Or, subtitled “Pre-Spring Rituals I’m Not Ready For”

Reading through my favorite blogs this morning I came upon Guy’s post about pruning fruit trees. A lot of terminology I’m unfamiliar with¹ totally had me freaking out.

When we bought this property² I didn’t think too much about the various trees on the lot. We have some plum trees and an apple tree. We also have a lilac tree. The rest are unknown to us. The lot also came with three rose bushes.

Guy mentioned it was time to prune fruit trees, and I read with interest. And then I realized we are so out of our element and possibly in over our heads. My natural reaction to this? “I’m paying someone to handle this shit.”

And then a little voice, call it my Angelic Voice says, “Now, now, that is NOT the responsible homeowner thing to do. You’re more than capable of handling these tasks. All it will take is a little reading and research. Everything will be fine.”

To which my Devil(duck) Voice replies: “Get real. My credit card lives for adventure.”

So, we’ll see. Bayou and her mom know more about this stuff than I do, so I am going to let them guide this show for now. My resistance seems rooted (ha) in a lack of knowledge. And there is so much to know, so many variables and factors to consider. It boggles the mind.

While I was reading Guy’s missive and pondering our pruning issues, I sat in the virtual dark with just the light from my laptop illuminating the living room.³ Sumi jumped up on the ottoman where I rested my feet. I couldn’t see her at first, and then she leaned forward to the right of my screen, so I could just barely begin to see her.

As my eyes adjusted to the focus-shift, I saw this weird halo of stuff on her head. WTFF is that, I thought. I reached out to pet her and… it was fur. She is blowing her coat like a crazy dog.

Fanfuckingtabulous. I persuaded her to go into the basement for the fur massacre, and pulled out the best brush EVAR- the FURminator. Seriously, if you have a dog, cat, or horse with a lot of fur, this is the best thing since sliced bread. It gets out the undercoat and helps to minimize the shed fur you pick up after the fact.

I used it on Sumi and nearly filled a bathroom-sized wastecan with her fur. For context, note that my sensitive Shibazilla is 28lbs and about 16″ tall. You can see her in her regal glory here.

So I suppose the Furapalooza and pruning reminders are good. Spring will be here before we know it… will I be ready? I guess that depends on whether I’m in India⁴ or not; it may be up to Bayou to tackle the yard without me.

Technorati Tags: pruning, fruit trees, plum trees, coat, dog, Spring

1. being afflicted with Black Thumb Syndrome and all [↩]
2. I still feel weird saying that [↩]
3. It was 7:45a, don’t ask why I was awake [↩]
4. That feels even weirder to say [↩]