Saturday's Change of Plans

Do you remember when I told you about the peyote smokin' knuckle-heads that previously owned our little Cape Cod and put 80, 001 tons of rock all around the yard? The rock that has haunted our landscaping endeavors, thus far? Well, HALLELUJAH, PRAISE THE LORD! It's finally gone! MW had removed about 35,000 tons of it already - but with his work schedule and the fact that the hot tub out back calls to him in the night to come and get her running so he can partake of her sweet muscle - relaxing, tension - removing, hot, bubbly, swirls of delight - he really hasn't been able to find the time to remove any more of the rock. So, we did the next best thing. We hired our nephew to do it. He just graduated and had some extra time on his hand while needing some extra cash in his pocket. He spent Thursday and Friday taking wheel barrow after wheel barrow full of rock and removing it to the nether-regions of the pot holes and trenches in the alley. I must say, that was definitely money well spent!
Since Little Britches spent last week recovering from sinusitis/bronchitis and seemed like he was itching for something to do, I figured I might as well capitalize on Pay Day and hire him out to do some weeding. A new Webkinz was much more appealing compensation to an almost nine year old than cash, though. So, we settled on finding this certain new furry (albeit stuffed) friend for my little guy as his reward. Friday we came up short-handed at all the stores we hit. And I was bummed to find out that our town's Hallmark is closing it's doors within the next few weeks. But our search for the perfect Webkinz brings me to our Saturday adventure.

We had big plans for Saturday. MW got free tickets to the Indianapolis Air Show where the Blue Angels were going to be. He saw them once when he was a kid. We thought it might be a fun way to spend an afternoon. On our way to the air show we needed to stop by the next town over to get the promised Webkinz for Little Britches. There is this completely awesome store there, Ousley's Harvest Market. It's a combination of florist, garden center, and the most adorable little shop you've ever laid eyes on. It's a complete delight for the senses every time I go. Since all we needed was to grab a Webkinz and I was on the phone anyway, I decided to wait in the car on MW and Little Britches.

After just a couple of minutes, MW pops out of the door and waves me in. He wanted me to look at this gorgeous plant he saw and get my opinion on it for our front flower bed. We're looking to mostly fill it with perennials that will have a long bloom time AND great foliage. We're not asking for much, are we? Well, this plant he wanted to show me was an annual in our neck of the woods, but I know that sometimes annuals can be over-wintered indoors. So, we found a nice sales lady and asked if this was the case with this coreopsis. This lady was completely awesome. She was so knowledgeable about plants. And not the kind of knowledge that she picked up from the label on the container or during work orientation, either. She had the kind of knowledge that comes from a lifelong relationship with horticulture. We heard lots of tales of different tricks that her grandmother taught her about plants growing up. She told us how to take cuttings from plants like the beautiful coreopsis we saw or geraniums (one of my favorites) and start a root system on them so you can have more (free) plants next year. She also told us how to find and start our own sweet potatoes. She said that they were pretty poor growing up and her mother would start them and just use the vines as decoration. She would set it on the kitchen window sill and let the vines grow up the side and over the top of the window as a natural valance. I've read where this was really popular during the Victorian Era. So, anyhoo, she offered to take us around the garden center and show us the perennials that fit the bill we were looking for. She was so passionate about flowers we couldn't help fall in love with so many of them ourselves...

As we were leaving Ousley's with a red wagon full of new perennials for our flower bed, MW looks at the cart, looks at me with a confused look and laughs. "How is it that we came here for a Webkinz and left here with an Explorer full of plants?" Me: "Hey, I was going to wait in the car. Remember?"

By this time it was too late to make it to Indy for the air show, so we went home and played in the dirt instead. I did have to call and report that sales lady on the way home, but in a totally good way. Because of her love/passion for and knowledge of plants, we ended up making a completely unplanned purchase. And, she didn't work off of commission. She was simply there to be a help and guide. She did that very well.

Thanks to LouAnn, we are well on our way to filling up our flower bed. Thanks to Aaron, we didn't have to dig through oodles of rock in order to plant them. And thanks to Little Britches, I have a few less weeds in the yard. All in all, I'd say we had a pretty productive weekend.

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend as well.