weeding and pruning

David and I had an exceptionally productive two days this weekend.  Saturday started with the aforementioned end table purchase, but after that, we cleaned out the basement.  We sorted through ALL the boxes we put down there because we didn't know what else to do with them when we moved in two and a half years ago.  Some of these boxes travelled with me from my parents' house, to my old apartment, back to my parents' house, then to David's and my rental house, and finally here.  They held keepsakes and junk I don't expressly need but don't want to get rid of.  I decided to throw away all my old school work, but keep the newspaper from the day I was born--donate David's lovely dish set with the deer painted on them (not exactly Royal Doulton's...), and keep the tablecloths from our wedding.  After reducing our basement box collection to about half its original size, we took a massive haul to Goodwill and loaded up the back of the truck with garbage for a dump run.

Sunday, we had gorgeous weather; the temperature reached almost 70 degrees! You wouldn't guess that from today's weather, a lovely slush/rain mix all day long.  David and I took our garbage to the Waste-to-Energy plant in the morning.  I think the spring-cleaning bug has bitten a bunch of other people in Spokane, too, because the dump was crazy busy. 

We took the scenic route home with our windows rolled down, and when we got to the house, it was just too nice out to go inside.  I moved my flower seedlings from the second bedroom window out to the greenhouse.  Then I replanted all the seeds that hadn't appeared yet.  I have been growing veggies for several years now, but I'm still relatively new to growing flowers...they're a little more finicky than veggies.  Last year I saved a bunch of the dead flower heads from the zinnias and dahlias I planted, so I could get the seeds and plant more this year.  The zinnias seem to be doing well enough--I've had a lot of sprouts--but none of the dahlias have come up, so I planted snapdragons instead. 

After all that, I weeded my daffodil bed (no small task), and David pruned our mature apple tree.  Finally, we went over to my parents' house for a nice dinner of spicy pull-apart beef barbecue stuff (tastes much better than it sounds...).  Take a look at weeding and pruning pictures:

Daffodil bed, before

Daffodil bed, after (look at those sprouts poking through!!!)

Random picture of Seamus the dog enjoying the sunshine (and our new apricot tree)

David in the apple tree

The apple tree, after pruning.  We're aiming to open up the center of the tree to the sun over the next couple of years.