The weekend was warm enough and precipitation free, that Mommy was finally able to get outside and do some yard work. It's been a long time since she has taken care of anything in the yard. Her thyroid made her so sick this time last year that she had to leave the yard work to the hired help. She's back to normal now, so she gets to do the dirty work herself! I'm sure that makes her happy. She started by pruning the roses. She is well aware the roses should have been pruned a while back, but we have a little more time than our Southern friends to do this task. And we've had snow on the ground forever! While Mommy was cutting and hacking, she suffered a wardrobe malfunction.
If you had seen Mommy, I'm sure some of you would say (Daddy especially) that she was already suffering from a wardrobe problem even before the dirty deed happened. She kept her jammies on, added her oldest quilted field coat, her muck boots, and her thickest gardening gloves. Her hair was in a topknot, yet still kept getting stuck in the roses. Hair was sticking out everywhere! She was a sight for sore eyes . . . or maybe she made your eyes sore? Mommy had progressed to the very last rose bush when she felt a tug and then a cool breeze. Her pajama bottoms had gotten caught on a thorn and before she knew it, there was a massive RIP in the knee of the pants!
Mommy was heartbroken. She loves these pj's for three reasons: they are purple, they have moose on them, and they have wreaths! Yes, these pants should have been put away by now since it's April and not the holiday season, but it's still very chilly here at night! I keep trying to tell Mommy it's not a big deal since she has MANY more pajama choices, but she is lamenting the loss of the purple wreathed moose. [sigh]
After finishing with the roses, Mommy moved on to the grapevine. She really had no idea what she was doing. We've had the grapevine for about three years. It produced a TON of Concord grapes two years ago, but not as many last year. I'm not sure if that was due to the massive amounts of rain we had last summer, the bugs eating the grapes, or Jenna eating the grapes. She's never pruned the grapevine before, so only time will tell if she did it right.
Jenna loves to help with the yard work. She was especially useful with the grapevine. She noticed Mommy struggling to pull away some of the larger vines, so she grabbed a vine and gave it her best effort. She also found a very thick weed growing nearby and decided to yank it up too.
Hunter was no help at all. He just sat around and relaxed. I guess with age come special privileges.
Where was I you ask? I was doing my best to take Mommy's mind off the horrible chores she had to do in the yard. She will admit she's not the best gardener, but she doesn't have the black thumb she had almost fifteen years ago when she married Daddy. Her thumbs are mostly green today, occasionally yellow, or spotted, but mostly green! I stopped her every few minutes to remind her that I was waiting for her to throw the tennis ball. If she continued working, I would give her a little bark to tell her it's okay to take a break every so often. We worked well as a team. Bark, throw the ball, chop the vine, bark, throw the ball, chop the vine.
Hopefully the vine will survive Mommy's pruning efforts and produce plenty of grapes for this year's jelly.
Mommy's Favorite Little Helper,
Dixie
