What’s on Tap?

What’s on tap for this weekend? Well, let’s see. There’s that mountain of yardwork that could be done. We’re going out tonight after work to buy fertilizer, temporary fencing to keep Phoebe off of the muddy areas in the back and a roller to try and regrade the backyard. You may or may not remember that we had a geothermal heating/cooling system installed last November. They had to dig up the backyard to put it in and the well drilling truck sank its wheels into the soft, muddy ground because it had been raining for days before. So, we have some huge ruts that will snap your ankle if you walk on them the wrong way and generally muddiness in the backyard. It’s like the first spring after the house was built, all over again!

So, we need to roll and dig and roll and rake and hope to get it back to some semblance of smoothness again and then sow some starter seed. A lot of that is going to be heavy and/or tractor work, so that will be Terry’s domain. I want to try to do it this weekend because the ground is nice and soft, so it should be more malleable.

Add to that mess the fact that Terry installed a sump pump (though I never see water in the basement) and the outlet has been making a nice, muddy pit a couple of feet from the foundation in the back and, well, he has some work to do. 😉 We’ll have to dig a trench, line it with stone, lay down black, perforated pipe and run the outlet pipe underground to meet up. Fortunately, there is an untouched section of yard for Phoebe to do her business. Hence the need for temporary fencing. I’m tired of her coming in with muddy paws!

I will probably weed, spray and put down some more mulch in areas. There are other areas that need to be cleared out, so some combination of pruners (hand or bypass) and shovels will be needed. And then maybe I will play with the tiller a bit. It’s so light that it tends to bounce on our clay and rock-ridden soil, so I have trouble keeping it down.

I also need to (more importantly) start some seeds in the house for vegetables in the garden and lavender plants that I eventually want to line the driveway. I know, I should have started them much earlier, but I didn’t want any seedlings to dry out and die while we were in Utah, so I do what I can. 🙂

Add to that, copious amounts of stitching. I want to finish my fourth (and last, at least for now) incarnation of Alegria and then I have to baste my RR fabric and work on Barnabee’s Quest and Computer Wizard. They are calling for rain on Sunday, which would be good, to keep me inside!

And so starts that time of year where my desire to stitch and my desire to be outside war with each other on a fairly constant basis…