The White House

The White House

Monday, May 28, 2012

Another Long Day

Here’s 30 flats of flowers that Nick carried up the hill for me. It makes such a difference when the boys help with things like that. Note the shaggy grass…. it doesn’t look like that anymore, but I never took a photo. I trimmed around each bed (the weed whacker was giving me fits and my arms were noodles from the last few days so I used some no-so-nice words)….then I mowed. It looks so much better even with the dead spots from my boys who insisted they weren’t hurting anything when then were on it this winter. I’ve pointed it out multiple times. Now to haul up some dirt and reseed. :(

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Homer drove back and forth for 14 hours today filling the pool. I cannot believe these two. That water is barely above freezing and they were right out in it. Olivia’s legs were beet red when she got out. And she got back in two more times! She’ll live in there all summer long. (I should invest in a wet suit for her).

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See the crap on the liner in the upper right? The wind blew and a zillion and one birch tree seed pods fell into the water. I was pissed. Still am. I scooped quite a few, but will have to do a lot more tomorrow. I’m just too tired to boogie.

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I only  managed one bed today. This has 28 Pastel Impatiens. I also pulled and pulled grass from between the rocks and sidewalk. I’m sure it will all just grow back. Watered the bed, went to mowing and that was that. Gee…only 14 more flower beds plus the 110-foot bed along the fence (and numerous vegetable beds) left to do.

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I carried 30 flats out of the greenhouse and watered them. There are still another 15 in there plus some in the house. I think I may actually have too many plants this year, but that’s a good thing. That just means more for Debbi.

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So the pool is full, kind of. Homer put in 14 loads and then blew a radiator hose. It’s up to the rocks, but we’d like to go deeper. Maybe next weekend (or the one after). For now there is plenty of water. The water comes from Water Wagon which is a business that sells water for 2 cents a gallon. (Filing from our well would run it dry…we tried that the first year and sucked sand. That was scary). We have a 2000 gallon tank in the back of our dump truck. Homer drives down the hill, loads the tank and comes back around on the flatter ground. It takes an hour a load. So far you are looking at 28,000 gallons which is $560. Yes, that is a lot of money, but if you were here to see the joy it brings the kids all day almost every day you would know it is worth it. Shoot… I am 30 miles from the lake…imagine driving that every day to swim…and the snacks…those always cost a fortune. In the end, all this work really saves us money and they have a blast.  Can’t put a price on kids’ happiness anyhow! (It was sprinkling in this last photo).

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Here’s a short 16-second video of photos after each load.

Filling the pool.

As if I didn’t have enough going on already I coached a soccer practice at 7:00pm tonight. Only 4 boys and Lucas were there, but at least I got to know a few of them. Hopefully the other 4 will be at the game tomorrow. Am I crazy or what?

5 comments:

Nancy J said...

Between the pool, garden, hundreds of plants.more flats, do you have any time to eat??? The pool looks great, and yes, in summer will be such a wonderful place to cool off. Bit cool at our place, 0.5 Celsius at 8 p.m. about 31 F, so all will be white tomorrow.((p.s. not cold by your standards though !!!)) Cheers from Jean.

FlowerLady Lorraine said...

Wow Gayle ~ This post has me wanting to get outside to do something, but I'm barely awake and just sipping on my cup of coffee.

You are one of the hardest working women I know.

That pool is worth the price for those kids. They will remember this for the rest of their lives. It looks lovely too by the way.

Your hard work with your greenhouse pays off every year with the lovely garden beds and hanging baskets full of color.

Have a great week ~ FlowerLady

Kim@Snug Harbor said...

Yes, but you're fun crazy! LOL! The money you spend on the pool is WELL worth it. I always said our pool was one of the best investments we ever made. My kids used it practically every day, plus it kept them busy so I could work in the yard.

Janie said...

Your pool always looks like such fun for the kids. I don't think I'd go in without a wet suit, though. At least not until it has a chance to warm up.

anymommy said...

OH!! I love it when you start doing your garden. Also, your kids are nuts. It's 60 here and we're still shivering.