Oh Heavenly Day

The weather today was picture perfect with blue sky and temps in the 70's, and we spent it absorbing vitamin D and ultra-violet rays. I think it went a long way to rebuild my mental condition, allowing me to shake off the past few days. Deep breath, exhale, repeat. Even the air is better.

We got up early and took a walk around the county lake. The nearly completed landscaping project there is beautiful and so in tune with our climate, topography, and sensibilities. There are water features and terraces, and lovely little paths and benches, interesting rocks, and even this early in the season, waves of color. We visited the bench my family had placed there in memory of my oldest brother who died almost five years ago. It has been revamped with new boards and a new plaque and now has some landscaping around it although it is still off the path. It faces the water at the mouth of a pretty little cove because he loved to fish.

We stopped at a hardware store/home center on the way home and looked at plants but didn't buy any. We did buy some mulch and some compost because the task today was to clean up the flower beds and spruce up the yard. I also had some pots of hens and chicks to put into my new strawberry pot. We ended up working all day and just finished the back yard. The front needs a lot of help too, but that's tomorrow.

I got some stuff called Shake Away (I think) to put into my pots to keep the squirrels out of them. I didn't talk to the lady at the nursery, but she told R it has coyote pee in it. I can't imagine how that would be collected. The active ingredients are garlic oil and urea and something else I can't remember. So far, it seems to be working pretty well, even though it said it could take up to two weeks to be completely effective.

It's supposed to be safe around kids and pets. That's important with my dirt-digging granddaughter. She probably eats it too, so I'll need to watch her closely. I don't want her to eat coyote pee.

I have a sunburned face and bloodshot eyes and I stank to high heaven until I finally took a shower about 7:30 pm. Every bone in my body and every muscle including my eyelids aches, but it was a beautiful day that allowed us to remember why we love spring in the midwest. It also let us put a lousy winter behind us, because we know we'll have more warm days now than cold.

And that heals my soul.