More Chipping and Dirt Moving

September 28, 2025

On September 21 (Monday), we headed out to work in the yard. From the barn, Bruce towed the chipper with the lawn mower to the large pile of branches from pine 2 and pine 3. Once he had the chipper in place, Bruce drove the mower back to barn and hooked up the cart to it. He parked the mower and cart at one of the Bama Dirt Pro Mix piles of dirt.

While Bruce spent the morning chipping, I spent mine shoveling dirt into the cart, driving the mower to the front garden, dumping the dirt, shoveling the remaining dirt out of the cart, and raking the dirt smooth.

While working on the garden, I saw a hummingbird at the feeder.

As I was raking the dirt smooth, I saw a Variegated Fritillary butterfly caterpillar on a violet leaf.

When Bruce gave up chipping, I had moved three carts of dirt to the front garden.

Bruce helped me move the last one and a half carts of dirt to finish the large flower bed. Using the mower, Bruce towed the cart to the pile of chips, unhooked it, and put the mower back into the barn.

While digging up the grass, I found some smooth stones that I put into the bird bath. I also put a pretty rock from the driveway into the birdbath.

After lunch, I noticed this Eastern Phoebe sitting on the front porch railing.

In looking at the pictures I took of the Eastern Phoebe, I realized the picture window was dirty and needed cleaning.

Bruce and I hung up “Autumn Wind” in the late afternoon. I had placed the wood supports on the wall and while they were interesting to look at, I wanted to see the artwork hung up. We left the pieces propped up against the wall since we got it back from the artist. While the multiple panels look beautiful, they are a pain to get lined up, so we put it off. It went a lot smoother than we expected.

It rained most of Tuesday (September 22). Before it started raining, I dug up some clumps of white Irises from the backyard and planted them in the front large flower garden. I got rained on as I finished planting the Irises. Bruce mowed before the rain started.

Once the rain started, I cleaned. I swept the spider webs from the front porch walls and ceiling. I washed the picture window and the other front windows underneath the front porch. I also cleaned the sliding glass doors in back. I cleaned the bathrooms, dusted the house, vacuumed, and mopped.

Bruce mowed between the rain drops. We would have breaks in the rain and Bruce took advantage of them, zipping around on the mower.

On Wednesday (September 23), I got up early (Thanks, Nox). After watching Nox do Nox things in the yard, I put her inside. I decided to move chips to mulch the large flower bed.

I got the mower out of the barn and zipped over to the pile of wood chips. I hooked the trailer to the mower and realized I needed a shovel. I walked back to the barn and got a shovel.

I loaded the cart full of chips and drove it around front to the large flower garden. I dumped the cart and spread the chips out to make a thick mulch on the walkway side of the bed.

I made a second trip to load up the cart.

I zipped back to the walkway side of large garden, dumped the chips, and spread them out along the walkway near the driveway.

While I was spreading the third load of chips from the driveway side, I saw two hummingbirds on the feeder.

Since I was taking pictures, I took a picture of the partially mulched large flower bed.

Bruce came out and wanted to help. Bruce and I filled two more cart loads of chips to finish mulching the large flower bed. After the bed was mulched, I put in a stepping stone that we found at the end of the walkway next to the Irises. We managed to get the bed mulched before it started raining.

I did some more cleaning in the afternoon. I also put up a hat rack in the dinning room.

We had a stunning sunset.

We were having friends over for lunch on Thursday, so in the evening, after washing the dry black beans, I put them in a bowl to soak. I then made a fajita marinade and marinated the steak overnight.