Space transformation and gardening in Easy World

I’m not sure if I mentioned that one of the side effects of the pool project, with all of it’s various contracted elements such as excavation, concrete work, electrical work, and shed building left our back yard looking like a tornado hit a discount store and the contents landed in our yard.

Because the contractors were available sooner than we had expected, and were so eager for the work because of the harsh winter and slim pickins in the construction market because of it, they volunteered to clear out our garage, which had to be totally emptied to make way for the job they did as well as for the pool.

I do think I may have mentioned how amazing it was that they emptied the whole thing, including a pallet of book which they had to take down to the basement, and all the accumulated lawn and garden equipment, and copious supplies as well as the empty boxes and other discards waiting for snowmelt to be able to go out in the trash. (Because the trash did not get collected during the multiple blizzards in December and January, we had it backed up.)

All this they accomplished in a half hour flat. Four men. Remarkable. Only in Easy World. And though I tipped them at the end of their several days’ worth of work, they did not charge anything for moving it all—they were just grateful to be able to prepare the job site and be able to work again.

BUT, because they were also going to build a shed to put the stuff in, including the pool pump and heater, they had to put most of the garage contents on our patio, which has a roof over it. Things that would not be damaged were left up against the wall of the house. And they could not even be put back in the shed when it was built because the electricians needed access in there to install a 60-amp panel, and the pool guy needs access to install the pool equipment.

So very little had been put back in the shed as of today. Well…you remember we had siding put on the house last week? They had to move everything from under the patio roof out into the yard to be able to install the ceiling of the patio cover! ACK! A prime example of sometimes things get worse before they get better!

When they finished, I had them just leave the stuff out in the yard so we could clean the patio and put things back in an organized manner. So that’s where things stood yesterday. I felt so overwhelmed with the task of getting things back in order, I repeated the Easy World mantra (“I live in Easy World where everything is easy” along with my new addendum “and magic is an everyday occurrence)” and Rick and I started to work on it. My knee was in pain, however, so I decided reinforcements were needed and asked Rick to call the kids. Stepdaughter #4 was available and was happy to come over today and make some money.

She thought she could only be there for a little over an hour because she was supposed to go see Barack Obama speak. I was not really so happy about the limited time because I figured we had several hours’ worth of work to get things in shape, but I was just grateful for some help. Amazingly, we got things under control so that when it was time for her to leave, it was fine. She promised to help again this week.

She went in to change her clothes, but in 5 minutes, she came back out again and said that she could stay and work as long as we needed her to as her mom and sister were running late so she had bowed out so that they wouldn’t have to be even later by having to come by and pick her up. While I would have loved for her to hear Obama, I was thrilled to have more help.

We ended up getting the herb garden cleaned out and ready for new growth as well as deadheading lots of other perennials and getting a host of other chores done. By the time she left, we felt so great about all we accomplished! Whereas I had been worried about getting things done, so much of what I was a bit worried about handling in the garden and expected to need to do in the upcoming weeks was DONE!

Rick vanished for a little while during all this, and I found that he was taking care of another thing that had seemed like an obstacle to me—he moved the extra bed out of the girls’ room (they hardly spend the night anymore, so one double bed is enough in that room) and brought the massage table up from the basement so that I can make a treatment area in there as I have been longing to do for quite awhile. Wow. I do so love Easy World where everything is easy, and magic is an everyday occurrence!

Speaking of magic, it won't be long before my garden looks like this again...