Monday, April 25, 2016

The battle begins

In earnest. And it's two battles, really.

The ongoing battle with my weight is one I'm losing right now. I'd rather report that I'm losing weight, but in two months the loss is negligible.

I'm tired of paleo, but I know that carbs are killing me. As I'm now moving more (I averaged 11,000 steps per day last week), I hope the increased activity will help boost my metabolism. I naturally want to eat lighter when the weather warms up, so I'll work on taking advantage of that – fruit salad instead of pie, right? Heh. The goal is the proverbial move more, eat less, and I'm adding to that to eat less often. If I'm not hungry in the morning, why eat breakfast?

I'd like to think I'm winning the battle with the weeds. The asparagus bed is almost cleaned out, and asparagus is on the menu almost daily. I'm going to put some in omelets tonight. The peony bed is looking good – weeds are mostly gone and the old, dead lavender plants have been replaced by creeping sedum, which is a natural mulch that spreads itself every year. That's my kind of mulch.

I put cardboard down between the asparagus plants and brought a couple loads of mulch from a big pile we have on the side of the field we like to call our "back yard." That pile has been decaying for a couple of years now, and is perfect for weed-suppressing duty. Except for two things.

One of the best garden tool investments
I've ever made. This thing really gets a workout!
As I was working on filling up my large rolling bucket, I thought I was running into the blackberry brambles that have grown up there. (Volunteer blackberries is Thing One.)

When I actually looked to see what was sticking my ankles, I saw Thing Two: ants. Crazy, biting, red ants. Thousands of them. The entire mulch pile is teeming with them. (So gross.) I decided, after two loads of mulch, that it probably isn't the best idea to introduce ants into our living space: The asparagus bed is on the south side of our garage, and only a few feet from our house.

I'm still going to use it – it's a yuge pile, and perfect for spreading around the base of several trees, far away from the house. I'll be wearing tall muck boots, instead of sneakers, to fill the bucket however.

For the asparagus and flower beds, however, I'm heading to town later for bagged mulch. And hoping that having a ready supply will encourage me to keep working on the flower beds.

I have to pace myself (stamina still isn't where I'd like it to be), and I also have to believe that even as little as an hour of weeding a day will eventually result in garden beds worth looking at.

Thank you for your recent kind comments … I appreciate them, and you!

2 comments:

denise said...

As if I didn't already feel like a lazy bum when it comes to my garden, now that I see all you are doing…well, let's just say it drives it home.

I have only two small plots - 4 x 4 each - and only need to trim up the grass growing between the fence and the "box" around the plots and then turn the soil - probably get a little mulch worked in there. Of course, it doesn't help that I think it will be a while before I can plant anything. Nothing motivates me like a deadline! :-)

And, on the weight loss thing…yeah, I feel ya on that one! I'm contemplating going back to WW, but haven't been able to bring myself to do it yet, which means my mind's not in the game yet. But I need to do SOMETHING soon. I'm now heaviest of my life and that's not good…not good at all!

Anonymous said...

I get tired of paleo pretty easily. Not the food itself, which I love, but the massive amount of time it takes to shop and prepare it. There is no convenience food in paleo, nothing.

I stopped eating breakfast recently, too. I had the same realization: If I'm not hungry, why eat?

Good luck with the gross ants.

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