Great Day

I had a great day yesterday.  It was a beautiful day and I had a chance to spend some time outside.  Also made it back to the gym after being a way last week.  Felt good to lift some weight again.  I got a chance to take Ollie for two plays up at the arena.  I am sure he was pretty excited to go for a run.  It was great to see most of the snow melted on the field at the arena too.

I took the opportunity with such a nice day to do some yard work outside.  The long winter leaves dirt, gravel, garbage and some dead grass on most lawns.  I got out the rake and raked all the dirt, gravel and dead grass out of the front lawn.  It was amazing to see how much I got out of it with a good rake, filled our garbage bucket.  I even rolled out the trimmer and made a nice vertical edge on the front walk.  I also took out the old blower to blow off the dirt and gravel deposited on the driveway.  I am sure our neighbors did not appreciate it as big plumes of dust floated through the air for a few minutes.  It is amazing how much of an impact you can make on a landscape in a short period of time.  I spent less than half an hour doing that work and our front already looks 100 per cent better.

I will also do some pruning in the next couple days.  We have a rose of sharon that I will thin out.  I have worked on it the last three years and every year it comes back bigger and better throughout the season.  I think people are tentative to cut in to plants and shrubs but, spring is a great time to do it.  Their is an art to it and if done right, it will benefit the plant or shrub immensely.  They need good air flow so it is important to open things up to allow for that.  I would not recommend just hacking in to your plants and shrubs.  There are a lot of great videos on you tube that give some tutorials on how to thin out plants, trees and shrubs.  I love my mom but, she hacked in to a hydranga at the front of the their house and it does not look good.  She is also did it towards the end of last season which is not the best time as their is the risk of frost damaging where the cuts are made.  Like I said, there are some good tutorials online that will give you some confidence with your pruning this spring.

I am going to get in a few days of work later this week which is great.  Looking forward to being outside again and taking in the fresh air. 

That is all for me today.  Take care,  Shawn.

Appreciate the small things in life.