“Remoted” – Day 412 (Sunday)

Lilac!

Moose let us sleep until 7:20 this morning. It was restful and refreshing, but it also felt like the morning was half over when we got up. During the day, it was the usual solitary stuff – suspenseful and disturbing movies, comedy shows, and laundry and other household tasks woven in.

The weather pendulum has swung and temperatures were in the 70s again. The powerful wind died down to a tolerable breeze. The pleasant conditions allowed for the trimming of the half-dozen random faux grass clumps in the backyard, which had grown to nearly a foot tall with the recent rain. The lawn mower has trouble dealing with them when they are that tall, so the big giant yard scissors were used. There is most certainly a proper yard tool name for them, but I don’t know what it is. What matters is knowing what can be done with them. The clippings from the big clumps were gathered in the yard waste barrel for pickup tomorrow.

Transplanted bleeding heart.

The plants were visited, which can take about an entire minute if done at a casual pace. The lilacs are making great progress in the approach to their first flowering. The bleeding heart plant out front is huge again, even after being cut back last month, and four of the transplants from the big plant are doing well and ready to flower.  

The lilies of the valley are popping up, creeping beyond the boundaries of the flower bed, and the rhododendron has lots of buds because last year it was trimmed back correctly. So far, the violets are largely MIA, but it’s likely they’ll be along soon. The dandelions are sprouting and are left for the bees. Pansies were bought a couple weeks ago, but haven’t been planted in the yard yet. Maybe in a couple weeks. A flower pot from last summer that wintered in the enclosed porch is sprouting new mint plants which was a surprise. Last summer’s mint was successfully rooted from a bunch of cut mint in a  Whole Foods grocery order.