Bullied out of my backyard

I’ve been sleeping heavily for the last several days so imagine my surprise when I woke up ridiculously early this morning and couldn’t fall back asleep. After tossing and turning for longer than I should have, I finally decided to grab a cup of coffee and go out to the back yard. As it is still early it is peaceful, birds chirping, someone’s rooster is crowing a few blocks over and there aren’t a large number of bugs (my personal favorite).

It has been hit or miss trying to kill the yard this summer. There are still a large number of vines I can’t seem to get rid of, violets popping up in odd spots and random tufts of grass making last ditch efforts to grow. Pretty soon I will want to rake the wood chips and lay down some clover I think for next spring. I think I want to have some ground cover that is easier to walk on than the wood chips. Plus I’m fairly certain I’d like a fire pit to sit around at night when it gets cooler.

I’m also giving serious consideration to expanding the gardening beds. I set up two different kinds. One is a kit I bought from the hardware store and the other is garden wall stones and boards I put together. Guess which one is falling apart? I’d like to think I’m handy but experience suggests that isn’t true. In fact I’ve been trying to figure out how to fix my dishwasher as it is not filling with water but I believe that may be beyond me. I’m realizing that I need a ground cover under my trees as that area doesn’t get as much rain but I will have to think about hours to make that work. In the back of my head I know I have time to make this my sanctuary, but I also want it right, right now.

Sitting out here this morning, trying to enjoy my own yard and I have birds sitting on the fence subtly judging me, squirrels yelling at me from the trees and a neighborhood cat sitting in my parking spot waiting for me to leave so it can hunt the birds and squirrels. I’m not sure I am truly the interloper here but nature has other opinions.

Maybe it is time for another cup of coffee anyway.