Plans

While Chantria is gone for a week, I have Plans.

The first thing I did was box up all her stuff that’s in the hall into see-thru plastic boxes and set them inside her room.

Then, I did a bunch of yardwork because it has to be done. That really doesn’t have anything to do with whether she’s here or not, because she doesn’t do yardwork.

Still, I pruned back the tomatoes. Now that the killing heat is past, they’ll produce at least until February. If it’s a mild winter (and I don’t think it will be), the tomatoes could produce through the whole winter and into spring and possibly even until the next heat wave in June. If I hothead them, I may be able to keep them producing even in a harsh winter.

The rosemary has picked up a bad case of spider infestation and they’ve spun webs all through it. I treated it today and will have to treat it daily until the spider go away.

The horsetail has decided it really loves me, and when I harvested it today, I got over 6 pounds of horsetails, the shortest of which was 2 feet long, and most averaged about 3 1/2 feet. The dill is getting desperate to seed and has stopped leafing out, so I will let it seed and collect that in a week or two. The sage needs to be pruned back for winter. The basil is also desperate to flower and go to seed and I’m fine with that. Most of hte rest of the herbs are reviving for a final fall burst. I think they’ll go until December before I need to winterize them.

I had to tie up the raspberry canes, they’ve grown so well this year. Next year, they’ll be old enough to produce raspberries, a real crop, not the 5 yummy ones they gave this year. I have some prunings from the Zombie Maple and will make a trellis for the raspberries.

I’ve been graphing out a garden labyrinth for the back yard. I want to use the Square Foot Garden method, using a simple labyrinth pattern in raised beds. Pretty and delicious. It all depends upon if I can scrounge enough planks to do this.

The front yard will also be converted to an edible landscape. I already have culinary lavender and roses growing htere, along with most of my herbs. I’d like to add some edible flowers, climbing spinach, and some tea hedges and herbs.

Tomorrow after work I will sort and box all her kitchen stuff. There’s no need to have her kitchen things sitting out when she’s using all my stuff instead. Put them in tidy boxes and stack the boxes tidily away and it will free up room in my kitchen. Room I will desperately need for Cookie Day, and it’s not too soon to be thinking about that.

Tuesday, I will finish fixing the vacuum cleaner and mow vacuum the kitty messes, and I will probably re-arrange the living room again. I am building a floor to ceiling room divider (still in the planning stages, I have to figure out how much wood I will need), and that will affect how I move things around. I am also moving the cat litter box to another room – possibly the laundry room, but maybe under Chantria’s desk That way, maybe she will clean it more often.

I am also cleaning off the desk. It is piled too high with magazines, professional journal, paperwork, and books. Everything needs to be put where it belongs. The extra desk chair will go back into the library with the antique telephone switchboard.

Wednesday I will finish re-arranging the kitchen. and do any last touches on the livingroom.

Thursday, I will start on the Library. It needs even more shelves. More importantly, it needs to have my youngest things organized so when he is stationed somewhere after training, he can haul it all away.

Friday, I’m going to a Drum Circle.

Saturday, after I deliver sandwiches, I am hauling all the extra metal scrap out of the back yard and tearing down the enclosure for it. That area will eventually become my fruit and nut orchard.

Yes, indeed, the space currently filled with odd bits of bicycles, lawnmowers, airplanes, autos, and other weird mechanical devices is large enough to be a small dwarf orchard.

It will probably take at least 3 trips with the pick up truckloads to haul it all away.

Saturday night, I will fetch Chantria from the airport.

I have no clue what I’m doing next Sunday, yet.