Saturday, June 6, 2009

The Grouch Otherwise Known As Mama Pea

I spent quite a bit of time today trying to shape up my of-late crummy attitude. When did it start? Why did it start? Hmmm, wonder if it had anything to do with the surprise olive pit I chomped down on last Monday night and cracked off part of a molar? Is it the unbelievably cold weather we keep enduring? The jolt-me-out-of-bed leg cramps I've been having in the middle of the night? (And then can't get back to sleep.) Or the fact that I can't get my garden in and it's the end of the first week in June and I should have everything planted by now? What about the very painful pimple (sorry, people, but it does happen even to ravishing beauties like me) I have in my left ear? Could it be because we no longer see the sun for longer than 15-1/2 minutes per day and I should be half way to an enviably gorgeous tan by now? Yet here I am, still lily white, regularly wearing long pants, long sleeved shirts and a down vest half the time. Where's summer? Summer? Heck, where's a little bit of even warm-ish weather? Oh, woe is me, it's all so sad.



First order of the day on the schedule of making myself crawl out and away from my grump was to get outside and do what I could.





Each year I try to get a couple more perennials and this year I bought these three lovely Campanulas. I planted them around a flowering crab apple (stick) tree we planted last year. The three light green growths you see in this bed are Baby's Breath plants I put in last season also.



My daughter had given me a couple of clumps of Sweet William plants she had to move so I divided those and got them in the ground. (Now bloom, you purdy little things, bloom!)



The cherry tomato plants I started inside have blossoms on them (not good before transplanting to the garden) and were thinking seriously falling over because of being too tall and spindly so I decided they had to go outside, frigid temps or no. Got them planted in their designated garden bed and covered securely with a cold frame. Crossed my fingers and am hoping for the best.



Same with the green/red sweet peppers. Out they went under their own cold frame.



After that I did some weeding in the flower(less) beds. How come weeds can grow so prolifically with no warmth and/or sun? Also the vegetable(less) garden beds were starting to get over-run with healthy weeds so I attacked them with my trusty spading fork and pulled out every blasted weed by its little (or big) root.



Well. See? I was able to get some things done in the garden/yard area despite the fact that the air felt slightly Arctic. And, of course, my disposition was much better when I came in.



I felt so good I even had the gumption to get out the vacuum and do some once-over-lightly cleaning. Then the bathroom got a good up-grade which always makes me feel better. No, not the actual task of cleaning the bathroom but the way I feel afterwards knowing that it is clean.



All in all, a satisfying day. And I'm not nearly as much a grouch as I was twelve hours ago. Mind over matter, as they say. 'Course, that's assuming your mind is strong enough. I've been told more than once (a couple trillion times?) that I'm stubborn. So I can outlast this unusually cold start to the summer season. I'll hang in there and all will turn out okay. If not . . . Honey? Honey, I think it's time we got serious about finishing our greenhouse so we can use it for something other than storage.



3 comments:

RuthieJ said...

It's gotta be the weather that you've been having..... That would make grumps out of even the best Minnesotans!

Mama Pea said...

Ruthie - And it's still continuing! Lawsy, lawsy, it's gotta turn warm soon . . . doesn't it? Everybody is so tired of bringing pots of flowers in at night and covering tender plants in the ground that they're (including me) saying the heck with it and figuring if they survive, they'll survive.

Mama Pea said...
This comment has been removed by the author.