Is That Thunder?

 You must be tired of my tirade about my stalker. It could be a book with a happy ending in sight.

Anyhoo, now that Spring has finally sprung, I have been busy with all the gardens. My veggies are planted, and some are still pushing through the ground, while others are sporting flowers that will turn into strawberries and peas.

I turned my attention to landscaping areas that have yet to be done. I am happy to announce that the handful of daylilies I planted upon arrival have multiplied. So have the iris. I have three varieties of iris. The deep purple miniature and then yellow and lighter purple bearded put on a spectacular display. The entire embankment that graces the side of our driveway is full of colorful flowers. Three rose bushes that I happened upon and transferred to the embankment are in full bloom. Two peonies are blooming, and the blooms are so big the branches can barely hold them upright. The azaleas are done now, but they put their own show on.

I am very pleased with myself, turning a rather lifeless and rocky area into a lush garden. It took many hours of labor and tons of dirt and mulch. Very few weeds in this garden! Next month the daylilies will pop with bright yellow all the way down the drive.

The show tends to come to a halt when the trees shade the ground. I have hosta and liriope bordering and am hopeful that the bleeding heart will appear this year. This left the area around the tiny deck on my She Shed looking neglected. 

Most of that area is in partial and full shade. The underside of the deck built by my husband is in full view. Leveling in this area is difficult and the variety of blocks, both wood and cinder is not appealing! You might recall that I am a bit of a hoarder when it comes to free stuff and craft supplies ...

I went to my carefully scavenged wood pile and found some old barn boards and lined the front of the deck area. I found some pieces of white lattice that matched the lattice under the building and lined the side of the deck. A dramatic slope was left from the deck to the end of the building, about 4'. Nothing will grow there, just bare dirt and rocks. I had enough of the boards and proceeded to build a raised bed to enclose that area. I put a bench with planters on each end in the front of the deck; next to the steps that took forever and some careful cursing to level.

I had to dig a pretty deep hole to put one end in to make it levelish. It is definitely not precise, but you can sit on the bench without feeling off balance and the ferns I put in the planters didn't care. I made the raised bed about 3' deep and made it come out even with the bench. Not quite square. Now I am trying to fill it with twigs and leaves and cardboard before filling it with topsoil. I have a variety of hosta to plant and am trying to locate some shade plants on Marketplace to purchase. Seems like the plants I get there are healthier (and cheaper) than nursery plants.

So, there I was this morning enjoying my quiet time with coffee and my laptop looking for plants, when I heard what I thought was thunder. It was a deep growl and unlike thunder did not stop. My next thought was that a loud diesel engine on a big truck was coming down our driveway. I got up to see of a delivery truck, lost and looking for someone else was outside. Nothing there, but I could feel the vibrations in my feet! 

I thought to myself, if this was thunder, the lightning flash was going to horrific. The growling, rumbling and vibrating went on for about 5 minutes. That is a long time for one roll of thunder. It finally stopped and I went back to another task I had been thinking about doing. I am painting a good size rock with an image of Martha, the boy cat to adorn the garden edge in my front yard.

When the sleeper arose, the first thing he saw on his phone was the news of an earthquake! 4.1 on the scale, with the epicenter in Maryville, TN. It was felt 5 states! No, it was not thunder!