A Hole in My Floor & More Gardening

Mike came and cut a hole in my living room floor on Friday. (He also drove in so we could go to hear the John Prine Concert) After pulling up the oak hardwood we found the ugliest dark brown linoleum we've seen in years. It's that awful stuff they put on the schoolroom floors in the 1950s....it was ugly then and hasn't improved with age. That went too, but I wore a particle mask so I didn't breathe the asbestos that was undoubtedly in it. After Mike attached the cement board the "hole" thing didn't look so ugly. The next challenge will be to lay the tile in my Navajo Blanket pattern and successfully carry the pattern up the wall. I can see how to do the floor part and keep the lines straight, but the wall piece bothers me. My vision is so prone to "list to port" (even my photos often lean 2 degrees left) that I fear that part will be the most difficult for me. Add to that the fact that nothing in my house....walls, floor, anything.....is level and it should be interesting at the least.


My day today began with Edna's gladiola bulbs. Edna had phoned Friday to say she'd bought bulbs and would I put them in her yard and mine. They are a beautiful dark purple. I chose to put them in the strip of ground that belongs to me while the view belongs to Edna. About 11:00am I figured, if I worked fast, I could get her bulbs planted before the dark clouds opened to give a rain storm. I donned gloves, brought my yellow bucket for weeds, a trowel and weeder and set to work. Got the bulbs in fine...no rain. Her front planter was full of dandelions and weeds, as was her grass. Pulled all the dandelions, pulled all the weeds in the planters, planted an Irish Cream Rose for her, scattered flower seeds in her planters and in mine.....no rain. Put Weed & Feed on both front lawns and half of my back lawn, discovered the rest of my Weed & Feed had gotten wet, ran to the garden center, bought more Weed & Feed plus 5 tomato plants and one Jalapeno pepper........no rain. Planted Jalapeno pepper and then tomatoes in red mulch plastic....no rain. The tomatoes look weird in that plastic stuff but it's supposed to make a better crop of fruit. We'll see. Finished putting the Weed & Feed on the back lawn, watered everything, planted two hydrangea plants from Lana's cuttings, gave all my veggies and flowers some long-acting plant food and still no rain!!! By 5:00pm I was beat! My yard looks like a garden again, stuff is growing (weeds as well, darn it) and looks like I will have a nice yard again this summer. It's now 7:45pm and it still hasn't rained, though the clouds remain around the edges. What a beautiful day. Perhaps Spring really will come and Summer to follow. I just love it here!!!!