Monday, May 15, 2017

Mother's Day Surprise

Saturday morning, Cole and I travel in stealth to Birmingham.  Our mission:  help Mark plant a garden for his grandmother.  We have been remiss for two years and the weeds have enjoyed the hiatus.

Cole surveys the weed plot.  Then I hurry to get the Commandant's tent pitched.  50% chance of rain and mosquitoes...
All tucked in with our favorite sleeping bag.  Now may I turn to garden work?

"Puny human, hurry up and close the flap, I see a mosquito."

Mulch on top of landscape fabric had composted enough to make a nice propagation bed for weeds and saplings.  Fabric was carefully peeled back.

I commandeered the tiller to play.  Leaving Mark to dig to China on his own.

He cuts through a buried wire and continues to work 'around' it.  And we wonder why women outlive men.
Cole admires the prepared bed.

Hard to see all the tiny plants, but a variety of vegetables and flowers really are there. Promise!

Surprising Helene, who didn't even know that I was in her garden!

Super stealthy!  Surprise, happy Mother's day!
Stealth capabilities dwindled as soon as we engaged in our 2.5 hr return trip to the farm.  Instead of taking US 280 South, I had the ingenious idea to try I-65 South.  5 hours later, we docked at the farm.  What a nightmarish ride.

My phone was threatening to die at 13% battery and I needed to use it's navigation to get us out of the mess of a closed down interstate.  Took almost an hour to get off the interstate, then the police was redirecting everyone to US-31, but my Mapquest app showed traffic at a standstill there too because of accidents.  I'm buying stock in Mapquest... coming through an ice storm in Idaho, it redirected me to safety in Nevada.  Saturday night it took me through residential areas and we bypassed all the traffic.  I mean ALL.

  When I got back on I-65, I was in a group of three cars.  None ahead of us, none behind us, none beside us either because the northbound lane was closed too.  I had been in the back of the queue back in Pelham and now I was ahead of everyone.  I might just get their logo tattooed on my posterior, it's saved it more than a few times!

Cole and I pulled in to the farm a few minutes shy of midnight.  Home sweet home.  Sunday morning was spent on animal projects and the afternoon was mine to zone out on the tractor spraying the pastures.  No traffic, no din of the city, just the soothing rumble of our John Deere and wide open spaces.