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<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
We checked the calendar and, to our shock, the only thing on it is Mary’s painting class \u2014 apparently, even our schedule needs a break.\u00a0 We messed around the house in the morning, and Mary got ready to go to her painting class at noon.<\/p>\n
While she was gone, I tried to fix the front yard sprinkler system, but school pickup traffic remained absolutely undefeated.\u00a0 I didn’t finish the whole thing, but I did repair and adjust a bunch of drip lines.\u00a0 So now the yard is happy, the neighbors are happy, and I’m somewhere between “cautiously confident” and “surprised I didn’t accidentally flood the block.<\/p>\n
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The front yard is arrayed with flowers.<\/p><\/div>\n
Mary returned at 3:15 pm with artwork in hand.\u00a0 I should’ve known something was up\u2014she rolled into the garage honking the horn, waving banners, and revving the engine like she was leading a tiny victory parade.<\/p>\n
I saw her latest work of art and was amazed by the detail in the picture.\u00a0 The Birches looked so good, I was ready to plant them!\u00a0 \u00a0Another amazing job; that girl has talent!<\/p>\n
Here are some birch tree trivia facts:<\/span><\/p>\n The Birch Tree was perfect!<\/p><\/div>\n We took a tour of the garden around 4:00 pm, and Mary decided it was stir-fry o’clock.\u00a0 She picked and bagged the veggies while I hauled the goodies inside for their evening bath.\u00a0 Little did they know, they hadn’t been harvested\u2014they’d been drafted for dinner.<\/p>\n Me?\u00a0 I stood at the sink and prepared the carrots, kale, Swiss Chard, and onions!\u00a0 I gave them a bath in salty water and then removed the veins, leaving a large pile of greens.<\/p>\n I get the great jobs, cleaning and scrubbing the ingredients from the backyard.<\/p><\/div>\n The carrots got a proper spa treatment first, and Mary dispatched them in no time.\u00a0 The zucchini was so perfect it was practically showing off\u2014sweet, smug, and delicious.\u00a0 And the eye surgeon?\u00a0 Let’s say that knife was in the hands of a true professional: razor-sharp prowess, zero room for error, and a deeply unsettling amount of confidence.<\/p>\n Time for stir-fry!<\/p><\/div>\n The chicken, zucchini, and onions come first, then the greens.\u00a0 I was sure they would not fit, but after just a few seconds in the heat, they wilted down into a manageable size.<\/p>\n MARY!\u00a0 It will not fit into that pan!<\/p><\/div>\n She kept stuffing the greens into that tiny pan, and I was there waiting with an overflow container.<\/p>\n She keeps putting the greens into the pan with the chicken.<\/p><\/div>\n I was only slightly incorrect\u2014okay, I was spectacularly wrong.\u00a0 Mary had this under control the whole time.\u00a0 The mountain of greens vanished so fast it looked like they’d been enrolled in a witness protection program and reappeared as a delicious stir-fry.<\/p>\n Here are some stir-fry trivia facts:<\/span><\/p>\n I’ll be darned, it all shrank down and fit.<\/p><\/div>\n From frying pan to the plate!\u00a0 We are ready for a magnificent meal fresh from our garden!<\/p>\n Another wonderful dinner, with everything from our yard, save the chicken!<\/p><\/div>\n After dinner, we cannonballed into the swim spa and spent 45 blissful minutes being gently kneaded by our own personal soup at a toasty 95 degrees.\u00a0 After our amphibious spa session, we retreated to the TV room and continued our highly serious mission of watching Lost in Space.<\/p>\n After a delicious meal, a glass of wine, and a nice soak in the hot water, we all conked out for a bit.\u00a0 Then, at 11:00 pm, I rallied the troop, gently herded Mary to the bedroom, and we all officially called it a night.<\/p>\n After some TV, we crashed.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" We checked the calendar and, to our shock, the only thing on it is Mary’s painting class \u2014 apparently, even our schedule needs a break.\u00a0 We messed around the house in the morning, and Mary got ready to go to … Continue reading \n
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