Work Arounds

I've had some success fixing things over the last month. As reported earlier, I fixed the riding lawnmower,  and we picked up Ingrid (Jilda's Volvo) yesterday. But sadly, the tiller is still broken.

I know what it will take to fix it but I'm waiting on the shipment of a special tool required to pull one of the bushings out. Now I realize there are people out there who care less than zero about mechanical things, but suffice it to say that without the tiller, we're having to go to plan B on the garden.

We planted tomatoes, squash, eggplant, peppers, and watermelons. Normally I would used the tiller to keep the area around the new plants tilled which minimizes weeds. So this morning before the sun got hot as the devil's skillet, I laid out reams of old newspaper around the plants, and then covered the papers with leaves that I'd piled up for composting.

It's not a pretty as it normally is at this time of year, but the plants won't be competing for water and nutrients. 

I'm hoping the tool comes in Tuesday and I can get the tiller back in service.

I shot this picture of one of the flowers on our back deck and then had my way with it using Photoshop.

You have to click on it to get the full effect.

I hope you all have a great Memorial Day.