Two Days in the Garden

On the first day we weeded. And things looked pretty nice. But on the second day, Joe came with a plan. The grass between the slate stone path and the garden beds would all be dug out.
The slate stones that formed my front walk would be lifted, and the long ones would be broken into shorter stones. And it would all be mulched.

I have a very old, very heavy hand mower that I have to use in the front where the yard is too small for my tractor. It's nearly impossible for me to get it up to the top yard by the front porch by myself, and in the dooryard near the kitchen door, it was very difficult for me to manouever it in the tighter spaces along the path. That problem is now solved. All mulch = no mowing.

This was a lot of work, but Joe's amazing. He just keeps going. And when he keeps going, I keep going. In a little more than four hours, the two of us managed to reposition the big stone step by the arbor, pull up the slate walk, resize and replace each one of those stones. Then, while I spread the mulch, Joe reseated each of the stones that make up the steps along the front of the house. Then he built a pretty stone border around the garden bed by the driveway.

He planted the pretty double-petaled daffodils I bought at the First Aid Squad sale in Long Valley yesterday morning between the kitchen door and the utility room door. He also repaired the stone wall, and dug out a dead tree.
Working side by side with Joe is an amazing experience.




I have never had anyone lean into the yoke with me the way he does. I find myself willing and able to do much more then I've ever done before. Together, we make things beautiful. Together, we make beautiful things.
While we worked out front, Hudson and Crow were out back. Hudson was quite content to just lie there and survey his kingdom. If he could see us, that was fine. If he couldn't, there were other things to keep his attention. Crow, on the other hand, had a major, four hour long tantrum because she was out back and we were out front. She started to dig under the fence (I put NO to that pretty quickly!) When she could, she settled for watching us through the utility room window, looking from the back, right through the shed, and out the open door in front. If she couldn't,
she'd jump off the patio, and try to find a vantage point from somewhere along the fence. If that didn't work, she just screamed. And screamed. And screamed.

I'm glad the job got done. While I might have tackled portions of it on my own, I never could have done the whole thing by myself. It was a lot of heavy work with those slates and stones. Joe provided the muscle, and the overall plan, and the impetus. I provided a hand, and every now and then a minor suggestion. Oh yeah. And the mulch. It felt good to get it done. And while it looks a lot better, it didn't really look unsightly beforehand. Still, I'm sure the neighbors are glad the job is done, too. The flowers are blooming. The Crow is quiet again.