Sunday, April 19, 2009

Gardens and Spring Cleaning




Here is Willow outside on our patio looking very pleased with herself. It is good to have her outside, because, frankly, she is a shedding machine! That girl could still shed if we shaved her bald.





So some spring cleaning is in order. Fred finished the window project so that means that we are moving on to the cleaning and painting of the moulding.

Fred has outlined all the window panes in painting tape. I went over every pane and used a toothbrush to get out the dirt for everyone knows you can't paint over dirt. That leads to flaking and messiness! So, we are scrubbing and cleaning all the moulding. Fred cut and put in the quarter round, finishing the baseboard moulding. When we bought this house, the previous owners had started many improvement projects, but hadn't finished them all. One of the things that really bothered me was that there was quarter round on some walls and not others. This doesn't bother Fred at all. However, usually once a year, he will add some quarter round to a wall to appease me. I'm hoping that we can finish the downstairs before my parents come to visit. We just have the kitchen and garden room and the east side of the family room to go. Oh and the living room. Keep your fingers crossed!

Evidently the USF botanical garden is spring cleaning as well. We found this bird's nest on a bench. I'm not sure if the bird got tired of it or the botanical people felt compelled to remove it from its home. I'm sure it was not built on the arm of the bench!


I think this is a wood stork. He was HUGE. There were also some Mallard ducks at the gardens. While the USF gardens are small and untidy, they are also calm and relaxing and must be a place of peace for stressed out students. They have a native plant sale coming up in June, which I plan on going to.

I also recommend Bok Tower and Santuary and Selby Gardens if you are in a mind to go to gardens. They are magnificent.