December 17 - On the floor

The lime tree loses a few leaves every day. Nothing like last year, though,
when it dropped nearly all of them after I moved it indoors for the winter!

They're called leaves …

because you're supposed to leave 'em on the ground.

Actually I will rake them to add to the compost bin. The sadly neglected compost bin. We've been dutifully adding banana peels and coffee grounds and vegetable peelings, oh my, all summer, but there hasn't been much grass to rake or other organic matter to add to the mix. Last time I looked it resembled a witch's cauldron of black, gooey, bubbling slime.

Ick.

But a little leaf matter should help, and a lot of leaf matter will help more. I'm going to load the leaves in the wheelbarrow and run the string trimmer through them to help them break down more quickly. Not sure where I read that tip, but it's a good one.

I usually rake and bag most, if not all, of the fallen leaves, to use throughout the year, but I ran out this summer. Thus the primordial ooze.

My workout yesterday consisted of vacuuming and mopping the acre (actually it's only about .02 of an acres, but it felt like an acre. Or two.) of flooring in the house. And I didn't even clean two of the rooms. It's been getting cooler at night and the lemon and lime trees were still outdoors. I've been wanting to move them in, but like anything else on anyone's agenda, you have to start at the beginning.

I was absolutely not going to move two trees into my living room and then mop around them. Which doesn't mean I won't be mopping around them from now until next spring. But it's important to start out right.

Lemons!

The lemon has grown quite a bit since I brought it home a year ago, so I clipped some branches and lost a ripening lemon in the process. I tried to avoid the fruited limbs, but had to sacrifice one in order to be able to sit in the nearby chair. Once the fruits are all ripe I'm going to whack it back into shape. It's growing every which way right now, and the only pretty part about it is the lemons. Well, the container is nice.

A real decorating statement.

As opposed to the lime tree container, which is just a huge black plastic pot. I can't find anything I a) like and b) can afford to put the pot in, so black plastic it is! It matches the piano, I totally planned it that way.

We're going to have to get a hand truck to get them back outside next year.

I had lots of other stuff to write about today, but this is turning into a chapter. Week Two, Day Three of the Up and Running plan happens today. No rain in sight, and so far it's a perfect first day of autumn here in the Middle of Nowhere. I hope it's perfect where you are, as well.