Turns out that Graber Lumber in Spencerville, Indiana has sterilized and dyed hardwood mulch.  I’d already had a headache for several hours when I decided it wouldn’t make it any worse to drive 23 minutes longer to go pick up a load.  Turns out their stuff is great!  It was so finely shredded that I lost hardly any of it on the road home.  And that’s when temptation set in . . .

I haven’t finished re-digging the borders of our garden beds yet since my health is so inconsistent these days.  My rule usually goes that I don’t purchase mulch or new plants until the Spring clean-up is completed.  Well if I kept to that condition when my health is so up and down and down, I might not get the vegetables planted until June!  So I do a little of this and a little of that depending on the energy expenditure and time required on any given day.  Or should I say, any given night?

Gardening in the twilight is a peaceful thing.  Once the smell dissipates from the DEET-laden bug spray (sorry the herbals just don’t work with me; I’m the kind of person who gets bitten through my clothing!) I move fearlessly into the night.  I can’t see the spiders so they must not be there, right?  My pant legs are tucked into my socks and my head and arms are usually covered too.  Our German Shepherd pup stands guard on bunny watch until I can re-spray the rabbit repellant on a few key perennials.  The weather is cooler plus I know my yard well enough to feel what I cannot see.  Besides, this is the time of day when I feel the best.

I did make dinner for my hubby and myself and put it in the frig for later.  I started washing our sheets again to try a new remediation technique for any lingering mold in hopes of preventing seizure attacks tonight.  The only problem is that the heat in the dryer needed to be re-set and Steve wanted to go to bed early, before the bedding was dry and available.  By the time he came to tell me about wanting to go to bed, some of the sheets were still damp and I was too dirty/mulchy to come into the house to figure out a “Plan B” for him.  I simply had to keep going outside while I could go.  Turns out he figured out an alternative sleeping solution and I continued my evening project:  mulching in the dark!

So I gave in to temptation and finished mulching the front yard at 11:30 p.m.  The lack of light didn’t bother me much and I doubt I messed it up too badly.  Somehow the smell of freshly died dark brown hardwood didn’t bother me either.  My headache got better.  I guess it was meant to be?  Yes, of course, that’s it.

There are two more flower beds and four trees that need the borders re-dug.  I’ll have to get to that soon, to get the areas mulched and my truck bed emptied before the rain storm predicted for the end of the week.  Lord willing, I just might be able to do it.  Only problem is that most of the remaining areas are beyond the reach of any outdoor light source.  I may have to bite the bullet and work during the daytime.  No problem.  Maybe I need some really dark sunglasses?  ;J