My Favorite Picture of the Day

Productive!  That's a fitting word to describe today.  But before I report on my to-do list, here is the picture of the day:  Jeff, after a long day's work, standing by our (planned, of course) brush fire, both feeding and monitoring the flames.  He didn't even pause for supper, just jumped right in to the task at hand as soon as he got home from the barber shop.  I'm grateful for all the ways he sacrifices for us.

 So, how did I do on my to-do list?  Let's see...

1. Bring boxes of kindling from woodshed to porch, to put under air hockey table.  Done! Quick and easy.
2. Empty ashes.  Done!  Another quick and easy job.  I like that kind.  :)
3. Plant daffodil bulbs in front flowerbed.  Also done!
4. Find the mulch pile!  Just kidding, sort of.  I know where it is alright, but I will have to hack away at the plants that have grown up around it before I'll be able to actually get any mulch from it.  I did this; and you know what, it wasn't as bad as I thought!
5. Mulch the front flowerbed.  I made a good start on this one, but didn't have time to finish - maybe about two-thirds done now?  If the rain holds off, I'd like to finish this tomorrow morning.
6. Possibly plant some roses from cuttings.  I know it's not the best time of year to do this, but what do I have to lose?  I was leaning towards not doing this, but my neighbor happened to stop by this morning and she encouraged me to go ahead and try it.  So I did!  I've got two new rose cuttings hanging out in the ground tonight, protected by their very own gallon glass jar greenhouses.  Who knows if they'll survive the winter, but it only took a little bit of time and didn't cost a thing!  :)
7. Prune the holly bushes, and weed that flowerbed.  Possibly plant some bulbs there.  Add more mulch.  Started, but didn't have time to finish.
8. Weed the blueberry flowerbed, and add more mulch to it.  Didn't even touch it.  Did glance at it a few times, however.  ;-)
9. Harvest the basil that is hanging on in the garden, and figure out something to do with it.  I'm thinking of, to keep things easy, simply chopping and freezing it in small portions, since I don't have the necessary ingredients on hand to make pesto.  I didn't get to this one either.
10. Figure out what kind of fertilizing, if any, I should be doing for my fringe tree and magnolia trees; then do it.  Add more mulch around those trees.  Partially done.  I did look up some info and found out that I don't need to fertilize them now.  I did not, however, check them to see about adding more mulch.
11. Rake leaves!  I hope to get quite a few bags of leaves raked up, so we can use nature's free fertilizer/mulch in the garden next year.  I did this, but of course the project isn't done - not when, with every breath of air, more leaves float down!  I'll be working on this for a while, and that's fine with me; it's a project I truly enjoy.  I did manage to get two more bags done.

12. Have fun!  Take the time to laugh with my boys, throw leaves at them, watch them jump in a pile of crunchy yellow and gold, answer their questions:  in short, to be happy with them, and to make sure they know how deeply they are loved and how they rank higher - so much higher - than all the other projects on my list.  How to answer this?  Yes and no, I guess.  In reality, it wasn't a day that I devoted to having fun with the boys; but they ended up having an extra-special day anyway because Tuesday is the day when the wonderful Kathryn comes over to play in the afternoons.  And then, after Jeff got home, there was fire to watch and feed.  So all in all, it was a great day for the boys, even if I wasn't the primary source of fun for them.

When I looked through the photos from today, I found another one I liked a lot, obviously taken later than the one at the top of the post.  They're hard to see; but at the right side, three little/big boys are watching their daddy as he pokes the fire.  I remember how, when I took this picture, our fourth little one was sitting on my lap, cozy and warm, safe and secure.  Just like how I feel when I see this picture...