Gardening, Sunburn, and Weeds...Oh, My!

Yesterday, I mowed the lawn, put down Scott's turf builder plus weed killer, trimmed back the ornamental grass around the pond, and sprayed home guard to let the spiders know they are not wanted in the house!

Today, I spent the afternoon picking up the spiny balls the sweet gum tree continues to drop. Clearing these from the flower gardens among the bark mulch was a killer! I looked very strange with my hubby's knee pads over my jeans, my "Welcome to My World" Elvis t-shirt, tan and black leather gloves, my once white-now green tennis shoes, and a black baseball cap. I crawled around in flower beds like I was looking for a lost contact. I did fill one of the large lawn and leaf bags with those sticky, spiny balls. I must say the garden area looks good. When I finished, I sprinkled Preem to detract any weeds from growing.

I've never been a gardner. I do NOT like crawly things which always seem to be on the attack when I'm outdoors. But with my full armor and leather gardening gloves, I'm getting braver. Just hope this early start on the gardens will help me keep them in good shape this year.

So, I have gotten my exercise big time the past two days...and I also received a nice sunburn on my arms! Not bad for mid April.

Now, I need to get caught up on my writing! We're looking at three days (at least) of rainy weather, so I can get back to work on my manuscript.
We've had two beautiful days in my area of the world. Sunshine, 70 degree temps. I just couldn't resist spending as much time outdoors as possible. I needed to get exercise, too, so I decided to begin weeding and preparing our flower beds for spring. Some of the hostas are already growing nicely. Also, when cleaning the front beds, I could see shoots for the cone flowers coming up as well. We have a number of knock-out rose bushes, and they are already growing and looking fantastic!

My Sheriff is in Crisis, but I Have Spiny Balls Everywhere!!

So, here I sit contemplating the next scene in my novel while staring out the window and knowing I should be outside while the weather is decent to work on the yard. We have a sweet gum tree in our front yard. Hubby planted it because of it's fast-growing nature. The squirrels LOVE it. Right now, all the bare limbs are covered with these round prickly balls. I call them spiny balls. Lots of crafters love to use these to make wreaths. The squirrels love them for the hidden seeds inside the little indents.

Not only are the limbs covered with these balls, but so is the lawn! Picking them out of the grass is a real pain, literally. So, I rake them into piles and put them into yard waste bags. As quickly as I rake them up, more fall down. The only good thing I can find about having them is the exercise involved in raking.

 Ah, but Sheriff Taylor is calling me to help him out of the dilemma he is facing. Okay, writing wins! I'll just wait until the limbs are bare to tackle the yard.