She loves me...

When we first bought our house we were typical first time homeowners. We were in our twenties and had bought a house we could afford … planning to 'fix it up'.

I learned quickly in those early years to never leave my imaginative wife home alone.
A couple of my first solo outings ended in major home renovations. Renovations started by my creative wife… finished by a team of professionals.
It’s only recently that I have taken the sledge hammer out of deep storage.

After years of these spontaneous home renovations, my dirt loving wife turned her energy to the yard and gardens. She has over the years planted expansive perennial gardens and several specimen trees all around our property. She had done a splendid job with what was a blank green canvas.

Last week, on a cool late summer evening, my loving wife and I sat on the porch enjoying a beverage, and admiring our side yard and gardens. There she has an exquisite collection of peonies, lilies and, across the driveway, what I like to refer to as the evil Wisteria. It’s evil because it is engulfing all that is close to it – it grows at an alarming rate. So much so in fact, that it tries to pull me off the tractor as I drive by. My caring wife loves this gigantic shrub, and so I tease her about it often.
That same evening, I commented that the tree across the driveway was casting too much shade to grow adequate grass and that I was beginning to feel a bit closed-in by our maturing plantings. We have trees now that we planted close to 20 years ago. It’s amazing what can happen to a plot of land in that amount of time. Things have really filled out.

The next day, after our sweet evening together on the porch, I was busy puttering around with various projects around the back yard. Mind you …I never left the property.

My attentive wife … she listens to everything I say.