The weather needs to change NOW!

This is one of last year's downpours, but they all look about the same.



I am officially sick of the weather and I seldom get sick of the cloudy, rainy weather that makes up a good portion of our weather patterns here in the great Northwest. This year, however, it is over the top. I am so sick of the wetness. I have so much to do that involves five or six dry days in a row. I can't mow my lawn. I can't dig in my flower beds. I can't put the dirt and plants back that I dug out of my flower bed. I can't finish the gravel. I can't get the paint out of the garage, mix it with kitty litter, and leave it to dry so I can throw it away. I can't get the junk out of the garage and put it on Craig's list or take it to the dump. I can't finish moving things around in my kitchen,, because that involved leaving some cabinets sitting outside for more than a minute.
So many things that I CAN'T do. It's time to look for more things that I can do, but it's difficult to motivate myself when the things I want to do hinge on the things I can't do. I am going to try and get myself into a sewing mood. I have tons of things that need to be finished, or mended, or made. I just haven't felt the creative bug. I need to go in and get started in there. I am going to force myself. I know once I start it will give me the sewing bug.
I will post pictures of the things I do. That will be my motivation to get things done.
So there you have it. Once I get really, really involved in the sewing projects and don't want to be torn away from them, the weather will change. Then I will have to force myself to stop sewing and go do outdoor stuff. As it is, I think I need to learn to drop everything the minute I see it stop raining and run outside and see what I can do in the half-dry mode for the twelve nano-seconds that it is not dropping things from the sky. Right now I need to go jump in the shower. And not the one that is about to pelt us from the sky. It's looking dark and ugly, so I'm sure by the time I am done getting ready for work it will be a downpour, forcing me to ride the shuttle instead of walking in to work from the parking lot. Dang weather!

The weather

The weather has been crazy today. It was sunny when I got up. Then it alternated between sunny, cloudy and sunny again. It was nice and bright and sunny and I thought maybe I might go outside when all of a sudden it was raining. As in pouring cats and dogs! Raining sideways because of the wind. Crazy April weather.
That's all I have today.
Really.

What I've been doing in the yard. (Thank you Spring 1)

This is what our sky looks like the last few days. Some of the deciduous trees are starting to bloom, but most of them are still pretty bare. It is technically still winter! My quince is starting to "pink up" though. I didn't take a picture of it because it is in the shade, but here are some trees against the sky.




It's been so nice and I've been super enjoying getting out and getting things done. I am in the process of widening my driveway up near the house and making a gravel walkway so that no one has to get muddy or wet coming into the house from either direction. It's a lot of work to do by hand, but it is also very good exercise. I will use a small bulldozer for the other side of the driveway, but this area needs to be done by hand.


These are my trusty tools.


I wanted to gravel in the area by this rhody because it will be
too small for the mower when I'm done.


The gravel around the rhody bush.


This area will be lined with those retaining bricks
they have now that stack easily. The lower part will be
part of the driveway and allow two cars to park side by side there.


There used to be flower bed here up against the porch to match
the cement circled flower bed on on the other side, but I decided to
eliminate it and will just use a couple of pots there instead.


The bigger picture so you can see how much ground I
have dug out and lowered and how it looked before. At the
back of the picture is the dirt pile from what I've excavated
and the front is the gravel going down when I'm done. Everything
grassy in this picture will be dug out and graveled.


This just shows the edge that will be behind the
retaining bricks.