Friday - 08/20/2021 — So, I’ve been busy. Well, sort of busy.
You see, it had gotten to the point where I couldn’t even see my front path. I knew those stepping stones were there, but they were buried beneath so much growth, even the squirrels were having a hard time getting through.
Each morning for the past month and a half, I’ve donned my heavy boots at 6:30am and pulled on my garden gloves (see last Friday’s post). Then I’ve spent fifteen minutes or so digging up the stepping stones and pulling clumps of the Japanese Stiltgrass that had taken over the paths. Then I’d fill a bucket with ground-up tree mulch, tote it to the de-weeded area, and dump it. Another trip to the mulch pile, another bucketful onto the path. Slow going, but I was making progress, stopping every once in a while to move one of the stepping stones back into place. By 7am I was wringing wet, sore, and thoroughly pooped, so I’d quit for the day, shower, eat breakfast, and consider my job well done.
Then Veronica, my wonderful daughter, told me she was coming over to help. She showed up at 1:30 a couple of Saturdays ago and worked for FOUR hours, completing the front path and making huge inroads on the one that goes around the side of the house. How did she accomplish so much? (Besides being 30 years younger than I am and in great shape!)
She went home, got her air compressor, and used it to pump up the flat tire on my old wheelbarrow. Then she could cart the equivalent of twenty or thirty buckets of mulch at a time.
These pictures show what I started with two months ago and what the path looks like now. Amazing difference, wouldn’t you say?
