Home / Blogs / V for short's Blog /

Ouch ouch ouchouch Ouch ouch!! It was a good day.

Category: My Garden Story -- from bad to WOW (hopefully) | Posted: Sun Jun 15, 2014 11:54 pm

---

I discovered today that trimming rose bushes is my least favorite thing to do in the yard. Except for the fact that they were already here when I bought the house I'd probably forgo planting any more. My hands are all okay. I had good gloves on. It's my arms, knees, neck... even my head. I really had to work to cut through a dead stalk of a tall climbing rose, and before I knew what was happening, it was cut through and fell right on top of my head. I said things I shouldn't have. I'm hoping the neighbors didn't hear.

The rest of my day is good, however. I called my Daddy and talked with him. Spent some time in the house of my heavenly Father. Got an excellent shoulder workout in at the gym with my best friend, Wendy, the world's best workout partner and motivator. And now I'm getting ready to head to Wendy's house where I've been invited to spend Father's Day with their family since my Dad is so far away.

Yes, with the exception of my voluntary submission to torture by rose thorns, it's been a great day.

This blog entry has been viewed 165 times

---

A Day Off and Good Neighbors

Category: Just My Life | Posted: Thu May 29, 2014 5:42 pm

---

I work two jobs. My day job is sandwiched between working early mornings and late evenings as a personal trainer. Both jobs I LOVE and wouldn't give up. But in doing them I very frequently work seven days a week... like for the last 41 days. Granted the weekends give me a little more free time than the weekdays do, but I'm still working with clients for up to 10-12 hours spread between Saturday and Sunday. And while I love both jobs, the hours I put in take a toll on the mind, spirit, and body. So when a freak schedule of timing left me without any clients and a slow day at work I jumped at the opportunity (with my boss's blessing) and called in for a mental health holiday.

This is where neighbors come in. I never really met my neighbors before I bought my house. And in the back of my mind I was a little concerned about what kind of neighbors I would have. Those fears have been valiantly assuaged over the past months as I've come to know them. I've never really met the neighbors to the south. But they're quiet and keep to themselves, their yard is clean and maintained, and I do catch sight of their young son and a couple of other neighborhood boys having sword fights, climbing trees, battling monsters, and other things young boys do in the yard on these warm Spring evenings. To the west, across the backyard is a young family. They also have a young son who follows his daddy around asking all sorts of questions. And I hear a lot of patient answers. I wave to them and they wave back. And I frequently have to throw back footballs, Nerf darts, plastic frogs, and a slew of other toys over the fence. I don't mind.

It's the neighbors to the north of me that have made the biggest difference. I'll admit, when I first saw them I fell into the trap of judging a book by its cover, and I'm ashamed of it. They're an older couple, a little rough around the edges, but I've learned that buried beneath those rough edges are a couple of true diamonds. And it's just the little things. If I forget to take my trash out before leaving for work it always seems to still make it to the curb. It was the patient guidance and a spare 2x4 as I built my garden gate. It's a paper plate with hamburger and baked beans offered across the fence when they're cooking out. It was checking on me this morning because **GASP** I was home when I shouldn't be, and she was worried something was wrong.

I bet we could all tell neighbor stories -- good and bad. I haven't been here long enough to really have too many of those stories, but I'm learning very well something that Sjoerd once said to me in a blog comment, "A good neighbour is better than a distant friend."

This blog entry has been viewed 173 times

---

Back in the Saddle (whew... finally!)

Category: My Garden Story -- from bad to WOW (hopefully) | Posted: Sun May 18, 2014 11:37 pm

---

Hello all. First allow me to apologize for my absence the last few months. It's been a good thing and a bad thing. The good thing is that I'm working and my personal training business has been booming. The bad thing is that personal training is my second job, hence, I'm working two jobs. Monday through Friday my day starts at 4:30 in the AM. I have two training sessions then leave for my day job. I get home from that around 6:00 PM, grab a bite to eat, change, and run out the door to make it to the gym where I have two to three more training sessions, sometimes going until 8:30 to 9:30 at night. And then I start it all over the next morning at 4:30. Saturday mornings start at 6:30 with two more trainings, and then I run the adult boot camp class (which I absolutely love to do) followed by 13-16 year old sports camp. Sunday morning I spend with God and then do two more trainings, followed by a massage (the massage therapist is one of my clients, so we trade services).

All that to say when it came to gardening, well... there wasn't any. If I could insert a picture of my big crying face I'd have it right here. It just came down to realizing that I simply wouldn't have time to maintain the full garden of my dreams.

But FINALLY (capital F-I-N-A-L-L-Y finally) things have settled down and I'm starting to get some dirt on my hands. Today I tackled the front flower bed.

In the past I've mentioned and beleaguered over the thought of trying to "plan" a flower bed. Forget it. It wasn't happening. So today I steeled myself against self-doubt, went to the nursery, bought a bunch of flowers in different colors and heights and brought them home. When I made my selection I had three criteria --

1) They had to handle full sun. The bed gets the first sun of the day and doesn't get any shade until later in the evening.

2) They had to handle moderate to dry soil. See reason number one.

3) I had to like how they looked. Easy enough.

I decided not to make it hard and just have fun with it. Wait?! Isn't that the whole purpose of it? Is there really any right or wrong to it if I like it? Nope. Go for it V and live it up. Here's the before and after. Nothing dramatic and they're just planted. I can't wait for the blooms, butterflies, and honeybees to start coming.


*** Before ***

Front Flower Bed --- Before ( photo / image / picture from V for short's Garden )



*** After ***

Front Flower Bed --- After ( photo / image / picture from V for short's Garden )


Happy May everyone!!


This blog entry has been viewed 172 times

---

Off the Subject of Gardening for a Short Respite/Rant

Category: My Garden Story -- from bad to WOW (hopefully) | Posted: Sun Jan 05, 2014 5:24 pm

---

Normally I wouldn't bring in the subject of being a personal trainer into the GS site too often since that's not the focus of this site. But as a personal trainer it's a big part of life, particularly at this time of year. Why this time of year? Because of the flood of "New Year's Resolutioners" that come to me asking for help. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely LOVE helping people eat better and improve their overall fitness. It's extremely rewarding when you watch someone progress from a first time gym goer that's about to quit to someone who's made fitness their lifestyle. But as a trainer I also see the worst side of things, and that usually comes in the form of New Year's resolutions.

Oh my gosh I hear the worst resolutions when someone comes to talk to me about training. Over the past three years I've put together a list of resolution tips to help.

1) Be detailed in your resolutions -- It's great to say, "I want to lose weight" or "I want to get in better shape." But what does that really mean. That's not any different than if I were to go into a nursery and say, "I want to grow a garden." Okay, what kind of garden? "I don't know... a garden." Know how much weight (or better yet, body fat percentage) you want to drop.

2) Be realistic with your goal -- This is what brought about this blog this morning, I just got back from a consultation with a prospective new client. She was a delightful lady with unrealistic expectations. In her case, she was a marathon runner, but still wanted to lose two inches around her waist. Really? She had a body fat percentage at the low end of normal. There wasn't much she could lose. When we sat down and really talked about it, she confided that she she didn't like the balance of her body. We came up a realistic plan to give her some more attainable upper body strength, which would help her shoulders stand out a little more and give her that balance. It simply wasn't realistic for her to lose inches around her hips. It's the same way when someone comes in and tells me they want to lose 50 lbs before their birthday in two months. Sorry but it's not going to happen. The worst thing that has happened to TV is "The Biggest Loser." It's created very unrealistic expectations for what weight loss can be.

3) Know how you're going to get there -- This is where having a personal trainer can really help. To reach your goal you have to know how to get there. If I'm going to grow a veggie garden I have to know and follow the steps in preparing the soil, having proper plant selection for my zone, knowing when to plant based upon the frost season, and such. Fitness is no different. There are so many parts and pieces to fitness that will work or not work depending on your goal it's hard to know what's what if you're not familiar with things. That's where I come in, I help plan out the path, adjust where necessary, and keep accountability going.

4) What's that? Accountability? -- Let people know what your goals are. Find someone who will support you and ask how you're doing and hold your feet to the fire. It needs to be someone you admire and to a degree want to impress. Facebook. A Personal Trainer. A support group at the gym.

5) By all means reward yourself -- Make success fun. Just don't make success counterproductive. If your goal was to lose 15 lbs by the end of March and you reach it, don't celebrate by heading out to McDonald's.

Okay, enough of that. I just had to get that off my chest. Thanks for letting me share. Now on to gardening... oh wait, I can't. The wind chill is -10 and it's snowing once again.

This blog entry has been viewed 179 times

---

New House Lessons and a New Year's Eve Day Project

Category: My Garden Story -- from bad to WOW (hopefully) | Posted: Wed Jan 01, 2014 1:27 pm

---

For the last two years of undergrad and two and a half years of grad school I stayed in an apartment. Thankfully, I had a roommate who I really got along with. After finishing grad school, moving to Colorado, getting a job, and buying my first house, I realized that the lessons weren't stopping simply because I was out of school. Now I'm learning the lessons of home ownership. I know that most of you have gone through this before and can easily (and rightfully) look down on me (and not because I'm a shorty) and say, "Yep, been there, done that." Here's your chance to say it again.

There's been lot's of little things that have come up that have been a part of my lesson in home ownership... snow removal, furnace filter replacement (who knew?), creaky doors, and a host of other little things. And all of them required something I didn't have.

I don't blame my dad for my lack of realization in these matters. He did his best with a teenaged daughter who ran life at a hundred miles an hour. My last two years in high school were taken in an accelerated program where I completed my first two years of college at the same time, all while participating on girl's field hockey and track teams. I never stopped doing something. So when he unplugged a drain trap beneath the sink, stopped a leaking toilet, or installed a dimmer switch for the track lights in his study, I simply wasn't around to watch.

If I had been around to see how Dad did things I would have seen the obvious, or would I? If my friends were here they'd quickly point out my one fault (the only one I'm owning up to for the sake of this blog entry). It is that sometimes I can't see the forest because the trees get in the way. It's a way of saying that V tends to completely miss the obvious. And the "obvious" in this case is that for everything I've had to do around here has required something I didn't have.

I have the desire. I have the intelligence. I have the computer I can use to open up YouTube and watch an instructional video. What didn't I have? A freakin' hammer! And a screwdriver. And a wrench thingy. And a tape measure.... well, you get the idea. You cannot own a house without a tool of some type or another.

Onto my New Year's Eve day project where this lesson comes to full realization...

I bought this house out of foreclosure, which means that it wasn't in the best of shape when I got it. The interior is fine and really only needed a coat of paint and new carpet. The lawn and garden are going to be a different story. In the back yard there's a fence that separates a kennel area from the rest of the yard and garden. I've already accepted that when things thaw I will have a lot of work to do out there. I'm looking forward to it. I love to see a finished project. Not wanting to wait any longer I took advantage of a beautiful day and decided that I was going to replace the gate that separates the lawn from the kennel area. As you can see from the picture below, it was in sad shape.




Gate before ( photo / image / picture from V for short's Garden )



Excited, I went to the local hardware store and bought wood, screws, and a latch. I figured I could reuse the hinges and some old wire fencing stuck behind the shed. I got everything loaded in my truck, brought it home, laid it out on the driveway and ... well, remember what I said about "forest for the trees"? Yep, V's talent for missing the obvious hit like a hail storm on a petunia patch. I didn't have a single tool for actually building the gate. Well God bless good neighbors. Larry saw me staring at my stack of materials, asked what I was doing, and chuckled (at me or in general amusement I'm not sure). Through the loan of a few of his tools, some patient guidance, and the offer of a spare 2x4 (since I measured once and cut once... oops), I got my gate done.

Is it an elegant gate worthy of a picture in a gardening magazine? Good Lord, no! But it's sturdy, functional, and better yet, made with my own hands.




After... ( photo / image / picture from V for short's Garden )


After it was all said and done I did something that I needed to do four months ago. I went back to the hardware store and bought a freakin' hammer, a screwdriver, a wrench thingy, a tape measure....


Last edited: Wed Jan 01, 2014 2:48 pm

This blog entry has been viewed 222 times

---

Delay to My Enthusiasm

Category: My Garden Story -- from bad to WOW (hopefully) | Posted: Mon Dec 09, 2013 4:08 pm

---

I'd like to claim that I was Mary Poppins -- perfect in every way -- but that certainly isn't true. I've tried many times to convince my dad that I was, but that only raises the eyebrow of skepticism. But this isn't a blog entry designed to list all my faults, just one of them. And maybe an argument can be made it's not a bad thing. What I'm talking about is my overachieving enthusiasm.

When I find a new interest I tend to attack it with everything I have. I'm approaching gardening the same way. As soon as I closed on my house gardening was on my mind. I had the books. I had the magazines. I'd visited the few open nurseries. I bought tools. I bought new gardening gloves. The problem is that it's in the middle of winter. That's okay, though, because I'm learning that there's lots that can be done. The first thing I did was research and build a compost bin. That's done and going. The past weekend I had some open time and planned on cleaning the dried weed and grass mess in the garden down to the bare dirt. But then the arctic front came down last Wednesday. It dumped 6" of snow and the temps haven't gone above 10 degrees F (-12 C) since then. So I've just stared at it. And stared. And stared...

Since I couldn't do anything outside, I started inside. Kind of. First I went out and measured the area. That must have been amusing to the neighbors. I can see them in my mind's eye, looking out their kitchen windows, cup of hot chocolate in hand, watching V out in her back yard, half a foot of snow on the ground, and she's got a tape measure laid out. Anyhow I got my measurements, drew it out on some graph paper, and started laying out my veggies for May. And then I started making lists of what I wanted, read books, crossed things off and added more, read magazines, rearranged where I was going to plant, read books, studied sun and shade patterns in the yard, read magazines, made new lists (because I like to make lists), read books....

Okay, I've mentally let my enthusiasm take me as far as I can go. Now I want to do something. But right now it's warmed up to 2 degrees F. And with the short days will be dark long before I get home from work. And so my go-all-out enthusiasm is going into hibernation. Drat it all!


This blog entry has been viewed 196 times

---

It's a good thing I'm not scared of work

Category: My Garden Story -- from bad to WOW (hopefully) | Posted: Sun Dec 01, 2013 4:16 pm

---

I just moved into my house not too long ago and was excited because of moving from an apartment to a house with a yard, a garden, and the possibility of a bounty of fresh vegetables. However, as you can see from the pictures that I attached there is a LOT!!! (capitalization and three 'exclamation points' worth) of work that needs to be done. In one part the only evidence of a pre-existing garden are the stepping stones and a decorative brick border buried beneath the weeds. The other section is raised beds that.... well... I think is supposed to be a garden. Looking out my bedroom window at the "garden" just makes me grateful that I'm not afraid of work. Because OH MY GOSH do I have a lot of it ahead of me.

As I look through the beautiful pictures of gardens posted here on GardenStew I become both inspired and overwhelmed. As a personal trainer, I constantly get new clients who come in out-of-shape and overweight and they look at the athletic bodies around them and get frustrated. I have have to remind them that those people didn't get that way overnight. It took months and years to get there, but everyone of them would tell you that the end result was worth the journey. The other day, I was browsing through success pictures on this site of beautiful green and lush gardens that you have, and I was getting frustrated. I saw a starting point (my pile of weeds) and unattainable end point (your gardens). I had to bite my lip and take my own advice (ouch!) and tell myself that your gardens didn't start that way, and that it took months and years of work to get to where you are.

And I bet each and every one of you would tell me that despite setbacks, bugs, weeds, hailstorms, racoons, blistering heat, frigid cold snaps, and a plethora of other garden enemies, that you all treasure the journey to where you are now.

So with that I've made a very rudimentary list of steps to success:

1) Start a compost bin (done -- yesterday's Saturday project)
2) Clean the garden
3) Feed the soil (see step 1)
4) Spend hours pouring over gardening catalogs picking seeds
5) Start second guessing my seed selection
6) Plant
7) Water
8) Weed
9) Grow

Voilà!! A garden worthy of a magazine cover.

Yep, let the journey of dirty fingernails begin...


( photo / image / picture from V for short's Garden )






Garden - Part 1 ( photo / image / picture from V for short's Garden )





Last edited: Sun Dec 01, 2013 4:18 pm

This blog entry has been viewed 188 times

---

Home / Blogs / V for short's Blog /