Our Own Little World

I've been away from home, traveling due to necessity, during this time we all need to stay home.  Now, I'm back home, and self-quarantining for 2 weeks, and reacquainting myself with the house and yard.  It seems like we're living in our own little world.  It's a glorious time of year here in central Minnesota.  Everything is very green, we've had an average amount of rainfall, although the lawn is brown in some spots.  We do not keep a manicured lawn!  We have some "mowed green space" and we try to keep the surrounding trees and brush and weeds from encroaching.  More than half of our lot is still wild.  And we like it that way!

We both have spent quite a few hours outdoors the last few days, as we are preparing for the construction of a detached 2 car garage.  Bob has done a lot of heavy lifting, hauling, tossing, demolishing, chain sawing and burning.  Sounds like a real rough and ready guy, don't you think?!  I've been involved in most of that, although I don't want to take on the chain saw!  I've also been pulling lots of weeds, both out in the newly cleared area, plus in our flower beds.  I guess when I'm gone, those weeds think they can just take over!  Bob did keep the garden really cleaned up, thank goodness, during the times when he was home.

Mucking around in the trees and brush, I find a few interesting things.  First, beware of the poison ivy!  Second, don't let the wild sarsaparilla fake you out, even though they can grow "leaves of three"!  These leaves have tiny serrated edges and points on the end, plus little tiny bristles on the stems.  Poison ivy leaves do not have such a sharp point, and the edges of the leaves are uneven but not serrated.  And no bristles on the stems.  I give the poison ivy lots of room, it can really flare up on my skin.  But Bob's skin seems impervious to its toxin, so he pulls it up and disposes of it.  But Bob does react strongly to bee and wasp stings, so I guess he has his weak spots, too.
We also have a lot of wild gooseberry bushes, which have to be pulled out, and it has wicked thorns.  But gooseberries do send my mind back to Sweden, 1971, and the tart sauce that was made from the berries.

I was able to put together some fun fabrics to make little masks for 2 little kids down in AZ, and get them sent off.  With the increased coronavirus cases there, I'm sure they will be used.

With everything growing fast right now, we are keeping an eye on developments in the garden.  We have tomatoes developing, lots of green and yellow beans, plenty of kale and our first zucchini!  It's really great to see the fruits of our labors, and better yet, to eat them!