk as if she was exhausted, could barely catch Sadie and I ... she never did because she stayed behind supplementing her diet.

So Sadie and I quickened our pace and took off for the morning walk.

It was still very wet from the heavy dew this morning. I am going to have to go back into my library of photos for this time last year and see if I was having the same problems on the first walk of the day. That shows right there that my memory is suspect yet something 40 years ago I can remember in detail.

It was good to see some flowers return since they baled the field. These were just off the edge of the field in the fast growing brush at the top of the gully. It's the spot that Sadie would like to jump into instead of walking into.

As I walked back looking through my 200mm zoomed lens, looking for Stella. I did not see her in the middle of the field, nor the area where we left her. I didn't see her anywhere near the wooded area behind my neighbors house or near their drainage ditch ... in fact ... I didn't see Stella anywhere.

Then as I glanced along the horizon without the camera, I spotted her ... in an area she had never been except for the few times she was chasing deer and a strange dog visiting the neighbors during Christmas last winter.

She was further north than she had ever been, between my two neighbors to the north. For her to go that far from the area I left her, in the amount of time it took me to walk ... Stella would have had to trot at a fairly fast pace to get to the area where I found her.

Was her slow walk an act to fake me out?  It has happened before ... LOL

Sadie didn't care though. She ran a lot in her walk this morning and finished it with a sprint to the house. She was fast enough that I almost didn't catch her with the camera.

Around noon when all of us went outside after our lunch, it felt like rain, looked like rain but no signs of anything on the weather radar in our area ... all to the north of us.

Stella was more interested in going back inside to start her afternoon siesta rather than taking a walk. She did not move from this spot until I started walking to the door.

Heidi got this far, not even into the yard when she turned around and headed back to the door to be let inside so she could sleep on the couch.

Sadie just looked confused. She didn't even do her normal begging to walk and fell asleep within minutes of going back inside. It was like all three hounds had been zapped with low energy ... strange because it was a good ten degrees cooler than these past few days.

By noon I had very few pictures, not enough activity to blog about and had no plans to fill the afternoon with anything outside the normal day. I did help the economy this morning by spending money on groceries if if my shopping cart looked right ... I took home less food than I normally do. It's amazing how fast money goes when you are buying nothing but basic food.

It wasn't soon after we were back inside, that it was I not Sadie, that needed to get out of the house and head out for a walk. After looking at Stella during that walk I am not sure she was keen on the idea.

With the grocery shopping being the 'hit' of the day, things were almost too quiet. Once again I started a book, only to put it back on shelf after reading a couple of pages. I looked through the alphabetized DVD's and scanned sports talk shows on tv ... nothing there. What to do?

A siesta ... the hounds thought that was a perfect idea and were glad to see their training is paying off in these early years of retirement ... my daily schedule is becoming a lot like their routine.

For the first time in a long time there was no dreaming. That seems to be a big problem lately in my nightly sleeps ... strange confusing dreams.

By the time we woke up this afternoon, both water bowls (3qt & 1qt) for the hounds had been emptied. Heidi was trotting to the door to let me know she had to use the bathroom facilities outside. Stella was still in a semi-state of sleep and didn't know if it was really time to get up or not. Of course Sadie was bouncing up and down on her front legs with excitement ... thinking we were headed for a walk.

We almost were until I stepped outside with Heidi and saw the thermometer I hung on the wall the other day had it's needle above the 90° mark, enough to prevent any confusion if it was really that hot or not.

It was back to having all outside activity suspended until 8pm tonight. A much better time to take that last walk of the day, which would make the 3rd one today.

We will be back to watching Reds baseball tonight, reminding myself that its a rebuilding process  that was decided by the team owner and GM. That means 2017 is not the season where wins are important but getting young players experience playing baseball everyday at the major league level.

I think it is more like "lets cut salaries by the millions of dollars, have fireworks every Friday night after the games to draw a sell out crowd and increase our profits". But that is just thoughts from a lifelong fan that hates losing at any kind of game.

With that last thought, I'm headed to the kitchen for one of many tall glasses of ice tea tonight and get prepared for that 8pm walk with Sadie and Stella.

It's hot and too quiet here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana