Surgery and a Bargain

Those two things--surgeries and bargains--are only slightly related, but since they're happening at the same time we'll just rock with it.

First the surgery. Morley is having one today, and if you aren't in the loop on this one it is because he wanted to keep it quiet. He worries that all these surgeries might make our clients think he's falling apart and it might be bad for business. I think he's worrying unnecessarily since we are still working ungodly hours and have more work than we can shake a stick at, but I went with the plan because that's just the kind of cooperative chick I am. And for those of you who think I blab everything I know on the internet....ha. I showed you I can keep a secret after all. Oh wait. It's Morley who thinks I blab everything on the internet. My bad.

We check in the hospital this morning and hopefully we'll be back home by dinner time, and then we lay around for a week. Actually Morley gets to lay around while my role is to hover about fetching orange juice and magazines and nagging him to do what the doctors say. Fortunately nagging is one of my life skills so the next week ought to be smooth sailing. Not.

He's (very) cranky to be out of the game for yet another week but glad to be getting it over with and being pain free. Its bugging him that he's having another surgery so soon after the Great Tumor Caper, but I tell him it's just one of those things--it's pretty much like buying a new car. At first all you need to do is change the oil and put more air in the tires every once in awhile, but eventually when you get a few miles on that baby you have to get a major tune up at the dealership. Let's just say if Morley was a car, he's ready for the 100,000 mile tune up where they change out the points, plugs, and brake shoes, and flush his radiator. Hypthothetically speaking.

And now, the deal on that bargain. Since Morley has been unable to do much physical labor around the house and is now forbidden to lift anything heavier than a fork for awhile, yesterday I decided to take care of one long-delayed chore myself: the dreaded and long-procrastinated mulch project in the back yard. We need mulch really, really bad since we are still under watering restrictions and my flowers stay thirsty most of the time.

It was hot as blazes yesterday but after I washed the mountain of laundry that had accumulated over the past couple of weeks, I headed off to my favorite Lowe's to buy an SUV full of cypress mulch. The ladies in the garden center know I'm an avid gardener, and while I was waiting in line to order 30 bags of cypress mulch one of them came up to me and asked what I was driving. When I said I was driving my SUV, she pulled me aside and offered me a deal: an entire 5 shelf rack of potted perennials for $10. They had already finished blooming which means weekend warrior gardeners won't buy them, but they were still good plants and needed a home.

Bummer. With our ridiculous work schedule plus Morley's surgery and recovery, the timing could not have been worse. As much as I love plants--and a bargain--I really, really don't have time for a major planting project. So I regretfully explained to her that although I would dearly love to take her up on the deal but due to being overloaded with work and surgeries it would be nuts--insane!--for me to take home a couple hundred plants right now.

Meet my new plants:

What? You think I'm crazy? Of COURSE I took the deal--$603 worth of plants for $10? No brainer. So I loaded up the SUV with lots and lots and lots of plants and now I just have to figure out how to get them in the ground without Morley's help on the business end of the shovel and/or tiller. (Loretta, I'll save some of the lilies for you--I think I got about 30 or 40 of them, plus multiple clematis so I'll save some of those for you too).

And now I have to run upstairs and get dressed to take His Royal Hind End to the hospital, but I'll leave you with some photos I made in the backyard yesterday when I was recovering from heat stroke after the major mulching project:


And here's a shot of Morley sitting on the bench by the pond watching me work:

It bugged him that he couldn't help me lift those bags of mulch but he did go behind me collecting up the plastic bags as I emptied them.

And here's a shot of Shelby reacting to the hot summer day with her ears folded back into their full teddy bear position for optimal cooling effect:

I'll post an update on His Royal Hind End's post surgical progress later tonight.