June 10, 2010

• Tales from the backyard – part 1

  The back yard here on Orchard Street is configured so that each duplex has a patio, and a back, side and front yard.  Along the back is the parking lot/driveway and then there is another patch of yard that really doesn’t do much but finishes the property nicely.  The landlord keeps the grass mowed and takes care of a couple of decorative flower beds – one at the mouth of the drive and one between the two sets of duplexes.  Across from my patio and driveway, the patch of lawn was more a pile of detritus than anything else so last summer I put in a little patch of garden, as you know and this year I expanded it another 4-5 feet.  It looks quite lovely and lush.  There is a very large tree stump next to the garden and I have gazed at it for a year contemplating and pondering what could be done with it.  I have decided to make the stump and the two foot radius around it a have for our winged friends….
  As with all such projects, it was more work than one thought.  First there was a question of the rubble.  I cleaned up al the brush and weeds, garnering 5 large yard waste bags full of …. well….. yard waste and a box of cement pieces parts that belonged to something once.  Next I turned over the soil around it.  Some of the soil was quite lovely but most was just icky city dirt so I bought a couple of bags of dirt from the local hardwareand spread that about.  It is dark and rich and lovely.  I planted short sunflowers in the front of the stump and they are doing nicely – growing apace and promising flowers and seeds for my friends.  Along the side and the back I planted giant sunflowers.  The ones on the side have come up and are leafing out and appear healthy enough but alas, the sunflowers behind the stump have yielded nothing at all.  I can’t think why unless it is lack of sunlight.  Hmmmm.  What can I plant in this shady spot that will grow and provide a haven for my feathered friends?  Suggestions?  Nothing is too absurd.  Then there was the dilemma about what to do with the top of the stump which induced much head scratching until an epiphany was reached and the adventure began….
  A bird bath in the summer and a feeding spot in the winter.  YES!  But where, oh where could one acquire just the bowl of a birdbath?  I mean, birdbaths usually come with a top and a bottom and I didn’t need the bottom because I had been given a stump.  A giant plant dish would suffice suggested a friend.  So off I toddled, male-child in tow for the adventure.  First stop my favorite haunt for odd and discarded treasures from other people’s houses.  While that stop yielded a hoe for $1 and a small wooden ladder to decorate the front entrance, it did not yield anything that would serve as a birdy bathtub.  Next, back to the local hardware.  Alas, again.  They had no giant plant dishes but they did have a hanging birdbath that was glazed with blue and quite lovely but it was $30.  While I love and care about my flying neighbors, I was not about to drop $30 on a dish to sit on a tree stump.  Sigh.  Would I have to venture into the local mega-hardware to find what I needed?  Drat.  And then the boy child remembered an small, falling down shop that manufactured cement yard ornaments.  Let’s try there, Mom.  Oh honey, I think it’s closed and surely they will not sell just the top of the birdbath.  As we drove up to the shop it looked more falling down that ever and the yard was full of waist high weeds and not gaily painted Snow Whites and Virgin Marys.  But the gate was open and there were fresh hand-markered signs on the doors flapping in the wind.  See, Mom, it’s open.  I looked dubious.  He smiled.  We disembarked and flailed our way up to the open door.  Hulloooooo?  Silence.  Stephen King type silence.  Huuuuulllllllooooo?  Hey, Ma!  Look there’s a birdbath top!  And there lying in the weeds of the front yard was an in tact bird bath dish!  We could taste success.  Hullllooooo?!  More eagerly now and Stephen King be damned.  This went on for a bit and I was just about to leave $10 and a note when a disembodied voice came fromt he window of the house next door.  The house, by the way, looked exactly like part of Mr. King’s imaginary neighborhood.  Hello?  Can I help you?  Yes.please, We’d like to but the top of a birdbath.  I don’t think I got any of them, said the voice behind th darkened window.  Yes you do, said the boy, There’s one right over there, pointing.  Oh, said the voice behind the screen.  Make me an offer, then.  $10, said I squeakily.  Sure, and a hand opened the screen and snaked out the window to collect the money.  Boy placed the ten in the hand and scooped up the birdbath top and put it in the car.  Now it is ensconced on the stump awaiting the first bather and I am looking for perennials to plant around and behind that will say “Come here and rest our weary wings.”  Suggestions welcome.
  And so it goes.

  • 7:29 am
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