weekend weeds and bark

This weekend Steve & I worked like crazy. We have decided that it is time to get our house on the market. For some, this decision means calling a realtor, setting up an appointtment, deciding on a price, and digging a sign hole to place the FOR SALE sign in the front yard.

This is NOT what we have to do. First, there is the outside of the house. We have a small yard, BUT we have LOTS of flower beds. One thing we have learned is plants grow to goliath proportions! Along with the irises that are 4 ft. tall and tulips the size of soup mugs; we have dandelions bigger than pom-pom mums. So, we began with the outside.

We have a stone path by our house that few people have seen...why, you ask? Because the weeds have taken over. Round-up appears to be plant food for our weeds on that side of the house. (One time, I sprayed round-up and then a couple of days later checked, only to see thriving weeds. However, Steve asked me why I killed the neighbor's grass!?! I denied that I had done that ... vehimately denied it and then I looked. Sure enough...Grass -> DEAD; Weeds -> triving!) My conclusion???? Round-up = Plant food.

On Friday I pulled all of the stones up & on Saturday, Steve and I pulled and poisoned the weeds, reset the stones, and began to cover with bark. By the end of Sunday, we had used 20 bags of bark AND 60 feet of edging and 2 gardens were weeded! The sale for the bark, of course, was over this week so off we went to Home Depot to pick up as many bags as the CRV would hold...15.

We got to Home Depot and stood looking at the bark...And then, Steve's eyes lit up, he saw the palate of bark and asked...do you deliver? REALLY???????? How much...oh, there's the catch. Too much. But the nice HD person said, YOU could use our truck and then YOU could take a palate home. WOW...for only 19.95...a deal at half the price. But, as with all things, there was another catch...we had to do it in 75 minutes or pay extra.

Palate loaded. We took off...okay, that sounds like the truck was fast...nope. We got home and unloaded...now remember...a palate of bark. We had already worked very hard all weekend and let me tell you...my body felt old. We unloaded 60 bags of bark. By the last 2 rows, I was doing a count down...8.....7.....ugh....6666666666666666.....ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh....ffffffffffffff5...you get the picture. With that, we have about 1/4 of the gardens done, we have a mountain of bagged bark in the driveway and a plethora of weed remaining.

We were dirty, tired, and could not straighten up, but we have a start on calling a realtor. After the gardens, we only have ROOMS full of knick-knacks, collections, memorabilia, treasures...call it what you like or just call it junk. We also have 10 sets of dishes, antiques, a couple of boxes labeled: Toys to save for girls, clothes to save for girls, or books to save for girls. Then there are the 17 boxes of Christmas decorations...whose idea was it to have a tree in every room of the house...isn't that a bit extreme?

So, we are pointed in the right direction for selling our house. Only the yard and several rummage sales or trips to local good will and we should be ready. My goal...September. If we get it done earlier...that's great. So if you have a burning desire to do yard work, or LOVE sorting other people's stuff OR it is your life's desire to have multiple rummage sales....give me a call...our realtor will thank you.