The Mighty Claw

The giant claw suddenly appeared over the roof and one mighty bite left a huge, gaping hole in the roof. Wahoo - we're on our way to a new garage!

I did get the chives and the clematis moved and I agonized over what to do with the tulips and the alliums, but then, I came to my senses with the help of a glass of wine. "Look," I said to myself, "you bought these bulbs at Costco in a giant bag -- so just go to Costco this fall and buy more!" Problem solved. So early Wednesday morning, with scissors in hand and a 5 gallon bucket, I proceeded to cut 75, on-the-verge-of-blooming, tulips. I currently have 20 beautiful pink tulips in bloom in the house. The rest are waiting to be given as friendship bouquets. "Nature" will take its course with the bulbs during construction and afterwards I will dig any survivors and relocate.

The Girls have been pretty freaked out by the giant claw just a few feet away, but not enough to stop laying -- we've been getting five eggs a day. Thankfully, the claw has finished its job in the back yard and has moved on the the front yard to tear up the sidewalk and rip the front porch off! Things should be a little calmer, until the framing starts.

It's a mess, but it is temporary and the outcome will be a new garage with an indoor potting area (yippee!) and raised beds that will hopefully out-produce the former plot. In the meantime, I'm going to concentrate on sprucing up the flower gardens and I just bought three hydrangeas from Albertsons (of all places -- $6.99 each -- they are beautiful) to put on the north side yard.

Even with all this disarray, I find tranquilty in seeing my hostas peeking out of the earth, the bleeding hearts leaping out of the ground and mowing the lawn for the first time in 2009 (even if it is to "make-tidy" a place for building supplies).

It's Starting!

The project is about to begin -- about two weeks earlier than expected, but hopefully that means it will be done two weeks sooner.

Of course, this has led to a frenzy around the Chicken Ranch. The first order of business was to get the girls (our six beautiful hens) moved to a new, but temporary, location in the yard. As you may recall, the "ranch" is a whopping .16 acres - so our options are limited! With this accomplished last night, I am about to take on the task of up-rooting about 75 tulip and daffodils which are on the verge of blooming. I'm not sure what my success rate will be at this state of growth, but I'm going to give it a try. I guess another option is to leave them, let them be trampled and dig them out in the fall. One issue in doing that is that most are exactly planted where the new, double "garden door" to the garage will be located. Ugh!

I also will be moving my chives (no big deal here - these plants have been in just about every local in the yard and most came from our previous home!); and I have to decide if I want to save the lavender or just put some new plants in later. Oh, and this all has to be done by Thursday (which is tomorrow!).

I have plants in the front yard that also need to be healed in somewhere -- Alliums -- which, like the tulips, are about to bloom and really look great this year! If anyone has suggestions/tips or has ever replanted bulbs as they are blooming -- please let me know!

I'm sure I'll have some dramatic images to share tomorrow as the shed comes down (and we're totally exposed to the alley); the hot tub takes a hike and the garden becomes a giant tractor pit!