Sunday, June 30, 2013

OPERATION: TAKING MY YARD BACK, an update - part trois

So, that 5 pounds is gone and they took a friend with them. I'm going to start ignoring all of my problems, this one worked out so well.

Messy house because it's too hot to feel motivated to do much?   
      IGNORE!
Kids fighting amongst themselves?
      IGNORE!
Ugly, weird bump on your leg?
      IGNORE!

Voila! Problems solved!

I kid, I kid.  (sort of)   Darn hormones. Or salt. Or....whatever.

It's been so hot here in the Pacific Northwest these past few days. My dear, dear Lobster is still under the mistaken belief that we don't need central air. I had hoped that his red-faced, sweaty, stinky, grumpy wife would have changed his mind, but no luck so far. Thank the heavens for the slightly coolish breeze coming through right now. Our inside temperature has dropped to 80 degrees. 

It is 10:00 pm. UGH.

I took a ride in the car with the boys this evening, after dinner, just to get in front of the air conditioning. I still haven't decided if it was a nice break, or if it just made it feel hotter here at home. One nice thing about the heat, is that I'm definitely drinking a lot of water. Although, I'm sweating so much that I'm pretty sure I am no better hydrated.

Anyway, I thought it was about time to show some more pictures of how our yard is doing. The weeds are under control, the grass is still green, I have vegetable plants in my raised beds, I've got flowers in the window boxes out front and our yard is mostly well-groomed.

What I'm not liking, is the mess with the boys' bikes and balls, and dirt and rocks that always end up on the patio. Hey! I should try that ignoring trick....it's got to work!

Here is the view walking up my front walk. I'm really happy with how the window boxes turned out. I should have stuffed more plants in there, but I'm on a budget, here. I really miss the days that I got my 30% employee discount. 

They'll fill in. Eventually.


The jasmine is blooming. It smells so good!


This rose campion  blooms in such a bright hot pink. It's foliage is woolly, like lambs ears and it re-seeds itself all over.


This bed (below) was overgrown with grass. We had to take everything out. I'm leaving it bare for a little while, to pull the grass as it grows up. I'm sure much of the roots are still there. My lace-leaf Japanese maple could use a good pruning. The branches under all those leaves are quite beautiful. I'm a little chicken to take that one on, myself.


And in the back, the climbing rose has bounced back.
  




And my hydrangea is starting to look lovely.


Baby grapes,


and baby tomatoes,


and baby caterpillars. They've come back for the past 3 years. These are Cinnabar moth caterpillars. They love this ragwort on which they are chomping. It's poisonous, and not very pretty, but I don't pull it out because we love to watch the little guys grow and grow.

Notice the little tiny caterpillar next to its big brother. So cute!

Well, we're down to 79*. We're on our way.


SUNDAY STATS
WEIGHT GAIN/LOSS: -1 lb
TOTAL WEIGHT LOSS: 27.6 lbs
EXERCISE: 2 Kinect Zumba workouts, 28 minutes each
FOOD: Very good choices. I even passed up some french fries, one day
FOOD TRACKING: Excellent! 6 of 7 days
HYDRATION: Excellent - at least 64 oz per day

4 comments:

  1. Beautiful yard way to go on the invaders you're the best keep smiling loveya
    maxine

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yay, now I want to visit, and see it in person!

    ReplyDelete