No pain, no gain

Today I am hobbling around with some serious sore muscles. Went a little crazy working in my flower beds yesterday afternoon and now I'm paying for it. Today's post is sponsored by Advil!

I love daffodils. Not only are they gorgeous, they are extremely low maintenance. They are not responsible for any of my sore muscles.

Here's part of the reason everything hurts from my waist down. This is part of the perennial border south of our house. I cleaned off all the leaves, sticks, dead stalks, etc. and dug out about 100 dandelions. I swear those dandelions were growing under the snow. The day lilies are coming up now, along with the peonies, Russian sage, phlox and some tulips.

Here's more of the reason I am gimping around like a granny. I cleaned off the perennial bed by the patio and back door, too. I really love this bed. After about 5 years, it's really filling in. By June it will be full of blooms and greenery. There are some day lilies, purple coneflower, sedum, salvia, phlox, ornamental grasses and hen and chicks. I'll throw some snapdragons and petunias in, too, for instant color gratification.

This is the only rose I've ever been brave enough to try growing. Its blooms are a very hot coral pink, totally stunning. It's a miniature and it's surviving in spite of me. It would look a lot better if I didn't dig it up and move it every year. Seriously, I've moved this poor little rose nearly every year for the last four years because it always seems to end up in the wrong place and something decides to grow over it. It keeps blooming anyway, even though it looks kind of rough right now after I trimmed all the winter-killed growth off.


This is the opening to one of our cisterns. Even though we have rural water now, we still run a well for livestock, mixing field chemicals, gardening, etc. According to the Farmer, the cistern is "broke." He is doing something in it to make it un-broke. I don't really know how cisterns work and I'd like to keep it that way. If I learn too much, pretty soon it will be MY job to make it un-broke. It's about 12 feet deep and 10 feet in diameter.


The dogs helped me garden all afternoon. Phoenix kept the birds chased away and brought me things at random, like the water bucket out of the kennel and various garden tools. Jamie shredded sticks and dug small exploratory holes. They were 'zhausted when we came back inside.