It was a dark and stormy night..

It's been raining here all day long. I really can't complain though because some people have a hurricaine to deal with.

I am a person that is not really afraid of bugs in general. I've been known to smash ants or small moths with my bare hands. Centipedes are a different story. Those, I tend to sick Billie on. Terriers come in handy in this way.

But I am in awe of the spider that dwells in our gangway. First of all, I am convinced this creature is a genius as it it selected probably the best location on our property. And it is eating very well- I've stood there and watched it.



Here it is. Isn't it amazing?

Parkway Expansion

I took advantage of the long weekend and I am about 90% done with our parkway project.

Ingredients:
2 trips to Buy the Yard to get river rocks
400 pounds of rock
4 bags hardwood mulch
3 bags of soil conditioner
1/2 day Saturday
1/2 day Sunday
one achey elbow

Here is the view from the south side. The bed has hostas bordering it, iris, roses, sedum, some alliums, our slowly growing pine tree, and one hardy shrub (seen on the far end).

I plan to add a bunch of daffodils and muscari for the spring.

This is the view from the north. On Monday I saw a little boy walking along the rocks and I thought that was kind of cute.

Here is the last section, which I will be wrapping up this coming weekend.

The worst part about this whole project was removing the grass and also digging out the very compacted and root filled soil.

Anyone who has excavated a city parkway will know what I am talking about. But what I kept telling myself is that this is a "one time" job and as long as I do not plant grass again- I will never have to go through this again! Kind of like stripping woodwork- don't paint it and you won't have to strip it again.

I am super happy with the way this project turned out. I didn't have to buy a single plant either after dividing up the existing hostas and relocating a few others from various parts of the yard.