Friday? Really?

This week has been a bit of time out of time. For the first time in many, many months, I’ve had no editing projects in house — I was able to wrap up one a little early last week, and the next has been delayed — so I’ve had a whole entire week to just . . . putter. It feels weird. I spent the whole week not really having a grip on what day it was, not really consulting my to-do list, not dealing in absolutely-must-get-dones. When I went to bed last night, I could have sworn it was Tuesday night. Really.

I started Monday with a bit of a brainstorming session, knowing that I had at least a couple of free days ahead of me. I took my tea out to the front porch first thing in the morning and made a new list of all the outdoor projects I wanted to tackle in the next two years or so, just to get them out of my head. (I’m easily distractable when I’m working in the yard; I always see a dozen other things that need to get done that I don’t want to forget to do, and before I know it, I’m working on a bunch of things all at once. I needed some focus here.)

I’ve been working on the rock wall out front all summer, digging out this horrible invasive ornamental vine that is near impossible to get rid of (chameleon plant, or Houttuynia cordata — never, ever, ever plant this horrible thing in your yard). Earlier this summer, I pulled all the rocks down from one end of the wall and dug up the dirt behind it. This was actually a good thing, because that part of the wall was way too steep and the rocks were always tumbling down off it anyway, so I was able to take advantage of the opportunity to lessen the slope a bit. Then it got ridiculous hot and I got crazy busy, and it sat for a while. This past weekend I had time again and the weather cooperated, so I was able to get more of it dug out and partially reassembled.

Monday, as I sat with my list staring at the rock wall mess, I decided that today would be the day it would get done. The Lowe’s car-loader-upper guy was skeptical, but I assured him we could get those three bags of rocks, four bags of dirt, and eight bags of mulch in the Saturn. With room to spare. And we did. (I kind of wish they’d send the car-loader-upper guys home to help unload, though.) I got the rest of the rocks put back in place over top of some landscape fabric, and dumped the broken bricks, cinderblocks, and drainpipes that had been hidden under the rocks in my scrap pile back in the woods. I filled in around the rocks with the dirt, dug a trench next to the driveway and filled in with some rocks to help with the drainage, and put a nice layer of mulch over all of it.

Then I mulched this section in the backyard that I’ve been meaning to do for a few months now. (See “easily distractable” above.)

And then back to the front to dig some more of that stupid vine out of areas that don’t have rocks. All in all, a very good, productive day. There’s still about thirty square feet that needs to be dug out, but it got hot again, and I moved my attention indoors. Those of you who follow me on Twitter or are friends on Facebook saw what I bought, but it’s going to have to wait for another post for all the gory details.