The Weekend. It's a Start

Well, yesterday, I seasoned up a pork butt (which is actually a shoulder cut, but I didn't make up the name...) with a marinade and sent it to the fridge to tenderize the meat. And then started outside to work on the front flower bed closest to the front doorway. This has become my project in the summer ever since I got a little too ambitious and decided to eliminate the icky witchy-prickly creepy stuff. I don't recall what it is called. All I know is that it took days because the roots were like a tangled web and about 3 inches in diameter in lots of spots. And I still come upon some of it in different places each summer. This year was no different, except this year there were mushrooms growing on the piece of root that hat worked its way up 12 inches to the surface. I will be a neurotic mess if it makes its way out and starts to bud...

But I digress. Each year we watch the Azalea plant bloom and fade very quickly and then get the bug to plant the area with lots of color. This usually leads to Annuals. This is usually very time consuming. But the color payoff is beautiful. But its also kind of expensive. So, a couple of summers ago, I decided to put some dianthus in. What I didn't notice, was that I actually grabbed the perennial dianthus instead of the annual. So the next summer it came back bigger and better. So, I divided it and it flourished even more! We decided that we would add more perennials to the existing flowers this year and divide and replant until it looked like we wanted. This would save us both time and money.

This year, the great growing dianthus has exploded. And gotten thick and tangled and LEGGY! Ugh. Well, it had to be done so I set out to do it. Ugh. Can't I play in the sprinkler with AuBrynne? She's having A LOT of fun. And on this 92 degree day, I'm actually breaking a sweat. This is rare for me. I'm the lucky one in the family... Ask me later... I actually got ALL of the old dead dry stuff removed and the bed was ready to be divided and planted. But I got a nice reprieve when the baby told me she was shutting off the water, and that it was time to go inside -we did. Three hours later.

So, today, I popped the meat in the oven for a few hours and went to finish the planting. Eegads! The temp seems hotter today! And given that it's the Chicagoland area, its really humid too. But I got everything divided and planted. In a few weeks, all of the dianthus will spring back and bloom again. I can't wait!  Now, the other 90% of the yard...

And I got the fountain going. Yay! Me... See, I don't need my little brother to do it...

And my mother even got into it and did the bed that surrounds the mailbox.  It looks great!

 

And I even had enough energy to make the barbecue sauce and some fresh cole slaw too!  It was pretty yummy!  And it was all soy free! Gotta love when your food doesn't make you sick.  You just have to make every  bit of it yourself. This is not a new concept to me, just reminding myself how satisfying it is to help me to be happy about doing it all again... Anyways It was a good weekend.