So, on Monday my parents met me at the office as we went to an all-you-can-eat sushi place that has other Asian basics as well. NO MSG in their food, the sign on the door says, which makes it one of the rare Asian buffets that I can eat at. I wanted to go over a nursery catalog from the Faribault Nursery which is just a couple of miles from my sister’s house, but way out of my way. They had a sale of bushing cherries, and I wanted a bunch. 2 Nanking cherries for my house, and 24 for the gardens down at their home. My mom had indicated that they wanted a couple of apple trees, so I had told them I would come down to their house and plant their apple trees for them, if they would pick up my cherries while they were down there.
Since all of them were bare-root trees, they needed to get into the ground as soon as possible. For me, that meant last night, being the soonest I could be there. I was in the field at 545 pm, and it was not exactly ideal weather. 32 degrees, raining and snowing, with a good bit of wind to go along with it. By 815 I had dug 26 holes, and planted 26 trees, which might be some kind of record, and I was cold ball of mud from head to toe.
At that point it was getting dark, and I figured with the rain and snow I could forgo hauling water down from the house. I do have water down at the garden thanks to about 400 feet of hard plastic piping hooked up to their lawn sprinkler system, just not yet. The “sprinkler” people (whomever they are) come in May to clear the system, make sure it is sound after the winter, and turn the water back on. Until then, if I want water, I have to get it from inside the house a bucket at a time. Not something I wanted to do then. I wanted a hot shower and a warm bed.
I had passed out by 9 pm waiting for my clothes to finish washing so I could get them in the dryer. 7 uninterrupted hours later I awoke (never get an unbroken solid 7 hours of sleep here) and went to check on my clothes. Someone (turned out it was my dad) had put them in the dryer for me and they were done. The coffee pot upstairs was set up with fresh grounds and water already (thanks again dad) and by 6 am I had a whole pot of coffee in me as well as breakfast. It was light enough outside to work (though still snowing) so I got my stuff together, and headed back out.
I had cut 7 pieces out of my rhubarb plant at home. Those went in the ground first, then I went back and assessed the job I had done on the trees. The apple trees needed a bit more work so that got done, then I put in 70 feet of storage beets next to an area I had put in storage onion sets. Really hoping the onions deter the gophers. Really hoping.
The last bit was some herbs and monarda (a flowing perennial that makes a great tea) which I put near the entryway. Inside again for another shower, though no time to launder what I had been wearing. I just turned it all inside out so my duffel would not be filled with mud bits, put on a tie and all the other official office clothing, scrubbed my boots (yeah, Red Wings) and I was out of there by 830 am, headed for the office 55 miles northwest of those gardens.
When I did finally get home (another 45 miles northwest of the office) I changed back into the muddy clothes to plant the last two cherries in my back yard. Claire hauled water from the pond to set them into the ground (no real rain or snow here) and when that was done, the clothes went into the washer here. At this point a serious muscle relaxer was in order, so I took one, laid down, and pulled up the blog. 32 spam posts from various online pharmacies promising mail delivery of everything from narcotic painkillers to erectile-dysfunction drugs at rock bottom prices. <sigh> first time I have had to deal with spam here. Might have to put in a filter (which means figure out how to do it) so that someone has to type in a code or something. There have been 4 more since I started this posting.
