Wednesday, 19 August 2015
I got a message in the morning from Marla of the Real Living Garden asking if I wanted a certain plant. Well, yes, I did indeed! She told me it was on her porch and was a gift. You will be thrilled (if you are a Certified Plant Nut) when you see it. While I was sitting at my table by the front window answering said message, I saw three men who “looked like fishermen” walk by, pause, look over the fence at the garden, and I heard the word “foliage”. That made me smile.
For our first job, we had to check on the Ilwaco mayor’s garden.
Mike’s garden
Basket Case Greenhouse
On our way to get the special plant, we stopped at The Basket Case to pick up some compost (plant material), just missing Nancy. We got to see Fred, Walter, and Shadow.
Real Living Garden
We changed up the usual order of our Wednesday work day to swing by Marla and Gary’s Nahcotta garden to pick up the special plant! You may remember her garden from my original blog post about it and from it being on this year’s Music in the Gardens tour.
Marla was at work. Not only did I have my special plant to pick up, but of course I had to tour the garden.
Now that impresses me, when little touches like that are done even when a garden is not on tour.
Gary came home before we left, so I got to see my good friend Elly.
Sadly, we had to leave and get back to work.
While I was at the Real Living Garden, Allan had gone next door (because he was not sure where I was) to the Charles Nelson Guest House and while there had taken a photo of the chickens.
I was when I saw him walking back from there like a much, much older stooped man, I realized immediately that his back was “out” and started worrying and planning on how to help him not make it any worse.
Klipsan Beach Cottages
I suggested, when we got to Klipsan Beach Cottages, that Allan do some easy upright tasks like deadheading. Of course, next thing I knew he had pulled half a wheelbarrow load of spent crocosmia (not what I think of as an easy task).
Golden Sands Assisted Living
Ilwaco
The day devolved from pleasant to not when it came to watering Ilwaco. Because of Allan’s back being sore, I had to bucket water the 26 planters and ten street trees. And why was Allan’s back so sore? Well…he was fine until after he wrestled, yesterday evening, with three heavy hoses to get 300 feet of length in order to water at the port by that business that will not let us use their hose and some of their water. Just saying.
Allan took some boatyard photos for me while I filled the buckets.
We have not been bucket watering much this year, so we had to scramble to get enough buckets together and even put every watering can I could find into play. I could only fill the buckets half full because I cannot lift a full one (which weighs about forty pounds, so these were about twenty).
A cold wind had increased and I do not exaggerate when I say a couple of times the gusts felt like they were going to blow me over.
Allan was not idle and kept busy deadheading and pulling the ever-maddening chickweed.
For some reason one of the planters at the stoplight intersection is dying back and we do not know why. That was an irritant I did not have time to contemplate deeply.
Finally, it was done, and I was beat and hobbling. I do not exaggerate when I say there were a couple of moments there when I thought I might “die in the traces”. It was not until the next day that I realized I could have used MaryBeth’s wheelie cart to haul the buckets from one planter to another. That might have meant more lifting at odd angles, though.
It cheered me up to put my new plant on the sunporch.
And here’s hoping that tomorrow brings a better day for Allan’s back.
I must be insane, because later that evening I proposed, on a Facebook group for the Ilwaco Parks and Recreation Commission, that I might do a volunteer flower border at the soon to be refurbished park at the east end of town. The project is dependent on the city getting matching funding for a grant.
I hope the back recovers soon.
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It took about a week but better now.
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