It's not pretty

Every year around this time I start to look forward to Fall.  And I start to trick myself a little bit and start doing Fall things.  Like I want to wear sweaters and be cozy, light Fall scented candles, drink pumpkin spice flavored coffee...all the things.  Last week it was really chilly at night and morning so I really felt like the weather was feeling the same as me - looking forward to Fall! ha!

Actually, that's one of the things I love about where I live is that I look forward to each season.  Winter not as much because driving on ice is not my favorite.  But a nice thick snowfall when I don't have to go anywhere is actually really sweet.  The other day I found pumpkin spice coffee creamer at the store and of course bought some and I've been enjoying it all week.

I'm trying to remember if I've talked about my back yard or not?  I think I have.  Anyways.  I killed all the grass and weeds and now it is a dead zone.  I am planning to reseed in September or whenever the temps are between 60-80 degrees consistently during the day.  Before that can happen though I have a LOT of work to do out there.  As per usual I could feel myself starting to get overwhelmed and then avoid the situation.  But!  I told myself if I just do a little at a time I'll be done in no time.

Right?  So what do I do?  Start small and take little bites?  Nope.

Yesterday I thought, I'll just start with weeding and cleaning out the raised bed area.  It's small.  So I raked and filled two trash bags full of grody foxtails and debris.  And then I thought, I'll just see if the sides lift up easily.  One side sort of did which encouraged me to dig out around the edges and lift the entire frame up over the dirt and start to move it across the yard.  In the heat of the afternoon in the sun.

Luckily I did not get sunburned but it was hard!  I'd pull and push it a couple feet then have to stop and cool down.  Then get back to it, then stop, and so on.  I kept telling myself, "you can do it, you can do it."  And eventually I did.  You can see here where I started at the dirt pile and then where I ended up on the other end of the yard.  I know in this picture it doesn't look like that far, but it really is!  Oy vey.

I parked it at the bottom of the little hill there. I wanted to leave a nice open space in the rest of the yard in case Rocky and I play fetch or something, give him room to run.  Also it gets the most continuous sun here.  The shade you see here did not start until 5 pm.  

I was kind of hoping to put an apricot tree at the top of that sloped area, there is a flat spot at the top.  But, I don't know if that will work or not.  Eventually I am going to put flowers on the hill.  I'd really love to get a cottage type garden growing there and then have the rest of the yard be lawn.  

This perspective is from inside the house looking out.  George, being a curious cat, is checking out the new situation.

So, I know these pictures are super ugly and not fun to look at, but I wanted to be able to document my starting place.  Hopefully I can manage to get everything green by next year and that box full of veggies!  My goal is to grow the ingredients for my pickles.  I thought that would be really cool.  So, cucumbers, dill, garlic and jalapenos.  I would also love some tomatoes, zucchini, yellow squash, lemon cucumbers and who knows what else!  

In other news I have finally gotten past the heel on sock number 2 of my raspberry waffles socks!!!  Yeah!  This yarn is so fun.  I think if I can really work on it this week I can finish this sock and have it finished!  

I hope you all have a great week!  I plan to knit and keep watching the Olympics :)