Happy Independence Day, everyone! And just how did I celebrate my Independence Day? By working independently!
By myself, for myself, and of myself. OK, I'll stop now.
But I did get a few more things knocked off my to do list.
I started with the weedeating, getting that done first thing this morning, though I'm not sure how happy my neighbors were with that! Seriously, I don't think it bothered them too much, because it's pretty quiet. Not like the old gas powered one that would wake the dead. And I avoided the part right beside their bedroom window, so there is that.
I got my weed killer out and sprayed along the fence lines, just to make sure nothing's growing up through the fence that I'll have to cut out later. That's where that tree came from. I didn't cut it when it was little, and it got out of hand. There was also a lot of privet that had grown up through the fence from before I bought the house, which I spent a lot of time cutting down. I do not want to go through that again!
While I had that weed killer out, I also sprayed the front ditch...well the part next to the road, I mean. The county had come around and sprayed the ditches a few days ago, but had apparently missed mine. You can see where they stopped down there.
Then they started again on the other side of my drive way. I don't know why. They just did it. Oh, well, I'd rather do it myself anyway. When they spray, they tend to kill about half of my yard, not just the ditch.
I finished up the outside work by picking up the last of the limbs and debris from the spring storms, most of which will be used to start fires in either the fire pit or wood stove. Yeah, maybe it's not the best fire starter, but it is free and I've got plenty of it.
Oh, and I almost forgot...I cleaned out the water trough and refilled it. It had gotten pretty manky, but now it's nice and clean.
Yes, that stick is in there on purpose, in case any bees or butterflies want to get a drink. And for the birds, I put a couple of inches of water into an old dog bowl and put it out near the bird feeder.
I'll do until I can get a proper birdbath.
The last outside chore I did was to water everything, since we haven't gotten much rain these last few weeks. Strange to say, I know, after the absolute drenching we got in the spring. We're still 8" above normal for this time of the year -- just not this month. Anyway, while I was watering the stuff on the front porch, I noticed that it really needed to be swept.
And that is exactly what I did.
Such a small thing, but it makes such a difference.
I thought about dragging the ol' roto tiller out and going over the garden spot again, but decided it was already too hot, so I planned on waiting until later this evening, but I forgot about the Capitol Fourth concert -- which I'm watching even as I type this.
I took a brief departure from my usual Independence Day movie lineup to watch The Sons Of Liberty on Prime. It's pretty good, though throughout the whole thing, I kept getting the feeling I was watching a parody of U.S. History. I don't think it was intended to be, but it sure felt like a comedy production. I don't know why, because there really wasn't anything funny happening in the show, but I definitely kept expect a Groucho Marx type of joke in every scene.
Well, since the landscaper is supposed to be coming out and finishing up next week, I finally opened up one of my raised beds and put water seal on the pieces.
No, that's not all of them, but I'm not going to show you every single piece of wood that came with it. It is fir wood, so it won't rot, but the water seal will supposedly keep them from turning gray and weathered.
My two raised planters are also fir, and I didn't seal them. They're are starting to weather up nicely, but as it happens, I don't like that look as much as I thought I would. So my raised bed garden will get sealed to slow the weathering.
Speaking of, while I was cutting some fresh basil for my newest batch of pesto, I found a little friend.
I left him and his leaf alone.
And now I'm going to leave you alone and watch the rest of this concert on PBS. But before I go, I would be remis if I didn't share what this holiday is all about: