Happy Earth Day!

Even though I took yesterday off from work, I didn't spend any time in my yard, because there were a bunch of other things I needed to do, including finishing the TDD Race Report. But today, I woke up early (damn--part of this I think is just general excitement with the lengthening of the days), and it's a beautiful day, so I spent about 2.5 hours working on my front yard. It's almost all cleaned up and prepped, except for bundling up the perennial stems. Daffodils and hyacinths are blooming, and I really like this part of spring before the trees leaf out.

I've still got probably 20 more hours to go to get the entire yard cleaned up, annuals planted, shrubs trimmed, etc. One woman walking by this morning asked me if I'd work on her gardens, and I told her I would, but at $400/hour, which is what I would charge for landscape consultation (which may be in my future, who knows?).

While I was out there, I did a lot of pine cone gathering, weed pulling, and then sweeping. I was thinking I could get out the electric blower to clean off the sidewalk, but what fun is that and besides it's Earth Day! No reason to use electricity to do something that I can do with good old manual labor! I enjoy being able to use my body for practical things as well as the occasional workout :) And I prefer to do the yard work myself. I still think I want to move to a smaller place (townhouse or condo) with no yard maintenance, but then you know what? I've used the hell out of my current house (just come by and see and you'll know what I mean), and I get so much pleasure from flowers and just a well-kept yard, and I know it provides much pleasure to passersby. When I get the usual, "Isn't that a lot of work?" I just sort of smirk because most of them have no clue about all the time I spend on triathlon.

But this is one thing that keeps me balanced, I suppose. Plus, it's just so much fun getting dirty!