OMG Trees!

We had soaked the roots of the trees that were delivered on Wednesday. M dug holes for all the trees while I was at work on Thursday so we could plant them all. While I was at work, I got a text message from M: "The good news is that I have all the holes dug. The bad news is that we got more trees, so I don't have all the holes dug." Poor bastard.

So when I got home and we had had dinner, we started the planting...got about 5 or 6 planted before the rain started. (We were moving kind of slowly because M was so sore from all the tilling and hole digging and because I'm...well...a wuss still. No upper-body strength built up yet this year.) No worries, just a little rain. But we worked a little faster. Then it got gradually harder, and thunder started in the distance.

I suggested to M that we stop, so he said he wanted to get the fruit trees planted. We stopped planting the evergreen windbreak and moved to the other side of the driveway. As we planted the first or second tree, I saw lightning to the south. We hurried a little more as we saw a little more lightning. Then the lightning started showing up to the west--heading our way. We were pushing dirt and planting soil into the holes around the trees as quickly as we could while also *trying* to be gentle with the trees. No real TLC for the fruit trees as we planted them. [Title links to how they feel.]

As soon as we finished those holes, we nearly ran inside and closed everything up. We had planted 28 trees in under 2 hours. Nothing like the fear of electrocution to speed things up!

After I got cleaned up, we went out for ice cream, and then went to bed.

On Friday, M got up, walked to the couch, and fell asleep again. Then more trees were delivered.

That was the last of 'em.

We used Friday evening to get 3 more bags of tree and shrub soil, 8 more bags of peat moss, 10 more bags of mulch, some more weed-block cloth and stakes for the cloth.

Today is the big challenge. It's supposed to be a beautiful day, warm (well, 60 degrees) and sunny (that part is true so far). The alarm went off at 7:15. [M woke up earlier from the excitement. He said it was because he had napped all day before, but I know, it was really the excitement ;) ] We've had breakfast and are preparing to work our asses off. [I've said it before and I'll say it again: I wish the phrase were true, because I could stand to lose some ass.] We have to accomplish as much today as possible because we are supposed to have more storms tomorrow and snow on Monday and Tuesday.


Yes, you read that right. Monday, snow. Tuesday, snow. April 6 and 7. Snow. Spring is taking a nap, like M yesterday.

Updates tonight if we can still move....

* Stringham high: Who needs an exercise regimen? (Oh, and we now have "landscaping" to go with the giant ruts and mounds of dirt left behind from the geothermal heat pump line installation.)
* Stringham low: As M keeps pointing out, with all the supplies, it costs more to plant the trees and bushes than to buy the trees. [Steph: well duh!]
* Stringham super-high: In 3 years (if the birds don't eat too much off the "buffet"), we'll be rolling in strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, and maybe a few apples, peaches, pears, and plums. Oh, and cherries.