Smooth - Photo Challenge and Our Beautiful World Countryside OBW 105

I spent about 5 hours yesterday weeding.  Yes, weeding.  Confession - I am one of those people who likes weeding.  Not so much 5 hours of it, but it is a repetitive and somewhat peaceful activity that gives me time to ponder things and acknowledge things as well.  

First, I say somewhat peaceful because inevitably there's something going on in the neighborhood that will infringe upon the sounds of nature, namely yard equipment.  I don't so much mind the sound of the cars whooshing by, or even the train in the distance, but sometimes the drone of the yard tractor is anything but peaceful.  Luckily yesterday it was well removed from our part of the street.

And as for pondering - well my main purpose for doing this weeding was to eliminate the poison ivy that has taken hold in a little area just outside our backdoor.  And this can be tricky for a number of reasons.  First, you must wear gloves.  I used to weed bare handed and never minded green fingertips and fingernails.  But when you invite birds to your yard with feeders they tend to leave behind their own little presents in their poop - plant seeds like poison ivy and cedar trees, and I could go on.

Second, you must know what you are looking for.  Leaves of Three Let Them Be!  That is the mantra we've been taught to be safe.  However, there are some plants that have leaves of three like the Jack in the Pulpit below.  Oh yes, if you look carefully you can find the poison ivy also in that picture, but the Jack in the Pulpit is almost dead center.

What you see below is poison ivy.  SMOOTH, shiny leaves of three.  (The smooth meaning not fuzzy like some berry vines.)  If you grab them right at the root (being careful with larger plants not to have them touch your exposed arm or any other part of your body for that matter) they are easy enough to wiggle out of the ground.  

How did I do all this with my bad back?  Well, HWNSNBP had bought me, many years ago, a little garden tool box on wheels that you can sit on.  And truthfully, had I been using this last summer, I could probably have saved myself a lot of pain and anguish.  But I've become very adept at scooting along the ground and leaning over just far enough to get the job done.  And I feel so much better for having accomplished this.(Not to mention the fact that this area looks sooooooooooooo much better!)

And speaking of looking good - Here is my countryside photo for Our Beautiful World this week.  

We pass this scenic lavender farm on the weekends we travel to the condo.  This past Sunday we stopped in to their little shop to pick up something I wanted for a gift.  The red barn buildings are just so pretty and well kept.  There's also a horse farm on this property and to the left you can see a couple of the sheds that they have in the fields for the horses to go into for protection from the elements. 

I think I've mentioned this place before in a post more than a year ago but if anything, the place has become more beautiful with time.

Now if you want to see some breathtaking photos of landscapes from around the world, please click here for the Our Beautiful World challenge.