Public service project

These are photos of the landscaping I did today after work - it is the entrance to a local park - through a local organization called Operation Brightside I got permission for the Parks Dep't to put in this planting bed and I got the plants from Operation Brightside.

You can't really see them, but stairs lead down to the sidewalk at this point in the park so hopefully these plants will make it more welcoming. On the other side of the stairs is another area that needs to be landscaped. This spring my brother and I chopped down and chipped a tree/shrub from hell (note: this put me in the "owe favor" column - after taking my nephew cub scout camping I think things are a least even or perhaps even puts me in the "owed favor" column).

Damn squirrels

Giant tomatoes

The tomatoes planted in pots in my backyard went through a crazy growth spurt towards the end of the growing season. Unfortunately, the squirrels are getting all the tomatoes before I can pick them.

Leo - as a kitten & now

Backyard from upper deck

Backyard photos

Here are some photos of the backyard. I will try to get some more up soon.

Spring flowers

The daffodils I planted last fall are up and blooming. Other things are starting to grow slowly but it appears that since most of the planted area are on the north sides of the house and garage that my stuff is all a week or so behind similiar plants in the area. For instance, the crabapples in Tower Grove Park are just about ready to open while mine are justing starting to shows flower buds.

If the weather holds, I am planning to haul in one final (I hope) truck load of dirt to finish building the flower beds on the east side of the back yard. I will also need to add some dirt to a few other areas and adjust the "stepping stones" that are next to the deck. Once that is done I will need to start figuring out what I am going to plant.

The grass I put down as sod last fall is doing wonderfully. Tonight I mowed it for the second time. Woo hoo!

Table

This is the dining room table I bought from Oakwood Industries in Memphis (where my parents live). I finally got it all set up. The carpeting is Flor carpet "tiles".

I guess now I need to have people over for dinner...

Backyard

Things are starting to grow in the backyard. Still lots of work to do...

Snow in the backyard

This was the big March 4th snowstorm.

Another weekend report

The “big” project this weekend was getting rid of the last pile of rubble which has been sitting at the back of the yard next to the garage. It was a combination of chunks of concrete from the old sidewalk plus some dirt mixed with chunks of brick and concrete from the house. Saturday morning I loaded the bigger chunks into the yellow wagon and filled 12 five-gallon buckets with the smaller stuff. That takes care of most of it but there are few more buckets that I can haul to the dumpster a little at a time.

After that I hauled some dirt out to create a new planting bed at the southeast corner of the grass, planted the purple birch tree there and then mulched it. In the spring I will need to add some perennials or something. I also hauled some dirt in to build up the bed on the west side of the yard (between the grass and the concrete pad). I planted the white rose I have had in a pot on the deck into the bed plus an ornamental grass I picked up a couple weeks ago at Lowes (on sale).

I also ran some errands including checking out Home-Eco which bills itself as “St. Louis’s first environmentally friendly home products store serving eco-conscious consumers.” It has some interesting stuff including a composting barrel I am considering buying. The $179 price tag is the only reason I did not buy it while I was there. I picked up a sandwich at the Macklind Avenue Deli and headed to the Contemporary Art Museum for the Maya Lin exhibit. As a point of reference, she designed the Vietnam memorial in Washington DC. It is a nice exhibit although there were a few space/display issues that irritated me. I want to go back and see it after dark as the interplay of light on the pieces will be quite interesting.

Since I was in the area I also stopped at Bowood Farms. Like all the other nurseries in town their stock is low but they do get kudos for still the place still looking wonderful. I bought two amaryllis bulbs, some paperwhite bulbs, a purple kale, and a pot of ornamental Swiss chard. I planted all of those except one of the amaryllis bulbs once I got home. I need to find a pot for the one I did not plant.

Saturday night I went to a party hosted by someone I used to work with. He and his wife now live in the neighborhood directly south of mine so I was only about a mile or so away. It was OK except that I felt a lot older than anyone at the party and I ended up smelling like the bonfire.

Sunday morning I got up, went to Starbucks, loaded the truck, and headed to Linn so I could dump the rubble on my brother’s farm. Once I got there I unloaded the rubble and let Jack run around on the farm with their dogs for awhile and then spent some time with my sister-in-law and niece once they got home from church (my brother & the boys were at my parents’ for deer season). My niece is growing fast. Drove back to the city and had just enough time to change before heading over to some friends’ for an early Thanksgiving dinner – they are going to be on vacation in Italy over the actual holiday so they had an early celebration dinner. After that I came home to watch Sunday night TV and crashed on the couch.

Earlier today we got almost a half inch of rain and it is raining again as I post this. This will help all the new stuff I have planted over the past few weeks prosper plus it gets me out of having to water it all using the hose.