Yesterday I got the brilliant idea to work in my flower beds, which is laughable really, cause I'm so not the outdoorsy, green thumb-y kinda person. I did have an ulterior motive though.
We have been plagued with mosquitoes this past couple of years. I'm talking the seas turning red and first born dying kind of plague. The kids are trapped inside the house all summer long because these big mean SOB's will attack and then suck you dry before you can even blink once. Evil. I'm still not sure why God created these little buggers. They're one step away from snakes and spiders on the scale of evil creepy crawly flying things.
So, in an attempt to drive them out of our yard or at least to prevent them spawning in our yard (do mosquitoes spawn?) I decided that every bit of ivy in the back yard had to go.
I could have taken the easy way out and sprayed Round up all over it and walk away, but that would have been way too easy and made too much sense. Instead, I got my gardening gloves on and began pulling it all up by hand. This ivy went all the way around our back deck, under the deck and was climbing the trellis on the deck. It took me four hours to get rid of it all. During that time I found one ball, two bubble blowing sticks and my rose bushes. I still have thorns in my body from the bushes. I also weeded and mulched the beds that go around the deck. We got smart on the ivy covering our privacy fence and used the round up spray on it. We were afraid to pull it and then have our fence come down too.
Most of the ivy in the neighborhood is in our neighbor's yard. It's hopeless to get them to do anything, but that's a rant for another day. So all we can do is try and make our yard a mosquito free zone and hope that they don't come drifting over the fence. Fat chance.
Today, I am hobbling around like a little old lady. Aching back, hamstrings and hands. I sound like a little old lady too. Don't ask me how I'm doing, you might get a complete list of complaints. Did I mention that I was allergic to exercise? Yeah, I got symptoms galore. :)
I did bang the heck out of my right hand while dealing with ivy and rose bushes yesterday and it's led to knitting complications today. Couple that sore hand with knitting with cotton and you won't get a whole lot of progress. I am putting (very, very slowly) an i-cord bind off on the tank sweater. I'm hoping to get that finished by tomorrow. Keep your fingers crossed. I'd do it myself, except the fingers on my hand are rebelling at the very thought.
