Eight Thousand Pounds of Ache

We are finished with our landscaping project!  We started this whole journey two weeks ago tomorrow, and we have worked every day except one to finish Gladys' new look.

Our final task for this whole project was to add landscape stone on top of the fabric that we put down yesterday.  The fabric is a special weed-control product that we found a few years ago, and we have been pleased with the results in the gardens that we planted at that time.

Generally, I change the linens on the bed and scrub down each bathroom on Friday morning.  I actually was able to complete my Friday chores this morning before Eden Nursery delivered our stone for the gardens.

At approximately 8:30 this morning, Eden's truck arrived with four tons -- yes, eight thousand pounds -- of red cedar bark rock.  This is not the typical light lava rock that some people use.  These are genuine, solid rocks that will not blow away under a leaf blower or during a hurricane.  They are heavy, and they are here to stay.

The rock pile rests across the driveway.

By 11:00 a.m., the piles have dwindled to half the original size.

At 12:10 p.m., Rick washes away the red dust
that was all that remained of the rock pile.

We manned wheel barrows, five-gallon buckets, wagons, and shovels to move the rock from our driveway into the eight new gardens that we have spent the last few days outlining throughout our yard.

The front garden yesterday...

and today.

This task darn-near killed us both.  Rick did most of the heavy lifting again, loading the buckets of stone into the wagon, wheeling the loaded wheel barrow and dumping it in the correct places.  I started by trying to spread the dumped rock around, but I honestly was not strong enough to do that.  So I took over loading the buckets and wheel barrow with stone while Rick transported, dumped, and spread the stones in the gardens.

The south garden,

back garden,

palm trees,

and hibiscus all are complete.

I asked him how his hand was holding out.  He said that the rest of his body -- specifically his legs, arms, and back -- hurt so much that the pain in his hand was secondary.  I have suffered with terrible leg pains this last week, but I must admit that right now my hands and forearms ache from all of the shoveling.  Working out should keep one young, right?

The last garden to receive stone was the
newly-defined corner garden in the back yard.

So now we are finished.  This is the last major task we want to do this year.  Truthfully, it is the last major task we can financially afford to do this year!  While we still will work on maintenance around the house, we are finished adding anything else.  We'll wash the fence yet, but that is about all I plan to do.

Gladys looks better with a bit of curb appeal.

Certainly, we will have to water the gardens each day for the next month to really get all of the plants established.  Since we are not leaving until the end of May, we should be able to have our gardens firmly take root by then.

Gladys is happy.  We bought her 35 new flowers, protected her sides from getting weed-whacked to pieces, and dolled her up to be a beautiful, grand old lady.  We think she looks great, and feedback from the neighbors tells us that they agree.