The Best Laid Plans

If you know me at all, you know that I absolutely love the Memphis Zoo.  They're in the process of building their hippos a new habitat, and it's about time.  All the other animals have these lovely, naturalistic habitats, while the hippos are still in concrete pools.  I keep up with these things.

I could have sworn I'd read on their website that the Hippo River would be opening in the middle of March, so I made plans to go about a month after it opened.  I figured the initial rush would be over by then.  I mentioned it to my friend Vanessa a few weeks ago, and she said, "Oh, I'd like to go with you."  I said, "Let's go and take the baby."  The baby being her grandson.

That is what we'd planned to do today.  However, a couple of days ago, when checked the website to see if they allowed strollers in the zoo, I saw that the hippo exhibit wasn't opening until April 29.  I'm not sure if it was delayed, or if I'd read the date wrong, or what.  I was disappointed, but still wanted to go with Vanessa and the baby.

When I got with her yesterday to confirm that we were still going, it turns out that she had also gotten the dates mixed up.  The baby had a doctor appointment today, so he couldn't go.  I said, "It works out for the best anyway, because the hippo exhibit isn't even open."

My other friend (yes, I have two), Christi mentioned that she wants to go also, so we're going to try to coordinate a time when all three of us can go after the hippo exhibit opens.

What did I do to assuage my disappointment?  I went on a spending spree.  Let me tell you, I spent a lot of money.    I'd been wanting to go to Lowe's for a while to get some plants for my yard.  I'd been looking for something called a Frost Proof Gardenia.  I'd researched them online, and they get to be about the size I'd wanted, and I love the smell of gardenias anyway.

Lo and behold, Lowe's had them!  But when I read the care instructions, it said they couldn't take full sun, so they wouldn't work where I'd wanted to put them.  The website I'd looked at said they were a full sun plant, but maybe that meant for farther North.  The tag on the actual plant said morning sun only.  No problem.  I could put them on the East side of my house.

If I put them there, I didn't need to worry about them growing so tall that they blocked my windows--the only window on that side of the house being the one in the laundry room. In that case, I could get these other kind of gardenias.  They grow taller, but have a longer blooming season.  Boom.

I came home, dropped off my plants, then went to Wal-Mart to get some more garden stuff.

I got some dirt and mulch, then wandered around the plants to see what they had.  I found these Vincas

and these pitiful looking marigolds marked down to half price.

They looked pretty bedraggled, and I think the recent bad weather got to them.  However, the leaves still look healthy, and I think I can perk them up.  They were only .91 for each six pack, so I can risk that amount of money.

I got four more of these, whatever they are.

One dark purple and three light lavender ones.

They're annuals, so they will go into the bed in my front yard.

These are the things I bought the other day.

I got the other two dianthus into the ground, but that's all I did today.

Yes, I'm going to mulch around these plants.  I just haven't done it yet.

I was going to try to get my annual bed put together, but the people that lived here before had a thing for monkey grass.  It's all around the front,

and along the side of the house.
 

I tried to dig it out, but that stuff is tough.  I have a plan, though.  I'm going to get a weedeater (which I'd been planning on doing anyway) and cut it close to the ground.  Then I'm going to put some of that rubber or plastic weed barrier stuff and try to smother what's left.  I can just leave that weed barrier down permanently, since it will be behind what I want to plant.  It'll have the added bonus of keeping weeds out of my beds.

Yes, those are bones in that grass.  They're deer bones, and a gift from the dog next door.  I have the crazy idea of making a wind chime out of them, but that might spook the neighbors.

I'm still working on the new house.  This is today's addition:

It's the little touches that make a house a home.

And finally, the last thing I bought on my spending spree:

I'd been wanting one for a while.  And I do mean a while.  When I was a kid, my daddy's hatchet was one of my favorite toys.  Now that I have one of my own, I feel whole again.

What can I say?  It's the Viking blood in me.