Tree power! Yeah!
We got the oak in the ground today. I think it will look splendid there.
It doesn't look like we've done much else out there since the granite got here, but my back and limbs tell me differently. Mostly we've been moving heavy things around. Mostly granite and soil.
Yesterday I bought plants; tomorrow I will start putting them in the ground. Things will start coming together more quickly after that, or at least they'd better. Otherwise I may begin to get discouraged.
****
Since we moved in this house, I've done most of my gardening in the back yard, and when we go outside we invariably hang out on the back deck. So it's been really interesting to spend a whole week of workdays out front.
Our street is not especially busy, but it does link two of the larger thoroughfares in our neighborhood. It's also part of a bike route and hilly enough that serious cyclists use it for training, so there's a steady stream of activity all day.
I was encouraged by the number of pedestrians and bikes I saw cruising by all day, and I was discouraged by the number of people I watched slow wayyyy down when they saw our garage door open, then immediately speed back up once they saw me.*
I've talked to my next-door neighbor every day this week when I usually only see her every other Saturday or so, and today we made plans to hand out candy together on Halloween. I discovered that one of my friends drives by our house every day on the way home from work, so we made plans to have drinks some evening soon.
I observed that no one stops at the three-way stop sign in front of our house, ever. Well, save for the elderly lady who lives a few doors down, and I suspect that's just because she pauses there to light a cigarette.
We are now on waving terms with the UPS guy, and this afternoon a school bus driver paused in front of our house and opened the door to compliment us on our progress, which she'd been watching all week.
I don't know, it's just nice watching everyone go by. This shouldn't be news; I used to be a rather dedicated front-porch sitter. But now I don't smoke** and anyway, we don't really have a front porch here, just some narrow chairs we put on the driveway apron so it wouldn't look so forlorn.
Maybe we'll want to sit out there at least every once in a while once it's all spruced up. We'll find out in a few days, I guess.
*This happened at least three times a day, all in the late morning or early afternoon. I'm not sure if people are actively cruising for targets or just opportunists, but either way I now feel my let's-loop-around-the-block-and-just-make-sure compulsion about making sure the garage door is closed is not so irrational.
**Weird, now that I think about it I quit four years ago today. YES.