OK, Froggy. This is For You.

You wanted to know why I haven't blogged in several days. This is why!

Our bamboo doesn't look anything like this, it's actually several feet between stalks. But, with any luck, it will look like this at some point. Possibly by late summer. It is defintely growing and the ones we are rooting are also doing very well.

We've been working on installing the root block so that it will spread side to side but not out into the yard. The block is basically thick, corrugated plastic and it has to be installed 3 feet below the surface of the ground. Which means that we have literally been in the trenches this week. Bill's been digging down to the required depth, then long enough for the sheets to be placed and they are about 8 feet long. Then we have to get the sheets in place and he has to dump all the dirt back to cover the blocking sheets. It's not exactly rocket science, but it is hot, dirty, sweaty work. Did I mention that it's dirty? Well, it is. We work for a while, go inside and do tick check (none in several days so we think that they are all gone), then we have to take a shower and then we are usually too tired to do anything beyond sit on the couch in front of the tv! Which is normally what we do on Friday evenings anyway.

When Bill gets home in about 20 minutes, we'll be back out there again. We are trying to get two to four sheets installed each evening. The sheets have to be staggered pretty far next to each other, to prevent spaces for the roots to get through. We won't work on it tomorrow, obviously, since it's Sabbath but we will get back out bright and early Sunday morning. We should have enough time to get some done tonight before sundown.

Of course, the fact that we have literally had 20 days in a row where it rained makes it messier. We've broken the old record for rainy days in a row, which was something like 8 or 12 days and was set a few years back. Today is day 21, or will be if it rains before midnight tonight. Which it is supposed to. Tomorrow is supposed to be rainy off and on as well. Which actually is a good thing, because damp dirt is easier to shovel through than dry dirt is.

I would like to be able to get it all finished up on Sunday, but that is probably not realistic. We have a big yard and lots of digging to do. But we will be able to get quite a bit done. Bill is putting the pool up Memorial Day weekend, which is the next weekend, and he wants to be through by then. And I also have grilling planned for Memorial Day weekend. But hopefully, no more digging in the dirt! (Monty Python reference).