Yard Work, Take 2

Garden ready!

The plan this summer is to attend to the multitude of projects around the house that I haven't been able to get to in the past two years. As luck would have it, my first weekend of yard work ended with a second degree sprain in my right ankle. This was the consequence for NOT getting to one of the items on my list: filling the "pond" that the kids dug last summer. Today was the first day my ankle was feeling well enough to be out of the walking boot for a significant period of time, so I went right to work on the list of chores immediately after mowing the lawn.
Completed today were the following:

• weeding the garden box
• planting vegetables and flowers purchased during last week's sale
• weed whacking the yard
• filling the hole (!)
• adding dirt and mulch to the front flower bed
• trimming the hedges

Two or three eggs in the hedge

Got it all done with some help from two of three children. We saw plenty of wildlife in the yard today. Chipmunks, a groundhog (under the deck, which I hope was a hiding place and not a home), cardinals, blue jays, mourning doves, sparrows, and a couple of nests complete with eggs (sparrows, perhaps?). It also seems a hawk has been feasting around our house. I cleaned that up, too.

Productive day, but my ankle is in need of some ice and rest. Happy to have gotten that work done; still much more to do. For now, I'm off to grade papers and get ready for the last full week of school.

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A Walk in the Woods

Ths family of geese decided the water
was a better place to be than on the
bank with a bunch of Cub Scouts!

The early afternoon was spent on a hike with my oldest and his Cub Scout den. This was our second time hiking with the Scouts, but the first full hike with gear. We had a great time - despite the abundant ticks - and were grateful that the morning rain didn't make things too muddy to walk the trail.

I was reminded of how much I enjoy being in the woods and embarking on an adventure. As a kid, I took walks in the woods behind my house whenever I felt the need for a little adventure, or to simply clear my mind. Eventually, my two closest friends and I made annual summer journeys hiking and canoeing in the Adirondacks.

Tree tops above the fire pit where we
ended the hike. The sky was gorgeous.

The summer before my senior year of college, I climbed to the top of Mount Washington with one of these friends (who was training to be a mountaineer) and his brother. Mount Washington stands as the tallest peak in the White Mountains of New Hampshire at 6,289 feet. That is about 2,000 feet above the tree line where trees can no longer grow. The view is one I will never forget. I have no idea what possessed me to make this climb (and descent), especially all in one day; it was a big challenge and a whole lot of fun. To this day, I chuckle at the bumper stickers that proclaim: "This car climbed Mount Washington." Oh, yeah? So did my knees!

I have been longing for a trek like this for a while now and am glad my son had such a good time. Can't wait to get out in the woods again! (This time, I'll bring some bug spray.)