As part of my morning workouts since the beginning of the year, the pups have been getting a daily walk, except during inclement weather. Here they are doing stretches before the outdoor walk.
Salvia orders, Dutch irises and planting catgrass
I couldn’t help it: I purchased a couple of salvia plants at High Country Gardens yesterday. They were on sale! Salvia dorrii ‘Desert Purple Sage’ and Salvia jurisicii ‘Blue’ will soon be added to my growing salvia collection. Now I just have to find homes for them. Salvia dorrii squats closer to the ground than the salvia greggiis, about 18″ tall and up to 36″ wide. It would be a great foot companion to a taller perennial. Salvia jurisicii reminds me of tender herb-like sages; I’m thinking I might be able to site this 12″ salvia in the blue bed where an under-performing groundcover salvia (Sinaloa) currently resides. The problem associated with moving a new tenant into the blue bed: disturbing young larkspur and tiny flax seedlings. I had also planned on adding a bag of Dutch Iris bulbs purchased this weekend at Home Depot in this same bed.
I finally got around to planting the catgrass. Let’s see how fast they germinate! I put them in some soil using a takeout plastic container for a home. I still need to find a source for variegated catgrass.
Laboring over divisions and stumpless in color
I had some extra time this morning prior to a doctor’s appointment to putter around in the garden. I took some cuttings of yellow salvia greggii, tricolor sage, and variegated oregano to foster indoors. Meanwhile I discovered it was time to replant the lime thyme and the variegated oregano since there were clear signs of root congestion in their cinderblock homes. It wasn’t too difficult trimming down the roots and dividing both plants; I had desired more clones of these plants and now I have at least 2 of them out in the herb garden, with baby cuttings currently fostered in my patio planter boxes.
Still on my list for cuttings, divisions and replanting: coreopsis, catmint, dianthus, dusty miller, hakonechloa, gaura, white salvia greggii, Sierra San Antonio salvia greggii, basil, and possibly the variegated society garlic. Dividing the gauras will be tricky…the front yard gaura has grown into a monster, and the two flanking our rose look imposing.
Meanwhile, the ajuga cuttings I took recently have begun to bloom. The lily bed is afire with red/white dianthus and pansies. The Valentines look especially vigorous!
Purple flames arise from our purple loropetalum! Emerald Snow is blanketed in white fringes. Elsewhere, signs of life emerging from the tulips in the front bed. And those giant grape hyacinths are looking thick and healthy!
Taking a quick peek at the Jiffy seedlings, it appears most have already germinated. I expect to retain the dome for at least another week or two.
And then back to the stump-sized hole in the ground! Stump has been removed! The man decided he just couldn’t handle another day of sawing and digging and hired some professionals to grind down the remains.
Where to go after 10 weeks?
I have a dilemma. Going on 9 weeks, I’ve been working out 6 days a week at Peak Body Transformation. I’m not taking home the $1000 grand prize, but I have seen some changes. I just don’t know if it was worth the $139 Groupon price I paid. I guess I was expecting to get at least below 140 lbs by now…but I discovered that I don’t have the food discipline to get there fast enough.
Ok so what do I do after the 10 weeks is over? Do I sign up for another 10 week stint at PBT at what I assume is 2x the initial price I paid? Will it be worth it? The one great thing that I had at PBT was that I was “compelled” to attend class every single day, making every penny count. I’m still dragging my arse out of bed every morning and making the short drive to the gym. I’m worried if I lose this schedule, I’ll fall off the wagon and lose any gains I’ve made so far.
I’d love to try a regular gym, but I don’t know that I have the nerve to go there by myself and do the work. I think I’m too much of a lemming to find the individual incentive to work out on my own. I would rather be told what to do than come up with personal routines–and I’m sure my apprehension stems from my insecurity about working out solo. There’s something strangely competitive about working out as a group, even though the group doesn’t even know you’re there.
I kinda like the internet workouts like Bodyrock.tv, but I’m finding it difficult to squeeze it into my current schedule right now. My home space isn’t really suited for hosting the exercises I’ve seen in there–too cramped, too uncomfortable.
I’m not keen on spending some crazy $$$ on another 10 weeks of PBT…I wonder if there are any other alternatives out there.
The warm days of spring loom ahead; I’m already dreading outdoor exercises for fear of raging allergies and stinging pests–I hate mosquitoes! I also prefer to breathe in cold air instead of hot, a good argument for moving to a northern climate. I’m already missing the cool winter workouts I’ve been enjoying…hot weather is just ahead.
]]>Sorely stumped
Since we experienced lovely weather this weekend, the man and I undertook the task of tree stump removal. We hadn’t really touched the beast since the end of January, when we took a chainsaw to it and cut off most of the top growth.
It was sore, sweaty work. The weed tree flanking the photinia came out easily after some digging and chopping. The man had started digging around it last week and I completed the job on Saturday.
The photinia presented an enormous challenge. Barely 30 minutes into the digging, we hit a hidden sprinkler line, which suspended our work. We made an emergency run to Home Depot for a repair kit and to buy new tools: another shovel and a 1.5lb hand axe. With most of the daylight gone, we resumed on Sunday and labored to excavate most of its rootball. We found many roots that had grown into the sidewalk and under the fence and concrete divider. We also encountered more hidden cables which was deeply entangled in the roots. About 3.5 hours of hard digging and hatcheting later, it was clear that the photinia stump was not coming out. A mass of roots held the stump suspended over the hole we dug around and underneath it, and those arterial roots grew horizontally behind the chain link fence into parts unknown. It had also deeply entangled another weed tree in its roots, right next to the fence.
Thoroughly exhausted, we wait on tomorrow to ultimately decide its fate: industrial chainsaw or professional stump removal.
Meanwhile, behold the come-again yellow pansy and white fringeflower (Emerald Snow loropetalum) blooms.
