Handwork, housework, and hot!

Just can't see how this is comfortable...

I'm beginning to wonder what will come next... we've had flooding rain and tornadoes and hail and now... HEAT!  Now, I am not one to get paranoid about many things... except that whole Bigfoot thing... but one has to wonder.

Any outdoor chores which must be accomplished has to be tackled early. This morning, it was the one of the hedges in the front of our house.  Both have grown wild for the first time since we lived here.  They look like evergreen actors from the movie Hair. (Does that show my age?) 

It was always my responsibility to prune them but a series of circumstances in the past year kept me away from the job... and you know what my spring has been like.

So... this morning, pruning shears in hand, I decided to start the process.  I used to borrow a friend's electric shears but they were old and in poor condition.   Last year, I decided to deal with "a little at a time" pruning by hand instead of risking electrocution.  I actually found hand pruning to be like much handwork we do... relaxing.  While neither hedge will have that sculpted look available with electronic shears, they can look lovely when given time and attention.

I began my morning work by talking to myself, as in "Let's get this started now!"... another sigh.  I believe there was a mental picture of making hay while the sun shines... or before we hit the 90 degree temperatures.

Well, imagine my surprise when forty-five minutes later, I had about 75% of one hedge pruned.  (I would have stayed out longer but this antibiotic comes with a warning about too much sun.)  It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be!  I have renewed confidence in tackling other back burner projects.  How good it is to get beyond maintenance lawn and housework again.

Hubby will have to give the top of the shrubs a haircut but they look so much better.  I will finish what I can reach tomorrow and then begin on the hedge in front of the house.  I get tired very easily and a little bothered by congestion but nothing a quick break and water can't handle.

I saw my doctor yesterday and he said I was about 75% recovered.  I still can't hear out of one ear, continue to have congestion, and he says there is a little wheezing from the lungs.  But I'm recovering.

Since I had only two antibiotics left from the second round, he gave me my old friend Cipro to take for an additional ten days.  Yes, it appears this requires a third round of antibiotics.  Why should I be surprised??? :)

I have been asked for new pictures of Anna.  Well, her daddy has been on a business trip to Spain (how about that for timing?).  He's coming home now so hopefully Mommy will regain her sanity enough to point and click.  She says the little cutie has been going growing.

Picture:  One of the strange places Miss Victoria loves to sleep