armadillos and incompetent landscapers

This weekend was full of tasks related to typical home ownership.  I filled in lots of nail holes in the walls and painted them once dry.  Carpets were shampooed as well.  I attempted to mow the yard when the cable that controls the gear for the self propelled drive system snapped.  Let me tell you, pushing a mower is tough work.  It is much more difficult than the days of using my dad’s lawn boy as a child — that mower was light and the new self propelled versions are quite a bit heavier.

While mowing, I noticed a giant hole on the side of the garage right up against the foundation.  Sure enough, some varmint dug it as there was dirt everywhere.  Coincidentally, Molly came running back inside one morning from her walk to the bus stop to inform me she saw an armadillo run into our bushes.  I believe that was the culprit.  I took the hose out and filled the hole with water, but no armadillo.  Satisfied that nothing was in there at the moment, I put two bricks in the hole and covered it back up with the dirt scattered about.

When I had our wax myrtles removed a significant empty spot was left in the elaeagnus hedge along the front of the garage.  I purchased a three gallon plant from Shades of Green and planted it this weekend.  After that I watered all the flowers including the crape myrtle I planted several weeks ago.

Then I set out to mow the back yard.  However, the last rain storm that came through two weeks ago took out one of our cedar trees.  It broke off the trunk about three feet off the ground.  Upon further investigation, there was twine tied around the trunk.  I surmise it was for holding the branches in during transport/planting and that the lazy incompetent landscapers that installed the tree for the original owners of our house neglected to cut the twine loose.  After five years of growth, the trunk expanded and the twine choked off the trunk causing a weak spot where it snapped.  For now I’ve got a silly looking half tree in the back yard but I can deal with it until I can have someone come take the rest out and grind the stump.

I thought for a while our downstairs A/C was going south as I could hear air flowing through the vents all weekend.  This was not something I needed.  After checking the thermostat to make sure it was cooling to the correct temperature for the twentieth time, I realized that the fan was set to ‘On’ instead of automatic and that the outside unit was not running, but the ventilation fan was.  That was a relief.