What was I thinking?

I took this contract with my ex company, wanted to fill my time a little better, be a part of something, so on and so on. You know what they say, "be careful what you wish for?" It's been an interesting challenge, and I'm still getting through it. I've fired, hired, alienated, drove them away, and developed. All in all it's been good, but exhasting. I find I have no time left at all. I'm not even getting to the gym like I used to. I work all the time, wait a minute, did I say gym...

I'm working on a gym account. Wareing's gym. Most know it, they've been an institution here at the beach forever. And we're working on the account. So, those nice people at Wareings have invited us to come workout. It's just around the corner from our office, so going at lunch is a no-brainer. Something I've always been a fan of. The other day we took a spin circuit class. So, I hop on a bike, and I notice these weired things are hanging from the ceiling, they looked a cross between the "rings" from gymnastics, and a bit of S&M. All of a sudden the instructor has us hop off the bike, and we're using these hanging tourture things to do pushups, flys, bicep curls, tricep work, oh my goodness, I THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO DYE!

I've seen most things, done most classes, but NEVER one like this. It's called the TRX system, and it was invted by a navy seal for training. It engages your 'core" as the way it works is your body creates the resistance. I didn't do the one where you put your feet in the straps, that one went just too far. But, I survived. I'm no thinner, maybe I added 5 minutes to my complete lifespan. I'm a little sore today, but alot proud.

I tamed the beast

A few years ago I purchased this really lovely bush from the garden center. In the spring is has a wonderful fragrant flower, and I love the twisting bark. I had no idea it was going to get SO BIG! A common garden mistake. However, even when buying, I had no idea this thing was a huge unruly giant of a tree. Not a bush at all.

I've since found out it's called a chinese fringe tree. And they're a specimin in most gardens. Hard to grow, and rare. Their counterpart is the Fringe Tree, more of a tree, the chinese one is more of a spreading bark, and an exfoliating bark (like river birch) so the bark itself can also be decorative in the garden. My chinese fringe tree has defied the rules, everything I read says they're slow growers, could have fooled me, I can't keep this one from growing. It's as high as the house, an I think it's only been 3 or 4 years. But it is beautiful. Had I known what it was or read up on it when I purchased it I would have known give it a 15 to 20 ft radius of room to grow. Oh well.

And as much as I hate to pull out plants or trees, especially healthy ones, I had to tame this one, or yank it. So, last night I pulled out my pruners, and started going at it. Pruning is something I pride myself on doing a great job at. I think I have a natural eye for following the natural growth, creating a great canopy, and keeping things in check. I'll have to keep an eye on it as the next concern is the root system being so close to the foundation.

I was rather aggressive with this one, and may have made a mistake or two, but overall, I'm quite pleased with the results. Now I can see out my deck to the other side of the garden. Before pruning, my view was huge wall of green foliage. with a little under-planting, this will look lovely. I'm quite pleased.

The green giant has been tamed.