The last of the gardening lists
Daylily by House
Prepare for (possibly) the last of the gardening lists for the year 2014. Taken a deep breath? Taken. Wiggled the typing fingers? Wiggled. But is the mind ready to embrace the items? This will indeed be a challenge, for it's mid-summer, and task one involves shifting and stacking next winter's firewood. Winter? In mid-summer?
To a real gardener this shouldn't be at all odd, since every season and every year looks ahead to the next. But to a semi-lazy, holiday-moody gardener who's been slack and dozy through most of summer's December (me) it will be a shock.
Sunday 28th December
My first job is to rearrange the woodshed, so all the 'older' wood is neatly along one wall. My next job is to barrow logs out of the Wattle Woods over to the designated log-splitting place. Then I have to throw (i.e. manoeuvre, levering with knees bent and back protected) the logs over the fence into the front paddock.
Firewood for Winter :- Here's a photograph of the woodpile, which I stacked in the autumn. Looks neat and tidy, doesn't it?
And then the woodpile behind the Stables shifts into the woodshed. And all this sounds dreadfully boring, so why am I giving so much detail? To commit myself, that's why, and shame the 'slack and dozy' element.
Now this is only item one! But to give this last 2014 list a bit of journalistic fizz, I'm going to release my list items one at a time. Oh my - what will the gardener choose for the second task? How will she prioritise? Will the ordering be numerical, in terms of garden importance, or time needed?
Summer by the Pond
And what about the watering, and the digging of the potatoes? And the cleaning up of the gum bark from the house lawns? And the weeding around the cottage? And how many tasks are on this list, anyway? Aargh! Too many, already. It's in my head, you see, and new items keep attaching themselves as I write. Today is going to be a long day.
Much Later...
A long day, but a brilliant one. So much achieved, by one small gardener, in one huge garden. Well done, Moosey.
Tuesday 30th December
OK. I started off this, the last page of the year, with a hiss and a roar, but - alas - that sneaky, snoozy holiday mood resurfaced. But there's been a cricket test match to listen to (New Zealand playing Sri Lanka) and it's been super hot. Excuses, excuses...
Tiddles and the Cricket Radio
Today, for example, I stacked one barrow-load of wood in my freshly organised woodshed. Oops - just one. I need Non Gardening Partner to co-operate with the trailer, and it's been a little hot for him to contemplate any outdoor physical activity. I'm back on track tomorrow, I promise. That unrequited list is still sizzling under the surface. I know what I have to do.
Buster the Girl Kitten
Huge News!
As well as shifting the hoses around and entertaining the grand-baby, we've taken the kittens to the vet for a check-up. And I have huge news. Buster the black kitten is a girl! Imagine, if you will, the following conversation :
Oh, such a pretty little kitty kitty, what a sweet little girlie you are, and what's your name, little miss pretty kitty?
BUSTER!
So here is Buster's first official photograph as a girl (which she's been all the time, I know, I know). She's such an elegant, languid, laid-back kitten - I should have guessed!
All the cats have found today's heat a little off-putting, while Winnie the puppy has been hopping around on three legs. Poor puppy! I have no idea what she's done, there's no obvious injury, and it's not a grass seed in the paw. She, too, has been feeling the heat.
Raspberry Daylily
Garden-wise, this is the time when my daylilies should be showing off, and though pretty as individual flowers, so far they lack impact. So 'Could do better' goes on their garden report card, for now. Sorry about that.
Wednesday 31st December
After a day of hopping around, moping, and looking oh so sad, Winnie the puppy is back in high spirits. She's back on four legs again, happy and hyperactive, growling and yapping and making her presence felt. Whatever was wrong? A dog-mystery. But we won't be going to the dog-park. She needs to pace herself. Rusty the dog is going out of 2014 on a high. A smelly, stinky high, that is. I've bought some dog shampoo from the vet, and he is about to be semi-sanitised and sweetened. I cannot remember him being quite as fragrant as this before.
Busterella?
At swimming earlier I gave my friends the news of Buster's girliness. So should her name be changed? Definitely not, but my friends have suggested some slight alterations, to minimise gender confusion. Miss Buster, possibly. Or Busterella, or Busterina. Hee hee...
Pink Grootendorst Rugosa Roses
Gentle warm rain is falling as I write, and my plan to load the trailer with firewood has been put on hold. The dogs are soooooo bored with being indoors, so we're going wander down to the hay-barn with the umbrella to feed Lilli-Puss. No problem, though - the last list of 2014 can become the first list of 2015...
Happy New Year's Eve
Happy New Year's Eve to everyone, stay safe, and look forwards, maybe sideways, but definitely not backwards!