Going crazy with the dirt
It must be spring. It’s Monday, and my hands hurt. I went to the home improvement store twice for mulch, and I’m out again. The yard is maybe a third of the way done, and I’m chasing the new growth just starting to come up, trying to cover the tender stuff at just the right moment so that it stays under wraps just a few more days to weather the cold snap headed our way. I’ve got tarps, but I’d rather not use them. Much of what’s poking up can take it, but not the Hosta, and I’ve got a lot of them.
My big news for the weekend is that the compost pile has been turned, and I’ve got a bin of good black dirt (on the left side). Look at all that freakin’ dirt. We’ve been settled in our current house for about five years, and this is the third year for the compost pile. Last year was adequate, but this year, I’ve got dirt to just go crazy with. It’s best if you can have two or three bins because all that wonderful dirt was under two feet of stuff not yet composted. It’s now in the right hand bin, and it will be ready next year. That’s what “turning the compost pile” is. Being in the city, we can’t just make piles, but I think it looks nice in actual bins. Once I deplete the dirt from the one side, I’ll throw the top waste into it to get to the new dirt on the right, but that won’t be until next year. There’s ash in the black bucket, and the blue tub is full of ground up stump. I’m horribly pleased that I’ve got brown stuff to mix with the green grass this year. It’s going to make some hellacious dirt. I’ve never had brown stuff before until fall, so this might make the pile hotter.
On the book news, I’m in page proofs, which means the ARCs are printed. Happy dance commencing! And even better, Tim had this pop up on his screen this morning while pursing MSN entertainment for his movie-fix news. Thank you, Gallery Books at Simon and Schuster. I know these spot are targeted, but wow, it’s good seeing THE DRAFTER there in an ad. Made my day.
