Hump Day, More Odds and Sods

I don't have a whole lot specific to blog about today, just a few tidbits of stuff.

I started another LTO on Monday.  This is only supposed to last for two weeks, but has the potential to last longer, as the teacher I am replacing has health issues that have been plaguing her all year.  This is a grade six class, with 28 students.  They are quite a pleasant, bright group, with only two visible 'characters' to date that will try my patience.  The only issue is the drive.  My last LTO was five minutes away.  This one, on a good day is 45 minutes, with gas looming at $1.33/litre.  Oh well, the drive through the country is actually quite wonderful.  There are a lot of active farms with cattle and sheep, and the croppers are all busy getting their seed into the ground.

I found my first tall bearded iris bud popping up yesterday.  We have close to 200 varieties so mid June will be probably largely iris blogs.  We moved them all three years ago when we bought our new place.  Unfortunately the majority of them ended up with wet feet where I planted them.  They sulked for two years, until I finally figured out what I could do.  A bunch of used lumber  was advertised on Kijiji, so my trusty Dakota and I made two trips to the far side of the city and brought back several hundred board feet of weathered 2' X 10"'s.  I made five long raised beds on the slope of the septic weeping bed.  One truckload of good quality topsoil and a load of red cedar mulch and I now have a decent iris habitat.  The plants are looking great so far.

Last night on my way home from school I stopped at a tree farm.  Last year I dug 75 cedars for hedging for a client.  Three of those did not make it through the winter, and another client needed an old hedge patched.  The owner took me to the lot.  I indicated I needed 23 trees.  He said he'd be back in an hour - I chuckled to myself.  Twenty minutes later, I had my five-foot trees all lined up and had to go get him.  He offered me a job digging trees, which I politely declined.  He asked if I was an army man - "no, just a junior/intermediate supply teacher -- pretty much one and the same"!

Got most of those trees in last night, and then hand mowed the most despicable piece of lawn this side of the Rockies. No it is not mine, I'd put the effort into leveling it if it belonged to me.  But my client is quite content to have me jar my back teeth for a couple hours, every week -- I  h-hope that-tt didn't ss-ssound like c-c-complaining.

And that is all I have to say for today.

Musings and meanderings from the Musical Gardener.