Spring Cleaning Has Begun

It is uncommonly beautiful in Iowa today.  Usually this time of year is full of mud and muck and brown everywhere.  Today it's sunny, in the low 70's, and the earth is waking up!  I am torn between going out for a run and taking the bike out for a spin.  I think running will win out, since I desperately need the cardio and I have a 5K in a few months that I want to be prepared to run fast!


A dentist appointment is putting a snag in my day, so I have tried to be productive  around the time for my fantastic x-ray, teeth cleaning, fun fun fun dentist visit this afternoon.  Since I don't want to be all gross and sweaty lying in that chair, I'm going for a run afterwards.  Somehow I'll have to ignore that bizarre craving for McDonald's I always get after a dentist visit and go for a run instead.  Then it's a few errands, then back home to get cleaned up and prepare for a supper on the grill.  


Instead of lying around this morning (oh so tempting) I went outside and started to tackle a few yard projects that will need to be done.  Here's one project I managed to accomplish this morning:

 This is what the path from my patio to the garden shed looked like before I took a shovel to it.  It's been slowly consumed by the yard over the years.

This is what it looks like now!  There's actually a stone path under all that muck.  A good rain will wash that dirt off and I've managed to bring back the path from a certain fate (becoming part of the yard).  Anything that requires less mowing gets a thumbs up from me.  And it all took just about 15-20 minutes with a shovel and my Yardy.  


While I was outside, I opened up the garage.  Uggh.  It's small, but messy.  Lots of accumulated junk.  After living in my house for 11 years, I realize I've left a lot of things to just gather dust, instead of taking care of them when I should.  So I cleaned up the garage a bit, swept it out, and it looks much better.  Still some work to do, but much of the old seed packs, flower pots, and empty grass seed bags are in the trash.  And I found these:

My Dad made these for a friend's Mom years ago.  They were in her garden for quite awhile, until she sold her house.  My friend brought them back to me, and unfortunately the roofs of the birdhouses fell off, and I must have tossed them last Fall.  Pondering whether I should let them go or keep them, I had a great idea that I can't wait to try out.  Dad's bird houses will once again grace a garden.  Wait and see in an upcoming post what I do with them.  Repurpose, recycle, remember.


And I saw signs of Spring in my yard:

Keeping with the advice my friend Diane talks about in her blog , I am looking around the yard and making plans on what to work on when.  Happy to have made a start today, but lots more to do.  It's only March, so I feel ahead of the game, since this is usually stuff I don't start on until the end of April.  


If this weather changes, I'll be pissed.  I'm ready to plant some herbs in pots and get my garden moving again!