I.V.Y. spells…….

You guessed it, faithful reader.  The weather here has been in the 50s, almost 20 Celsius, which is practically tropical compared to what we have seen around here for a long time.  It’s supposed to get back down in the 30s, near 0°C, this week, so I figured this would be a good time to get a bit of raking done.  Plus, this would be a good time to plant some grass seed since one quarter of our yard has nothing on, it; it’s just dirt.  Well, dirt and lots of sticks, leaves, rocks and junk.  And so I thought: a quick bit of raking and then some speedy seeding.  Alas, twas not to be.  Having clear dirt in the one section was no biggie.  But then there is the entire side of the yard where, although it looked very much as though there was nothing but dirt, a quick rake revealed…

Ah yes.  The old, familiar, dare one say, “faithful friend.” No, one wouldn’t dare to say that; that would give it the wrong impression.  As though it had been missed and was wanted, or something.  Nono, no. No.  Not missed.  Definitely Not Wanted.  And this pile represents just a wee bit of all that is still firmly rooted in the ground.   Now, fortunately, this is the section that is not the Dreaded English Ivy of infamy.  This is creeping vinca, or something like that and since I had mowed over it last summer a couple times, it was subdued.  Notice that in the pile a lot of it isn’t even “wearin’ o’ the green,” as they say.  ( It will be St Pat’s in 2 days, after all, but aparently it isn’t Irish Ivy.)  It doesn’t even have leaves.  Plus, I think I caught it unawares, all unbeknownst since this is earlier by months than last year.  Of course, the rest that I didn’t have energy to rip out is now fully apprised of impending doom, and I just know that when I race home from school tomorrow and dash out there it will have put out leaves a-plenty and roots to China.  BUT.  I seeded the ground where I ripped it out.  Ha HA!  Go, little grasses, GO!!  Choke out the demon ivy!  We shall see.  Stay tuned for the epic battle of grass and lass versus IVY.

In other news, since it was a lovely day, Jan got to roam around in the front yard wearing crawling pants.  No photos of this major moment which caused him to look with wonder upon the whole world.  However, today we fenced off the deck so he roamed around there.  First photos are of him after dinner and then one of him roaming.  You’ll have to excuse my indulgence in posting so many; they are just so funny (in my completely unbiased opinion, of course).

Quite a gangsta in that last one, eh?

We are all going to Minneapolis this coming weekend for the annual Trinity choir extravaganza and to hang out with Ken and Gail and the fam.  I’m sure it will be totally exhausting and fun.  Check back for more news of ivy goodness.  All is well in the Bend.