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When the divorce was underway, I'd thought I would stay in Ohio, but plans changed
in mid-May, 2012 and that started a mad dash of digging and potting plants in
preparation of the move to Indiana. I did this while working full time and would
run out and dig, pot, or load plants before work, on breaks, lunch, and after
work. I borrowed a neighbor's truck and trailer to haul things and brought them to Indiana
and put them in water beds to try to hold them over until I got moved and could
start planting them. I finally brought the last load on August 31, 2012, and
then started the process of getting them stuck in the ground as quickly as possibly.
It was a horrible summer with over 30 consecutive days of 100 degrees
or higher. Indiana had the worst drought in a century. In the midst of this,
I was bitten by a tick and developed Lyme's Disease . It was a struggle to
push hard enough to get them planted but the last plant was in the ground the week
before Thanksgiving. I filled Mom's vegetable garden and side yard. I knew they would all have to be dug and moved again but was out of time and did
what I had to do to save them. In 2013, we started building new beds and moving
plants but at the end of the season, we still had well over 1000 left in
the beds where we'd put them the fall before . 2014 was even more hectic than 2013 and I was really disappointed that there were
still several hundred plants needing moved at the end of the season. I had to
dig about 1000 plants and pot them so that I could get the beds organized the way
I wanted. I'd been so rushed in the fall of 2013, that I'd had to plant a lot
of things in the wrong beds, simply because I didn't have time to build all the
new beds I needed. So having to dig and pot those plants added a lot of work
at the beginning of the 2014 season. Hopefully, spring of 2015 will go a lot better
since I have had the hip replacement and hopefully we will be able to finish
building the rest of the beds. Here are a few pictures to give you some
idea of what it has involved. |
Here are the horses I had to give away.....all registered Appaloosas with wonderful,
loving personalities. See how gentle they are? Kid safe, in the pasture with
no bridle or saddle...... no halters. And the lower right is the stallion that I trained and used for trailriding. He was
a joy to be around! |
It was a heartbreaking day when these beauties left. I still miss them! Here is the first load of daylilies....potted and loaded.... ready to leave Ohio and head for their new home in Indiana. |
Once they were in Indiana, we slapped together waterbeds to try to hold them over
until I was moved to Indiana. I was pulling out with these loads after work on
Friday nights, making the 4-5 hour drive and then unloading and putting plants
in the waterbeds on Saturday and Sunday. Then I'd make the drive back to be ready
for work Monday morning and would start digging and potting more to be ready
for another trip the following Friday night. It was a killer summer! We pumped water out of the pond to furnish water for the waterbeds. That was a chore
- especially in the middle of a drought when the water level in the pond was
dropping dangerously low. Between the heat, drought, trial and error learning what worked with the waterbeds,
and what didn't, and a rough winter, I lost about 400 plants by the following
spring, but considering the conditions and the fact that I was planting
right up to the first hard freeze, I guess I was lucky that so many survived. |
Once I was here in Indiana permanently, the work began trying to beat Old Man
Winter. The picture on the left was Mom's vegetable garden. These things were
packed in like sardines... it's hard to believe there are nearly 3000 daylilies
in these two beds! |
Plus there were the roses. Actually, we planted the roses before we started planting
the daylilies. Mom was a huge help with this whole venture! I don't think I
could have done it without her help! |