Restoring my Brother's Faith in Me

It was mild and overcast when I woke up on Friday. However, it’s supposed to rain after 5:00 PM with possible thunderstorms. One can only hope.

I gave a lot of thought to my Brother Carl’s recent comments. Since I have a forsythia quite near where the tree came down, and a new-fangled little pink (rather than an old fashioned overgrown white) Spiraea in the garden in front of the house, I decided to go with his suggested Red Knockout Rose bush.

So, at lunchtime, I went first to the Newburgh Grille and got a cup of clam chowder and a turkey sandwich on a croissant. From there I went to Lowe’s and picked out the best Red Knockout Rose they had left (there were only six to choose from). I also got two bags of Miracle-Gro garden soil and one bag of Miracle-Gro potting soil (to make my magic mix – I am sold on this combination!)

I also got a bag of shredded cedar mulch and a watering can. The watering can I use for my container gardens only has a single spout opening and does not work well for grass seed. This one has multiple holes and will work better, I hope. It’s a long, long way to drag a hose just to water the small amount of grass seed I planted around the border of the new arborvitae.

It’s not supposed to rain until later this evening, so I left the sunroof open so the rose wouldn’t bake. Several people who walked by the car later came in to tell me my sunroof was open and it looks like rain. I told them, “No problem.”

But, there was another problem. Today was the picnic day for the department who’s building we live in. Now like everyone in whose building I have resided but not been a part of the department, they apologized but said, “Sorry, it’s just for our department.”

And, to be truthful, IT does the same, EXCEPT, one of our IT guys is married to the owner’s daughter, who runs the museum, so we don’t have our picnic out in some parking lot, we have it in the museum.

But, like my Building did today, we always set out the leftovers for anybody who wants them. I was stuffed from lunch, so I was good for a while. But to get to the bathroom, I had to walk by all this food! I finally gave in around 4:00 PM and ate a hamburger, some macaroni salad and somebody’s special baked beans. I was definitely stuffed, but later managed to eat a brownie and then decided I wouldn’t need dinner.

Finally, it was 5:00 PM and I was heading home. It was overcast, but no rain yet. I treated the cats, changed clothes and got to work.

I was going to plant the rose right where the tree was, but decided if it really does get to be four-foot wide (and I’m hoping it does) and that forsythia ever starts to grow, it will look a little crowded. So, I planted it just south of the tree spot.

I dug a big hole and naturally ran into a tree root. But, I cut that with the bow saw. I mixed up my dirt and filled the hole to the proper depth. Then I added two gallons of water. When the water went down, I put in the rose (loosening the root ball a little) and then filled in the hole with the fresh dirt.

I cut another circle of landscape fabric and added some of the mulch. I watered all of that with two more gallons of water.

I spread the rest of the dirt over the tree spot and the low spots in the lawn where the old evergreen used to be (yes it still sinks a bit every year even though it been about 10 years since I had it cut down). Then I raked in grass seed in all the bare spots. Since its supposed to rain tonight, I didn’t bother to water it, but I did put two more gallons of water on the new arborvitae.

It was almost 8:00 PM, but I used the electric blower to get the leaves off the driveway. The black walnut is the first tree to drop its leaves in the Fall and its already started. Then I put everything away and locked everything up.

I cleaned up, but still wasn’t hungry. So, I watched some TV. But, I did finally have a snack of cheese and crackers, shortly before going to sleep.