Working on the Front Yard Garden Beds

Hola!

Maybe it's just my imagination, but this summer I seem to be busier than usual working out in the yard and gardens nearly constantly - or so it seems.  Wouldn't you know it, of course while my corner of SE Wisconsin is suffering along with most of the rest of the country under a tremendously large and stubborn crushing high heat with high humidity (dew point) streak that is going to last here for at least another week, I one day decided that it was finally time to pull out those concrete retaining wall blocks I'd purchased from one of my nieces and line my front flower beds with them.  The beds run across the front of the house and flank either side of my front stoop.

The upside is that I broke through my weight plateau, yippee!  Probably sweated it off with all the exercise - I don't think I've sweated this much in years, like "you look like you took a shower with your clothes on!" wet with sweat.  Yuck!

The "shed" storage area at the back of the garage, access door partially open.
The stash of blocks is below.  I've already used some of the blocks to line the small bed along
the back of the house where the AC unit is, flanked by two planting areas, as well as
starting to line the flower bed on the south side of the driveway.

I think there are at least 100 blocks, possibly more.  After lugging them around for the last 10 days or so, on Sunday I took my bathroom scale outside and weighed one:  FOURTEEN POUNDS!  No wonder I was huffing and puffing, and I think I'm getting arm muscles.  Now if only I could get rid of my "bat wings." 

Last Sunday, fortunately, was warm but a small 'cold' front had come through and dropped the dew point substantially, and there was a breeze all day long out of the northeast. It felt like a perfect summer day and I had TONS OF ENERGY!   I didn't huff and puff at all, and hauled a record 10 blocks out to the front and placed them to finish lining the smaller of the two flower beds, and then hauled another 12 blocks from the storage shed at the back of the garage to my patio door steps, and then from there moved them to the front and started lining the second bed!  It's amazing what a difference the weather can make in my ability to work long and hard outside, wow.  During the heat wave prior to this past Sunday, I perhaps hauled out 6 or 7 blocks at a time before I was done for and had to go inside to the air-conditioning and rest.

From the "shed" I moved the blocks to the patio door steps:

And from there, I moved them one by one out through the gate and down the driveway to the front yard:

And here is the first bed all lined with the block.  Still to be done - pulling yet more weeds, lining the rest of the bed with newspaper and putting down new mulch:

 I'm very happy with how the blocks define the flower beds.  The house is starting to feel a little cottage like, which I'm actually happy with.  I've been working for six years to erase the somewhat nondescript nature of a basic 1950s style starter ranch home.  Eventually I would like to add flower boxes under the ranch-style (long and narrow) windows on the north side of the front of the house, and am considering adding a crank up cloth awning to the large picture window (it would have to be large enough to sit over the shutters) to give my living room much needed shade during the long summers when the Sun swings around to the south and then to the west and glares into the room for hours.

I've got about 9 to 11 blocks left to lay on the second bed (on the other side of the front stoop) to complete lining it (not shown).  I hauled three blocks out earlier this morning after walking the mile round trip to the supermarket and then decided I just had to continue pruning the ornamental cherry tree that anchors that second bed on the north front corner of the house. 

Over the past 3 days besides hauling blocks out to the north bed, I pulled out my loppers and started pruning the ornamental cherry.  I was tired of getting smacked in the face by overgrown branches every time I mow the grass on that side of the yard.  The entire tree needs to be "limbed up."  I cut off three more branches this morning.  I still have a way to go because the only saw I have isn't exactly right for the job of cutting tree branches.  The old "Shark tooth" saw I had for probably 20 plus years broke a few months ago when I was pruning what I think is a purple plum shrub/tree on the south corner of the house (you can see it in the photo above) and it was beyond being fixed.  So today I finally ordered a new "Shark tooth" saw and it will be here on July 21st.  I'll be able to make shorter work of removing branches on the ornamental cherry larger than 2 inches in diameter, which is the limit of the loppers (and my arm strength to use those loppers).  Meanwhile, when not cutting grass, lugging concrete blocks, weeding, fertilizing, and attacking the sod web worm infestation on the south side of the front lawn, I've been cutting up all the branches I removed from the ornamental cherry on the back patio and stuffing the remains into bags to be hauled away.

Whoever said that a woman's work is never done SURE HAD THAT RIGHT!  I'm going to take a nap now, LOL.