Life By Lindsey Rae

I went to the Nashville Lawn and Garden Show this weekend. It was fun! I got to check out lots of different things that interest me for my home and yard. Lots of beautiful plants and hard scape. Everything from seeds to stone to baby ducks. (I always like baby ducks....I've read that ducks are good for keeping down weeds in the backyard....would the HOA allow it???)

It's been sooo nice out the past few days. We got up to 80 degrees yesterday and today. I need to make this quick so I can get back outside and work on my flowerbed. Tomorrow it's gonna get a bit colder again and rain. But, I think from here on out spring has arrived.
I just feel so much better when it's like this!

It was really hot today. According to my car, 96 degrees (which is about 36 degrees for the Canadians). It's supposed to be in the 90's all week. I have to give my trees extra water.
We've been watering them everyday because one of our trees (we have 2), in particular, has special needs. We had one planted in the back initially and then they recently came along and planted one in the front of everyone's house. But, as the ground is pretty much solid rock, they didn't want to put a whole lot of effort into digging a hole and so they pretty much just planted it on top of the ground and then covered it in mulch...which is good for about the first week. So, the tree is a little more unstable, being not completely in the ground. It needs extra help for awhile.
We put a rubber mulch mat on top of both of them, which was a little expensive, compared to regular mulch, but it is doing a good job of protecting the exposed roots and it really keeps the water from evaporating when it gets hot. Our trees are looking pretty much better than anyones now. We feel proud of them.

We also have a (volunteer) job of watering my neighbors tree. (Also planted on top of the ground). He has a house here, but he only lives in it 2-3 days per month. He lives in California most of the time. So, he asked us to take care of his trees for him. We had to give his tree a rubber mulch mat too, because when I watered, all the mulch just came off and the roots became exposed. We figured it would not do too well like that. I'd hate to be blamed for the death of his tree.

I have a lot more things that I want to write about, but I have had so much going on recently, I don't have as much time. This week in particular I have something to worry about almost everyday.

I feel like it's really stuffy in here right now and it's driving me crazy. It's become suddenly more humid this week. It's like the intense summer humidity just started and it just dropped in and doubled overnight. I usually like humidity, but tonight it's bugging me. I'm stuffed up and feel like I can't breathe. Maybe it's some allergies that are bothering me, but the humidity is making it feel worse to my sinuses.

It's around 11:30pm and it's still like, 80 degrees outside. That's pretty nice. I much prefer the warmer weather....except for the fact that warm weather means more bugs.

There are too many bugs, and I'm afraid of them.
I really hate it.
Actually, we got some pest control from Steven this week. I don't know if I mentioned it here, but my cousin, Steven, is down in Nashville right now selling pest control as a summer job. So, we got some from him...in hopes that I would live in fear less and it would improve my quality of life if I see less bugs.

Steven and his roommates have come over about 3 times now and hung out with us at our house; had dinner and stuff. It's been fun. It was fun to have Canadians over because at one time there were four of us Canadians in the house and only American (Jerrod). I felt good about that, because Jerrod likes to tease me and make Canadian jokes, but with four Canadians against one American, it was fun to be able to gang up on him for once. haha. That's the most Canadians that have ever been in our house....suddenly I have also really noticed that they (we....I....) talk a little different and they have a little different sense of humor. It's weird that I never noticed it before, but I think this is nearly one of the longest times since I have been back to Canada, so maybe that's why I notice it more suddenly.

Today the temperature got up to 73 degrees. That's how it should be in February, as far as I am concerned. If it was this nice everyday, I would feel better. I always feel better when the weather is nicer.
So, since it was nice out, I had to work outside to take advantage of the good day.
I mostly finished up organizing my stuff in the garage. Jerrod cleaned it all up a couple weeks ago, and left my stuff on one side for me. But, I couldn't do much with it when it was cold out, because I didn't want to stay outside in that. (I hate cold a lot.)

I seem to have injured myself again. I am a little too good at running into things. When I was cleaning I hit my funny bone on Jerrod's weight bench in possibly the most un-funny way possible. My arm is still hurting very badly hours later and doesn't want to bend anymore. It was more than the average hitting the funny bone.

I also started sanding a cedar chest that I've had for months now, that I have been planning to re-finish. It was a second-hand item that I got awhile back, but I haven't had the chance to do much with it...and also wasn't sure how I wanted to finish it, so I was hesitating to start. But, now I think I am going to do it in black to match our dresser and use it in the bedroom to store extra blankets and that sort of thing. It's pretty dirty right now and so it's going to be a lot of work to clean up. I'm a germ-a-phobe, so that kind of freaks me out. But, at least I got a good portion of the sanding done, which is good. I really have a desire to refinish furniture, because it's cheaper if you can find something good that is second-hand and also, it allows you to be creative in doing a finish you want. But, I really, REALLY hate sanding ...my arms and hands get tired quickly, even with the electric sander.

There has been lots of bad storms and tornadoes in the south tonight, including Middle Tennessee. Doesn't sound like much came into Wilson County (where we are) though. But, there was quite a bit near where we used to live, not too far away. We have had some rain and quite a bit of wind, but from what they are saying is going on in some other areas, nothing very bad comparatively. Hopefully it stays that way. I feel more concerned about storm damage now that we are homeowners and not just renting. It would not be fun to have to be the ones to have to fix things.

Today the temperature got up to 104 degrees Fahrenheit, which was supposed to be close to record highs. I knew it was hot, but it wasn't until I read the temperature in Celsius that I realized just how hot....That's 40 degrees!
The rest of the week is supposed to be close to the same 36, 38, 39. Pretty warm out there.