May 18: More yardiness

I came home from work this morning and found four yards of topsoil in my driveway. Any other day this would really piss me off, but I was expecting it so it made me happy. I spent most the afternoon moving it across the yard, and Victor and Jack spread more this evening. Work involving shovels is definitely one of the suckier parts of a landscaping project. My forearms hurt and I’m having trouble lifting things like my phone and my forearms.

Also, topsoil stinks like poo.

Tomorrow I’m shopping for boxwoods and edging and a tree. I’m also going to get a smallish dappled willow shrub called a Hakuro Nishiki. Have you seen these? I think they’re gorgeous. Cristina—who would never, ever lie to me, I’m quite sure—says they’re low maintenance and grow like crazy. This time of year they usually look like this:

I plan to put one in the side yard so it’s visible in the front, but can grow and grow and not get in anyone’s way.

I don’t know what to plant on the raised beds. I prefer perennials and/or evergreens and want to put in something a little more special than boring old azaleas. I know rhododendrons grow really well here and some people think it’s shameful not to take advantage of that, but I am not one of those people. I hate rhododendrons. And while I love ornamental grasses used in landscaping in dry climates, around here they always look like weeds to me. If you have any other suggestions—plants you love, stuff that’s hearty or pretty or anything like that—I’d love to hear them. Like the bleeding hearts, Sherilee—Katie loves them but I told her I wanted to ask you how well they would do around here before we plant one.

By the way, whenever I type the word “landscape” or some variation thereof, I always type “landscrape” first. Sometimes I really bug me.

Today’s schedule also included a visit to my doctor to finally check out why I’m now on Week Four of the cough from hell. It turns out I have another sinus infection. But you know what? He was totally asking me swine flu-related questions. See? I’ve been telling you all along that I had the swine flu and even my doctor thought I might have it! I’m not the only crazy person! But I don’t have the swine flu. Actually, we don’t know that for sure, as we did no tests… so I’m still gonna bitch and moan and try to convince you I need more sympathy.

Anyway, with help from Zithromax, I oughta stop coughing up my remaining vital organs real soon.

It’s supposed to rain tomorrow so we’re going to take a break from manual labor and then get back into it on Wednesday. I still can’t believe we’re going to get this project done, but it sure looks like it. Yay us!