Today at Iten's Acres: Work Detail September 20. 2014

oday at Iten's Acres: In a word--tired. No, more than tired--spent. No, not spent, I got some change for my labors. Exhausted. Aren't you delighted that God came up with the idea of manual labor? Work is such a balm for the soul.
Actually today at Iten's Acres started on Thursday. We had two days of teachers' meetings this week. (Thirty minutes listening to Troy, Tom, and Buzz is worth a year of ACSI meetings. Food for the brain. Food for the soul. A good two days.)
But having the meetings changes my daytime hours--8-4 becomes 9-3. What that means is that Thursday I got back to The Acres early enough to mow the back of the property--meadow, orchard, wild area, back 40. That gave me at least two hours of time that I didn't have to use today to do the mowing. (Sadly, though I still enjoy it, it is merely mowing this time of year. The blue velvet jets must have headed South already.) And Friday I got home early enough to move a ton of the stones I used today to re-do and to create new beds. Another two hour gift of time.
How did I use it? A lovely lazy morning--in preparation for my afternoon toil, of course. Sat for awhile by the front window. Homesteader joined me. Read. Always a good time. Walked The Acres. Had a delightful chat with my neighbor and friend Dennis. (Pray for him as he tries to sell his house and move closer to Columbus.) Pontificated awhile on the green throne at the top of the hill. Even though the leaves aren't changing yet--well, one third of the ancient red maple is on fire--beauty is everywhere at The Acres. Phlox, morning glory will grace the place till frost. Hibiscus and Rose of Sharon are still blooming some. The annuals in the planters are holding their own--in fact, the begonia, snapdragons, and petunia are exhilarated by the chillier temps. I have no idea how long the pond will be "blooming." And the autumn wild area is still wild--yellow, purple, pink, blue, white. If I didn't have work to do, I could have spent the afternoon on--or would it be over--the hill.
My goals for this fall were to expand the rock garden and one of the pot bunkers, re-do one large bed, re-do four pot bunkers completely, and add three more. (And, of course, there are always flowers to move and bulbs to plant. Hey, I have a whole new area next to the house to fill in where the pine tree once stood.) Today, from about noon until four or five, I managed to get some of that done. Rock garden. Done. Two pot bunkers re-done. One new one added. The re-doing is the most difficult--even after the stones have been moved to where I need them. Whew. Aches and pains to remind me of my ancientness. But I feel like a newly restored antique. No, no. Nothing you would see on the Road Show. But next week--you will find this old soul still working--creaking around--on The Acres. (In the afternoon anyway. Mornings are for lazy.)