I kept reminding myself this afternoon as I pulled and dug and chopped my way through the vines that took over the front patio and most of the salvia next to it that if you take a year off from gardening this is what happens. Last year I was under full thrall of the statins and had no motivation to do anything out there; the reason there are things that bloom every year in the yard is because I did the work ages ago and put in plants that come back every spring. I left most of the trimmed stuff where I dropped it and in a day or two it will be quite dry and good to stuff in the trash can. The vines that are a nuisance I don't toss in the compost.

The most noticeable change in the front yard, when I finish, will be clearing the lines of grass out of long seams in the driveway. I finally figured out a way to remove it easily, with the Ryobi battery operated trimmer. Moving up that line of grass and pushing the trimmer along the concrete it comes away as if I were shearing wool from a sheep. A lot of fine soil and composted old grass has accumulated under the line of grass, so I'm dropping the trimmings into a tub for the compost and have a small dustpan to scoop the soil from the concrete under it and that will go it various pots. To do as much as I did today took two tall containers of iced tea. This is about 300' total of seams to cut out and I've finished about 60' so far, but I have a method now that will speed it up.

I pulled out more food storage containers to list on eBay as I looked at the pantry to decide what needs to stay and what can go. And what can be moved in there from other places. And of course, while I was working on this and digging around in the garden tools I stumbled upon the bag of cans of fish that I was going to put in the garden. I still have things to plant that I'll use the older cans for this year; the rest of the fish is within its shelf date and can either be used for human consumption or in the garden next year. (My mom made the best salmon croquettes, always using canned salmon, and if I could figure out how she made them I would use all of this fish that way.)

This evening is for listing eBay stuff. I think with the tariffs looming there will be an increased demand for vintage items.