Even though we are the dead of winter I can’t help but start thinking and planning on some things that I want to get done come spring. I really liked the stone benches that my mother-in-law purchased last year online at stonebenches.com so I’ve been checking out their site as of late to see if they have any that may be suitable for around our house, yard and garden areas. I think some nice garden benches would look great in a few choice locations.
My mother-in-law discovered this site when she was looking at memorial benches to place by her late husband’s grave site. He is buried in a VA cemetery, where they only had a flat marker for him and the family really wanted a nice bench to sit on when they visited the grave site. Their stone work are hand made in the U.S., they are made from cast stone and are shipped to you free of charge, which is a huge savings considering how heavy they are. Can you imagine how much you would have to pay for the shipping if they charged you for that?
Anyway, I’m sure that I will find some nice looking stone garden benches that I’ll end up ordering. Spring can’t get here quick enough as far as I’m concerned. I’ve never been a fan of the cold and wet weather that we experience each and every winter here. I’m all about the sun and all the activities that go along with the nice weather that spring and summer bring us.
When we lived in New England, I made my living doing landscaping work and grounds maintenance in the summer. I took great pride in how nice my clients yards looked. Although I did basic work such as lawn mowing and shrub trimming, my favorite work was with the flowers. In New England, the growing season is very short, so flowers are dearly appreciated when they bloom!
I especially enjoy working with planters. One of the advantages of working with planters is that if you are planting something that can’t survive the winter up there it is easier to bring the plant indoors for the winter! I think my favorite window box planter was one where I filled it with cascading petunias and they cascaded all the way to the ground. That was simply breathtaking! Lining the edges of a deck with a variety of decorative planters filled with dinner plate dahlias added a great dash of color to an otherwise stark deck. And I like being able to move the planters around to mix it up a little bit, get a little variety.
When my wife and I lived in New England, we ran a grounds keeping business together. I loved that work! I love to work outside and mow lawns, trim hedges, install fences, plant shrubs, clear brush and all of the other activities associated with working outdoors. One of the reasons that I loved it so much was that I loved working with the different kinds of garden equipment. I love my tractor, my back hoe, my loader, my zero turn mowers, my chain saw, my skid steer attachments, and my weed trimmers. I even have more than one post hole digger - I have three of them! One for me, and one for each of my hired help!
After a long day’s work I even enjoyed cleaning off the tools and making sure that they were ready for the next job. Somehow I feel like this is what I was born to do! And that is one reason why I love living here where we moved; there are several acres of land waiting for me to tame! When we moved here I sold off some of my equipment (like my loader) but I kept most of it. I expect I’ll be using it here in my own back yard!
It has been raining pretty steady for about a week now, and our grass is growing like crazy! I don’t like it when the grass gets this tall – I think that the dogs get too many ticks when the grass is tall. I think that it is too wet to mow, but when I look out the window I see my next door neighbor riding his rider mower in the rain, mowing his lawn. My own experience with mowing wet lawns is that it just isn’t worth the trouble – the lawn doesn’t look good afterwards, and the wet grass clogs up the mower. I’ve heard that Sunday is supposed to be nice – I guess I’ll try to mow the lawn then.
I enjoy going to trade shows. My wife and I especially enjoy going to the shows regarding home and garden, recreational vehicles, manufactured homes and boats. My wife enjoys the garden shows the most. She likes to take lots of pictures of the sample gardens that the landscaping companies design to bring home for inspiration. Some of the fantasy gardens are absolutely fantastic!
We also enjoy going to the other parts of the show where the vendors have booths set up to sell their various wares. We see some fantastic trade show exhibits at the shows that we go to. Some of the best looking trade show exhibit booths we’ve seen are at trade shows that feature kitchen and bath ideas at the home shows. I’ve asked a few people where they got their exhibits, and they told me that they got them from the http://www.gilbertdisplays.com website. I can remember many years ago that the booths were fairly crude, but now they look very sophisticated and seem to be an art form in themselves!
