Do You Garden? The eBay Queen Doesn’t…

I need to tell you I am not a gardener. I wish I was a gardener.  I wish that I could look at dirt and grass surrounding a house and say.. “We shall do this… ” and it would be done, grow and look beautiful. That doesn’t happen with me.  We built our house (the house that eBay built) about 9 years ago, and it STILL does not have ANY  landscaping.

Last year I worked my behind off to make a garden or two.  I plotted, and planned.

#1 (last year) Digging rocks out of what was suppose to be the new rose garden.

This is right by our drive way (see the cars? <img src=” ) #1 and I thought a fabulous rose garden would look great right here.  It never really happened.. You know why?  See those 2 trees? They “leaf out” over the drive way.. but for some reason the bushes would not grow.  So we moved them. Not the trees.. the roses.  (photos to come later)

See those rocks.. we grow those.. You can’t put a shovel an inch in the ground without seeing one of those rocks.  (oh.. that’s child #1 and child #2)

See those rhododendrons up on the porch? I planted those last year… they didn’t’t come back this year.

We call this #5 in a Sponge Bob blanket

This is what I want the stairs up to my house to look like.

You should know.. my house doesn’t look like this. I have the rocks.. but don’t know how to use them.

Here’s the Man digging..

#2.. who knows what he’s doing

Here’s the youngest 4 children..

Here is my success story.  I planted these last year.. and they came back with a vengeance!

Mothers Day is coming up, and I hope the Man and his 5 children take me to the garden center… so I can pick out some new plants that will die I mean grow.

The Bridges of Franklin County

The Low Water Bridge

I live in the middle of no-where.  It’s 15 miles to the nearest grocery store.  The man picked out this land LONG before he met me.  It was his dream to live out in the country.

The Man fancies himself as a farmer. I call this photo Grumpy in Black Socks.

Maybe I said that wrong.. I think he dreams he is a farmer and really is a country boy. (if you met my in-laws they are not very country-fied)   To get to our home you must cross the low water bridge. Sounds scary, but doesn’t look that way does it?

Not much water here huh?

Flowers blooming on the side of the creek..

Pretty.. Not too bad huh?

Looks like a little babbling brook…

A red bud blooming.. it’s spring in Kansas

Here’s the same creek after a bit of rain

About 16 years ago, (when I just moved here) I left early in the morning to spend the day in Kansas City.  It was raining when I left, and it rained all day.  When I came back home I encountered this bridge, with water rushing over it.  It completely freaked me out.  The Man had NEVER told me the bridge gets this way.  Matter of fact, he never mentioned  the creek.

So I did what every good city girl does… I headed into town.  I needed to get a hold of him, because I had NO IDEA how to get home without going down this road.  I drove into our little town, which only has a post office, car wash, and some vending machines. I knocked on some doors to see if I could borrow a phone, and the only people I could find home said “they didn’t have no phone!”  I found a pay phone on the side of a brick building and called him. I called and called.. he did not answer the phone.

I started to panic.  I did not know how to get to my house except the one way I had always come.  I’m going to admit I was a little more than just panicked.  I was frantic. I started to cry and drive.  I drove every logical way to get to my house. I didn’t have a map, or anyone to ask where I was or where I was going.  After about an hour, I found my way home.  It was a scary experience for a city girl that drove a sports car.. known for going 0-60 in 6.8 seconds.

I’ve seen it as high as the “4”  on the gauge (2 photos above).  It’s hard to tell in this photo how high and fast this water is moving.  I don’t know the name of our litttle creek, but I know it runs into the Marais de Cygn.  It rained last night pretty hard.  My creek is up and so is the river.

Here’s part of the Marais de Cygne where 68Hwy cross it. Normally you can’t see the water unless you are on the bridge, looking down.

Here’s the Marais de Cygne in Ottawa. Normally it’s about 20ft below that walking bridge.

**see how my photos are all off kilter? That’s because I had child #2 take the photos while I was driving.  He thought he would be cool and not hold the camera straight.. so that’s what’s wrong with the photos.. and weird blue stuff on the photos.  I was not trying to be cool.