Summer Break Begins

I won't lie when I say that one of the reasons I became a teacher is summer break.  About the time Spring Break rolls around, I start dreaming of that first wonderful day that I can sleep in, run errands, and do all the little projects that I've been putting off until I have more time.  Today was that day!  Unfortunately I didn't get to sleep in as much as I'd like, since Abby had her 12-week vet appointment.  She's doing great, and weighs 26 pounds.  Dr. Karen says she's big for her age...we figured.  She discovered today that she likes being sprayed with the water hose.  Fantastic! 

Another task I've been assigned to was mowing the yard.  Since we bought our lawnmower, Nick has let me drive the mower from the trailer into the garage.  That's it.  He usually comes home from work and mows while I cook dinner.  But he decided with my abundance of spare time, I could take over mowing and he made that #2 on my To Do list for the day, second only to Abby's vet appointment.  Mowing went well, until I ran into the branches in the back yard and almost took my own arm off, and got mulberrry stains all over my clothes.  The neighbor was probably standing at the back door, phone ready to dial 9-1-1 in case I knocked myself off the mower.

As always, the landscaping is an ongoing project and was #3 on my to do list.  In a matter of about 10 minutes last night I cut the dying daffodile and hyacinth leaves in the half-circle bed and I was amazed at how much better it looked.  The leaves were really starting to irritate me, and I was thrilled that they looked so much neater.  Abby, of course, had a hay day grabbing the leaves I'd cut and dragging them into the yard.

I also got the dying plants cut out of the front bed, and the shrubs trimmed.  I might end up trimming them some more, but since I'm learning as I go, I didn't want to take off too much.  Abby was inside sleeping at this point, so it didn't take long to get things trimmed and straightened up.

And finally I made my way around to the rose bed.  The ones that were planted awhile ago are doing great, as you can see in the pictures  The new ones got planted later and with the heat and no good rains since they were planted, they're a little slower to get started.  But they're all turning our beautiful and I'm already dreading the end of summer when the roses are gone and I won't have them in vases in the house all the time. 

Hopefully I'll have lillies blooming tomorrow.  They smell delicious!!