And God bless you and your enjoyment of all these great achievements/improvements! Sometimes it's hard to remember the many great things we have blooming in our lives with the comparatively few thorny weeds that snag and aggravate us.

I was just lamenting the fact that I don't have a place to garden this year... And the place is a mess. But that's all part of progress that will get us someplace better, and meanwhile, on to gardening Plan B.

OMG, Christine! You are making me cry! I am on the edge right now, so that's not hard, but that really touched me!

Nancy

Congratulations on this unexpected blessing! The garden and landscaping can come later; fixing the grading around your house is important. I have a feeling this did not just drop into your lap but is the result of your friendly and helpful personality--and you were right next door! Keep up the good work and enjoy all that delicious food--it all sounds so yummy! :)

Welllll Nancy!

After load 11, Son Brian smoothed out probably 100' x 30' worth of swamp.

THEN!

He and his BobCat tore out two, huge, diseased apple trees.
They're going to drag them back to the woods (6.5 acres back) so the wildlife has brush.

God bless 'em! :)

I couldn't have afforded clean topsoil, nor the labor involved. I gave them $$ for the diesel, which is $$, but OMG. How amazing is all of this!

Farmer Dave knows a guy who is going to give me an estimate to grind out 3 big maple stumps that have been adorning my yard since the two tornadoes in two years ripped the trees in 1/2.

God bless 'em!

Tomorrow, I seed.

God bless seed and spring.

Thanks for sharing this with me!

I so enjoy reading all of your posts and am amazed at all you do ( even though I don't often post). I totally believe in Kharma, and yours is coming back to you! How wonderful.

You should post some pics for us.

Maybe the preacher is being allowed to stay there...just long enough to contribute some of his bounty (topsoil) to his neighbors :)

But then after he creates his church, his property comes off the tax rolls as taxable property. So count your blessings while they last.

How incredibly unlikely it would be to have tons of rich topsoil bestowed on you like a lottery treasure and smoothed out, ready to plant. Kharma or dumb luck + nice neighbors there with a tractor anyway, a wonderful, promising change. A bunch of zip lock bags full of frozen dinners waiting for lazy days, or to finish up tired satisfying ones, is pretty promising too.

So, are you spinning additional plans for that area out ther, for once you get some grass roots holding your precious soil in place?

Glad to hear of your good fortune, Christine. Isn't it nice when the universe is in accord with our wishes?

Let's try to get together again soon.... maybe another Sat. Am trip to your restoration place?

Hooray for Karma!!!

How nice to come home this evening and read this. Don't know what you are going to plant, but I know it will yield more than a parking lot. Enjoy the planting, the growing and all that comes with it. Oh, you might want to plant come garlic in case any skeeters want to try to stick around. We just bought garlic oil to spray around our yard and it is helping. I don't know how many ounces it takes to get 3 oz, but that make a gallon of spray. I'm so happy to have a way to keep ours at bay that doesn't endanger my critters (monarch caterpillars have been busily munching my milkweed). Enjoy!

You must have done good things for people for them to want to do good things for you.

Such kind words!! Thank you.

Rosie, This side of the house is the only access to the back acreage. It will have to remain a way to drive through. Given the swail (swale?) in the land, I do need to put grass seed down to keep this in place.

I am into alternative lawns, though. Yarrow is fantastic, in that it's evergreen, likes crappy soil, doesn't need watering, spreads via runner and seed, and if you don't let it flower, it remains feathery soft. I have a pound of yarrow seed mixed in with my grass seed, so that'll go down tomorrow. Peaceful Gardens (.com) sells this by the pound.

I didn't know about the garlic oil, lascatx. I will look for some of this for other areas of the yard. Right now, I'm looking forward to the June fireflies!

Finestra, I live in Open Space. i.e. it's zoned against development. My road is 1.5 lanes wide and curvy, and cannot handle this church traffic. The microphoned services on Wed, Thurs nights, Saturday and Sunday are resonating between the very far-spaced houses. How he's doing this, I don't know. I just know he lied to my face and kharma will deal with him in some lifetime, if not this.

I don't know what I've done for anyone else. I feel so isolated and home/house-centric that I don't even feel socialized. I guess I've done some good teaching maybe? OTOH, it's interesting how the universe will put you one place at the right moment to have a conversation that has meaning for someone. I've experienced both sides of this, and firmly believe right-time-right-place is not coincidental.

All that said, Who the heck knows?
All I know is that tomorrow hopefully I'm buying a mower (mine exploded into parts all over the yard last July) and then I'm coming home to put down my seeds. :)

YEAH!
I hope everyone has a wonderful, fabulous, joyful, warm and easy Sunday.

God bless you for being a positive, caring person who recognizes that good gets rewarded and well, lying, cheating and pretending just gets you top soil for your neighbors:)

CKGM, that made me laugh out loud.
I think one of the many blessings -- altho sometimes a difficult one -- is to recognize when you're reaping the benefits of your own kharma. Good or bad. It's easy to see it working someone else, but yourself? We tend not to "get" it when something .. how to put it? Turn about is fair play?

When I got up today and went outside to survey my domain, I noticed something I didn't when I came home last night about midnight. Someone has spread a strip of seed and hay along the house. Probably 6'w x 80' long.

God bless 'em!

At 11:00 I'm going to look at a mower. A commercial, almost-new, zero turn Extramark.

Funny how things happen when you just say something out loud. For example, [sigh] "I've gotta get a mower. Mine exploded last July and my grass is over my knees again. I can't even see my dogs and the cats are simply waving grass as they work their way back to the porch."

And a very trusted friend (boss) said, "I know someone who is selling...." So. I'm going today. Plus, there is a chance this person will let me pay on time based upon my boss' recommendation. After all, he knows where I work. [LOL]

I might struggle, but we all do in some fashion. I happen to think I'm one of the luckiest in the world. Boggles my mind sometimes.

Christine - It must be karma. I was just pondering this morning and for some reason developing a mental posting to just comment how delightful it is to read posts like yours that are forthright and enthusiastic. Then I get on here and see this post. Amazing! Thank you!

On another note, for some reason I imagined in my mind that you lived in the Rt 3/301 corridor when I had read some time ago that you are in MD. PG County? Unbelievable -- it's where I grew up! I'm in SE VA now, but that's still my emotional home.

Java

I am in PG.
I'm on the southern end of 301.
If you were to picture where 301 and 214 intersect, I'm about 3 miles east on 214. If you happen to know where Meadows Farms is, I live on the road behind it.

My mailing address is Upper Marlboro, but I pick up my mail in Largo. Across the street from me the address is Mitchelville, which has been absorbed by Bowie. They keep trying to absorb our little Rural Tier, but we're under Parks and Planning. Unincorporated. But I think they figure if they just pass laws/taxes, eventually people will get used to it. Bowie has no place to expand, neither land nor tax base.

It's a small world, isn't it?

Christine-

I enjoy following your adventures through your frequent posts. It's refreshing to see someone that not only counts her blessings, but embraces & celebrates them!

When life gives you lemons, you do make lemonade.
But when life gives you lemonade, you share with all of us.

Thanx for the lemonade :o)

CEF, I grew up in Bowie. I live in Annapolis now. I didn't realize that where you live is considered Upper Marlboro - odd! I always think of Upper Marlboro as further down 301. We used to go to a pumpkin farm with our kids out your way on Rt 214 but I can't think of the name of it. I assume you are on the south side of 214? This farm was on the north side. I think it was just beyond Meadows Farms (beyond as in, closer to 301). I rarely go that far west on 214. My kids play sports sometimes in Davidsonville and I love going to Homestead Gardens, but that's typically as far as we go on 214. I'm in Bowie all the time though as my parents still live there.