I need to preface this blog with the statement that I AM enjoying my time here in Michigan. It is quite beautiful up here and the weather is outstanding !!! Watching the weather roll in across the fields from the Southwest is magnificent. Always a cool breeze and yet the sun is HOT giving us the very best of all weather conditions. I can be outside in the sunshine but not melting like I would be in Florida this time of the year. The weather is so awesome that I want to be outside every chance I get.
"Outside" at The Man's place is amazing. Wide open spaces bordered by woods. Fantastic for watching all sorts of wildlife. We have Bluebirds nesting in the birdhouses on the fence posts, Hummingbirds at the feeder just outside the kitchen door, Bald Eagles sitting in the trees around us and on the small island in the pond, Sand Cranes walking all around the property, nightly visits by the dozen or so deer and the other night we apparently had a BEAR visit the salt lick that is out by the pond. It is a magnificent location for anyone who loves being one with nature. There are the occasional mosquito and gnat swarms that like to visit but the breezes usually keep them at bay. We also do have some wasps nesting under the steps outside the kitchen door but the exterminator is coming on Tuesday so I don't think they will be an issue for long.
The one thing that I do take issue with is the large amount of plants that like to stab me and literally "get under my skin". We, (I) have been doing a LOT of gardening this past month. The property contains wonderful flowering plants like Lilac, Lily of the Valley and the presently blooming Peonies. The fragrance in the air is amazing which I guess is supposed to make up for the fact that I can not be out side for more than ten minutes without getting stabbed. The above mentioned flowers are the kind ones . . . not a thorn or prickle to be seen, (although the Peonies are filled with ants). The nasty plants with all the thorns are not so obvious. Rather they lay in wait for me to stick my hand into a flowerbed and then they attack with a vengeance.
It seems that years ago when Mr.Man's wife was alive someone offered The Man some FREE rose bushes that they were digging out of their yard. (Right there he should have figured out that if this person was giving away FREE rose bushes there must be a reason WHY.) But hey, free is free and never let it be said that The Man will turn down anything that is free. (And I do mean ANYTHING!)
And so Mr. Man brought home about five small rose bushes as a lovely gift for his wife. They planted them along the patio at the back of the house and enjoyed the pretty little roses that bloomed each year. Unbeknown to The Man and his wife this particular breed of rose likes to spread out underground and in only a few short years the five small rose bushes turned into a jungle of thorny monsters that are now out into the grass of the yard and better yet, under the cement patio. Some how these beasts have even managed to spread out on TOP of the patio where they have choked out everything else that was ever planted out there.
These past couple of weeks I have been sitting on the ground ripping, tearing, cutting, sawing and basically trying to murder these plants. It has NOT been easy !! I have only managed to clear about half of the length of the patio and in the process I have no less than two hundred and seventy three bandaids all over my fingers, hands and arms. I am starting to look like an Egyptian mummy.
Every time I reach into the grass to try to locate the stem of a rose plant I am attacked by the smallest of thorns that pierce any armor ever made. I am now on my forth set of garden gloves trying to find a pair that will allow me to work un injured. The first pair of cotton gloves was a joke. Within seconds I had at least a dozen thorns imbedded in my skin. (And I do mean imbedded. These thorns are so tiny they go into your skin where they hurt like hell but you can't see them. They just sit there causing all sorts of pain every time you touch anything but you can't find them to dig them out.)
Next I tried The Man's work gloves which turned out to be no better than the cotton ones. Being the genius that I am I figured if one set of gloves wouldn't work I would double them up and wear two sets, one on top of the other. That didn't help at all. Now I'm getting pissed and am determined to win this battle. I purchased a pair of "garden" gloves that are cloth dipped in God only know what to coat them in some sort of hard plastic covering. The thorns can't get through but I also can not bend my fingers to pull weeds or cut with the garden clippers.
I think dynamite might be the answer !
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