Getting Closer

We have the sounds of banging and heavy thuds reverberating through the house.  At long last the repairs are being made to our roof.  The roof was damaged, nine holes, when a 60-foot evergreen blew down about six weeks ago.  We hope they will finish this evening, but they may need to return tomorrow.  Storms are coming our way, so there won’t be much room for delay.

Yesterday, our realtor came to stage our house to prepare it for photographs.  I made a list as I followed him around so that I wouldn’t forget anything.  We’ve begun with some of the easiest tasks, and will work at it daily for the next few days.  The realtor wants the house to look as large as it can, so we are putting away or packing up anything we can live without.  I think the house looks sterile, but it certainly does look BIG!  We need to move at least six chairs, a table, and several other odds and ends downstairs  They want me to shift some plants to clear three windows in the living room.  I’m astonished as how effective his requests are in opening up the rooms.  Be prepared, though; our island in the kitchen looks like the State of Texas.  It’s almost bare, and just huge!

I made a call today, and we have a carpet cleaner coming on Monday.  We had a load of composted topsoil delivered today, and I began top dressing the perennials in the gardens at the front of the house.   I need to find someone to clean the outside windows this coming week.  Dear Husband has talked with a company about delivering gravel for the drive.  The cleaning lady comes on Thursday, and we should have pictures taken on the Friday before Easter!  Whew!

Things are really heating up with the sale of the house.  I can see the agent is eager to sell it.  We are not as eager to make the move, but the time is right for a LOT of reasons.

My mantra these days is:  Wish us luck!  🙂

A Perfect Day

It’s just about 70 degrees here, the warmest day we’ve had since 2013, I think.  This is the day that we have been dreaming about while our lawns and gardens have been covered with six feet of snow.  It’s heavenly out there.  The sky was clear, earlier.  The birds have been making a racket and I saw a bee checking out a crocus.

I have been concerned about my iris.  This past winter was so very hard on them that they have practically jumped out of the ground, and need to be re-seated.  I began top-dressing them this afternoon with a mix of 70% top soil, and 30% mushroom compost.  It will rain this weekend and settle some of that in, and I’ll give it another  layer the next warm day to come along.

The squill are greening up at the base of the tree northwest of our kitchen.  I don’t think it will be long before we see their blue blooms.  I have early, mid- and late season daffodils, and all of them are up.  The early ones are close to bloom, but the weather is supposed to cool down during the next few days, so that may slow down the rush to bloom.  Soon, though.

I have tulip leaves coming up, but something out there (probably the bunnies) is snacking on the leaves.  I don’t know if we will see any blooms other than the Darwin hybrids which have bloomed like clockwork for just about 24 years.

I spent one break  today looking at the collection of seed packets I’ve been collecting in the mudroom.  I discovered that half of the packages were empty.  I’d kept the packages to have the name of the flowers, and where I’d purchased them.  I tossed a few packages which had been sold in years prior to 2010.  I segregated the seeds into flowers, herbs, wildflowers and food, and then made notes about where I wanted to plant them.  I have to wait about a month to put the seeds into the ground, but I’m ready as soon as things warm up.

There is something so satisfying about getting out and working in the early spring.  It does the soul good!