Birthday Bonfires...
Buster in The Hump
Ha! It's the eve of my birthday, and my 'poo lady' has dropped off fifteen more bags of horse manure. So I've spent ages wheeling them onto the new Hump garden, mixing them up with mulch. Buster the cat has been my companion, dancing over the remaining logs.
Friday 7th September
I've also dragged all the old pieces of wood out, heaving them onto the trailer. Four hours with very little to show for it, except two well-used shoulders, and slightly sore upper arms.
A friend of Non-Gardening Partner's whom I call 'Big Pete' arrived late in the day to chainsaw down a couple of our annoying Pittosporum trees. Plonk they both came down, in a matter of minutes. Pete is a big toys boy (hope you've read that correctly) and uses monster chain-saws, remote controlled winches, and so on. Then he took a load of logs out from the Hump and has promised to return. Yeay! The Hump is almost cleared now.
Big Pete's mother-in-law (who is older than me) has her own mini-tractor with front-end loader attachment. I should get one for my birthday, he reckons. I explained that I was more of a modular wheelbarrow-and-shovel girl. Pete didn't get that. A brand new front-end loader would shift all the mulch in minutes, easy as.
Back of the House - No trees!
Hmm... I know, I know. And it is my birthday tomorrow. A mini-tractor with front-end loader attachment would only cost Non-Gardening Partner thirty thousand dollars. Cheaper than a weekend in Paris? You bet.
Happy Birthday Bonfire
Saturday September 8th
Happy birthday to meeeeee! And what a groovy day I've had. My birthday has been a hot hit. It has smoked, gurgled, and flamed for five hours. Aha! You guessed. A huge birthday bonfire, burning the tree mess from Big Pete's felling, while NGP went flying.
No tickets for a senior's cruise, no tour bookings for a perspiring birthday plod in the Andes, or a zoom around Europe's oldest cities in a birthday bus. I am getting a load of garden mix, and then will be taken out to the local pub for a Pensioner's Birthday roast. Yum.
Sunday 9th September
And how about a leisurely apres-birthday lunch at a winery? Not a chance! A new birthday bonfire, this one situated in the Hump (where all the burnable mess is). Today NGP remembered to get me the trailer-load of garden mix - before he went flying again.
I worked all day. I cleared and burnt all the Hump mess, planted Agapanthus in a strip near the Leyland hedge, and found suitable logs to continue edging the new path. Then Big Pete arrived to load the remaining logs, splitting the heaviest ones by hand. What a legend! Pete plays senior grade rugby - he is a prop.
Apres Birthday Bonfire
Yeay for me, too. Because pretty much all of the Hump's mess is now raked and burnt. My new garden area is huge - sunny, light and airy, and well sheltered from the nasty dry norwest winds - and ready for my attention.
Thanks, Bonfire!
I am soooo tempted to immediately purchase and plant some 'trees of the month' (flowering cherries, for my September). But no. NGP needs to organise some birthday irrigation first.
Birthday irrigation...
So are we going out tonight for a slap-up fancy fine-dining meal? No. I am taking my glass of House Merlot and we going to eat take-away hamburgers in the car. We can talk about the Hump's irrigation, hee hee. I am so proud of my 'down-to-earth' birthday weekend. Thanks, both bonfires, for giving me such a hot time!