caring for the garden

Fall is coming. You can feel it in the morning air. Soon the rain will be here, as well. The forcast calls for a strong possibility of rain early next week. Our potting shed has been cleaned out and the old storage boxes under the holly torn down. Now I am charged with sorting and getting rid of stuff. What's left needs to be under cover.

Last week Jack (our neighbor's ex) hauled two large loads of junk to the dump. This week he is cutting wood for winter (for his use). I am going through boxes of old papers and other stuff. Yesterday Richard and I prepared 2x4s for hanging as shelf braces in the potting shed. Today I will hopefully get them hung. The drill is heavy and hard to hold in our artheitic hands and wrists. Getting old is not so bad except that your body no longer co-operates.

We have scheduled a tree crew to cut down a large diseased incense ceder and prune out our big black walnut on September 7. When that is done, Jack will run all the trimmings through a chipper. He is also going to rebuild the portion of our raised beds in the vegetable garden that need repair and do some work on the walk ways. That will still leave some small construction projects that really need to be done. Anyone interested in replacing a portion of the shop roof (the skylight has leaked and ruined the roof from there down), replacing a rotted out sill in a basement window, repairing the back door jam, or putting new glass in a small window that got broken? Jack is not interested in doing construction and these projects really need to be done soon.

Another project that I would love to have done is to build a green house out of a collection of old single-pane sliding glass doors we have out back. It needs to be large enough to allow for Richard's power wheel chair. I invision this green house as being built with pressure treated lumber on a base of concrete block (2 courses high) with a roof of corrigated fiberglass panels. The floor would be of concrete pavers or brick so that the wheels of his chair would not get stuck. Most of the materials are on hand. We would need some block, concrete mortar, and lumber, but not much. Having  something to do besides watching TV would do Richard a world of good, physically, mentally, and emotionally.  Anyone interested?