Japanese Yews

This is another photo of my backyard showing my Japanese Yews. They are more fragrant than a lilac. My entire yard has a beautiful scent right now with these and the Cherry Tree.

Please note that it is a mulching year. I do it every 3 years and I'm buying the beautiful brown that LBSA just installed this year. John E. will be installing it sometime this weekend so it will look even more fabulous next week! I'm so excited.

Backyard

Here is a photo of part of my backyard. Isn't my Cherry Tree beautiful this year? It's never looked better!

My House

A lot of you have asked to see a picture of my house after all of the work I had done last fall. Well, here it is!

I call it a 1 1/2 story GI JOE because it was built in 1957 and was built under the GI program. It has 3 bedrooms and a full basement. A detached 2 car garage is in the back.

I think it looks great! Just imagine a weed filled lawn, NO trees, bushes, or plants - everything on my lot I planted myself. Most trees and bushes were the $3.99 ones from Walmart!

The Rain Barrel Is A Hit

I absolutely love the rain barrel. If you'll recall I made a rainbarrel a few weeks ago and have been testing it out. It's fabulous to have fresh, natural water to feed my plants and fill my bird baths. I am finding out that my little homemade job isn't big enough though so am really looking at buying one of those big ones from Loews that would match the siding of my house. They hold about 30 gallens of water and I really think that's what I need.

Have you ever calculated the cost of water & sewer at your house? The cost of the sewer is about 40% of the cost of water. That's very expensive and my plants, birds, trees and grass don't need treated water. Actually they would prefer my rain barrel water so I think I'll go for it so will be watching for a sale in the next few weeks.

Forget-Me-Knots Are Blooming

The Forget-Me-Knots have just started to bloom in my yard this week. They are one of my favorite flowers. Two of my garden flower patches are filled with them and it's like a sea of blue. My Cherry Tree and Japanese Yews are also in full bloom so my backyard smells WONDERFUL and my grass is lush! I love spring.

I mowed for the second time this season yesterday. Sixteen years ago my "grass" was all weeds - dandelions, crab grass, creeping charlie and plantains. It was disgusting but I kept working at it and I now have grass growing that I'm really proud of. I fertilize 4 times per year and apply crab grass preventer (this weekend because the lilacs are now starting to bloom) and after mowing do a trip around the yard with my weed-b-gone so that I can quickly kill any weeds that start to grow. I have no blooming dandelions but am surrounded by them on boths sides of my yard so it takes extra diligence to keep the invasion at bay. I also keep my grass at 3 inches during the spring and summer. Doing this helps keep weeds from growing and provides shade and holds dampness for the grass. In the fall I slowly bring it down to 2 inches in height before the snow flies. Doing this prevents "grass mold" from developing over the winter. Everything else is growing well and I hope to have pictures to post later this week.

Great Week To Try Walgreens

It's a great week to try Walgreen's and learn the ropes of Register Rewards as there are quite a few FREEBIES this week. I didn't even pick them all up because they weren't something that I would use.

This is what I have picked up this week:

2-3 packs of tennis shoe sox - $4.29 after coupon

Skintimate Shave Gel - FREE

2 rolls Scotch Packing Tape - FREE + .2 cent moneymaker

Plackers Dental Picks - FREE + .50 cent moneymaker

Tone Body Wash - .99

Yup, I paid $4.76 for all this stuff. Gee Wiz, I got 6 pairs of sox!

It Does Get Better

This isn't my usual upbeat post today. An event touched me over the weekend that reminded that there's always someone else who has it tougher than you do. I am still processing this information but felt the need to share what I know. Who knows, maybe it will help someone.

There is a gal on my block who was divorced several years ago. She is/was a severe, and I mean severe, alchoholic while raising a son. The son basically took care of himself and ate when there was food in the house. He committed suicide two years ago at the age of 17 by hanging himself.

Since then, I have noticed a huge change in my neighbor. She is now able to hold a job, is not drinking, walks her little dog regularly, and has a support network helping her. An older gentlement comes to pick her up weekly and takes her to the grocery store. "Ladies" visit her on Sunday afternoons to chat, etc.

She also had a boyfriend. Someone new in her life and he stayed with her in her home. They were planning a future. Things were looking up for my neighbor. On Saturday afternoon I had even seen them outback having a good time with some friends visiting.

But, on Sunday morning I woke up and walked into my living room. There was a strange strobe effect of light in the room so I opened my front curtains. Outside my home was the Rescue Squad and 2 vehicles parked willy nilly - obviously, EMT's had rushed to the scene and parked quickly. Soon our Chief of Police drove up along with another deputy and his vehicle and two Goodhue County Sheriff's and their vehicles. Within moments the Rescue Squad and the EMT's left.

My neighbor's boyfriend had committed suicide by hanging himself.

I just sobbed for her. How can one person take this much tragedy? I feel so bad and can't quit thinking about it. I think that suicide touches most everyone sometime in life. My niece, Dawn, committed suicide in 1994 and left behid a two year old daughter. My daughter Grace has had three friends, all males, commit suicide and she is only 19.

I can't imagine the kind of pain that would cause someone to do this. I don't think that they understand that suicide is FOREVER. There is no going back.

Call a hotline, call a friend, scream from the mountain tops - just let someone know, CLEARLY, how you are feeling and ask for help. No matter how much pain you may be in today - it does get better.