Heaven is a rototiller and dirty toes.

I have to run a 15k tomorrow morning. That is about 9.6 miles. I have been off since last Friday for Spring break with Babu and the kids.  I skipped the 4.0 on Monday because I wanted more rest for my legs. Still unsure I did 4 mile sin about 40 minutes on Wednesday on the elliptical.  I’m anxious about how the morning is going to go.  I’ll write about that more tomorrow after the race, today I’m going to write about how I’ve spent the majority of my week.

13 years ago on a Good Friday, Babu proposed to me after roughly 8 months of being together. Two years ago April 6th, Paul came into my life and began to alter it dramatically.  I don’t think about that day too often, but something about when the weather turns to mid 50’s and starts peaking at 75 or so turns my thoughts to the poor screwed up  evil sweet boy.    Weather like this also sends to the garden and this year the gardening has been fabulous due to the warmer than usual winter and spring.  I have snap dragons that never died all the way back, all of my bulbs put on a fabulous show this year, and the multitude of  garden and yard projects I’ve had wandering around in my head went onto the short list this week.  So this week in spite of a sore body I pushed myself every day to get outside as much as possible and tend to my garden. Babu helped with some of the major work so I cna’t take all of the credit, but this week I/we:

• Threaded two  trellises with netting
• Planted 8 squares of peas, 2 of beets, 2 of lettuce, 5 or onions
• Planted a side bed of herbs
• Dug up half a bed of strawberries
• Dug up a bunch of iris and added dirt to a corner of the retaining wall so my Jackson & Perkins Mr. Lincoln rose can be planted there when it arrives
• Dug up a Clematis ( still in need of anew home if you want one) and rejiggered and entire side of the retaining wall near the house in order to make room for a Jackson & Perkins  pink climbing rose I ordered. Added more dirt to that bed and tilled it in. Dug in a longer drain pipe from the down spot and covered it in dirt to it drains into the bed not the ground.
• Moved several mums from one location to another
• Planted two flats of annuals in the front bed, maroon pansies and white impatiens
• Repainted my front door
• Dug up the sod an a brand new bed, Babu and I probably don’t have recognizable finger prints right now
• Added roughly a ton of dirt to the bed and tilled the holy living heck out of the bed.  I grew up watching my dad use a roto tiller. I have always wanted one, but never plunked down the money for one of my own.  Thankfully Momma M graciously lends me hers every year.  I don’t think is anything else I am happier driving than a rototiller.   I get a big kick of nostalgia, serendipity and happiness all at once.  The dirt gets all squishy under your feet, you can really tell when the tiller breaks through some nasty stuff and starts to get down deeper and deeper. It’s fun to play how many rocks can we collect in our Indiana clay rock garden.   I wear old crock sin the garden and half the time I son’t have them on so my feet get really dirty and disgusting when I garden; something about this makes me perversely happy with myself.  I rarely/never wear gloves in the garden, in  spite of a large collection of them.  Babu was making me fun of my bare hands and I said Vitiamin E, my late father, never wore gloves. It’s true, heaven to me is my  hands and feet in dirt, my knees sore and dirty, my hamstrings tight from squatting, back sore from bending, forearms tight and throbbing from pulling, sun beating down on the wind in my hair.
• Dug up all my daisies and one of two peony bushes and moved them into the new bed
• Planted all those plus 2 new peonies, a dianthus, some kind of corkscrew grass, and 16 lavender plants

I still have 4 iron planters to give a clear coat of spray paint to, about 100 glad bulbs and a multitude of sunflower and zinnia seeds to plant. Lastly I have to find two squares to put the garlic in and plot out which squares all of the peppers and tomatoes I ordered are going. Also the laundry is done and Easter eggs are stuffed, basket items are purchased. I just have to figure out what time the church service begins.  Oh and run that 15K in the morning.

Happy Good Friday and Easter Weekend Lovies. I hope you find some heaven on earth this weekend as you celebrate.