If you don’t want a lot of work, don’t put one in your yard.  I spent a few hours today raking up flower petals from the tree and it’s not finished yet.  I filled the wheelbarrow so many times I lost count.  There are still tons of blossoms on the tree…yikes.  I spent another half hour skimming petals off the pond.  Is all the work worth it?  Yes, I think it is.  Deadheading all the daffodils gave me another wheelbarrow load.

     I was pleasantly surprised to find that my knee suffered no ill effects from contact with Gavin’s hard head.  It’s my guess that all the icing I did to it yesterday made the difference.  I truly expected to wake up with it swollen to football size and then having to make a run to our doctor’s ER. 

     If I wake to another sunny day I’ll cut down the dried out zebra grass.  Then I bet I’ll rake more petals up from under the magnolia.  I wonder how many times I’ll empty the wheelbarrow into the compost bin this time. 

     The tulips are blooming.  The splashes of bright red and yellow around the pond and the tulip poplar are lovely.