A Good Day for Two Old People

It's garden project time. The first project is to get rid of something that we planted and is, now, taking over our garden. This is a warning to all of you who want to cover a big area of ground fast. DON"T PLANT VINCA MAJOR~!! It's common name is Periwinkle. It really pretty with it's little "lavender-blue dilly, dilly..." pinwheel-shaped flowers and it's "green all summer" leaves but, oh my gosh, this stuff is so invasive. It's coming up everywhere. It is what my cousin, who was a biologist in Oregon, called a "noxious weed". I can remember her talking about people who plant things and let them get out of control. I can hear her voice shouting at me, as I stand and look at this pretty stuff that is taking over my garden..."Didn't I tell you about this? What were you thinking?". I guess I wasn't . I was trying to cover a rocky hillside.  I've seen it growing wild in the creeks around here. Vinca thrives with just a small source of water. It seems to survive our horribly hot summers here without water at all. So we are on a mission to eradicate as much as possible and take back the gravel walk that is in the front garden.
I started Saturday morning, with my two little canine helpers. They don't really work very hard but they come cheap and they give me lots of moral support. I cut down as much Vinca as I could and then I raked and pulled, ripped and tore, trying to get as many roots as possible. The Prospector will use weed killer to get what I didn't. Sorry if I have offended anyone but sometimes you have to use tough love in the garden. It would be worse if this plant got out of control. We will try to be as GREEN as we can be. Then we will cover the whole area with riverbed rock and gravel.

We are also building a inner fence to confine our two little dogs this summer. We only need a short fence for our short dogs and we found this really amazing fencing at LOWES that comes in 3 ft. sections and has a two piece gate in the same design. It went together so easily. It has posts with a spear like attachment that goes into the ground first. Then, you put the post through the extensions on each fence section and hammer the post into the piece that is already in the ground. It's so easy my grandkids could do it. and it worked really well in our rocky soil. We got everything done except the second gate going down to the vegetable garden and when we finish we won't have to worry about the puppies running into any RATTLESNAKES down the hill or behind the house, in the summer. It's doesn't guarantee that a rattletail won't come waltzing into the lawn area but it does improve the odds of an unexpected encounter with one..., and it looks great. I will take some finished pictures tomorrow.

This morning we took a break for a few hours and went down into town. Jackson was having it's big Dandelion Days celebration. It's a street fair. They close down Main St. and all the parking areas, for vendors that sell just about everything and music, singing, rock wall climbing, good food and all sorts of activities.
We left home early and went to the pancake breakfast at the Police station. Filled ourselves with good food and then walked up and down Main St. looking at all the things that were for sale and all the lovely people. People watching is one of my favorite things to do. Someone had a gourd booth with birdhouse gourds and craft/holiday gourds. They were cute and very inexpensive. I bought a pair of gloves, two drill bits for my Dremel, two wire brushes, a charm for a friend in Michigan and two little porcelain dolls (without arms) that will be used for artwork.We had a great time.
Then we headed back home to work on the fence and garden all afternoon. This weather is so wonderful right now. I could do SPRING forever.
Tonight we are two tired, old people. Sore?.., Oh yes. Sleepy?.., absolutely, but feeling a sense of accomplishment. I'm quite sure that neither of us will have trouble sleeping tonight.