After a long  weekend of  fall clean-up work out in the yard , I  am reminded again how old I am getting and how grateful I am I have help. Thankfully, I have CJ my oldest boy who is starving college student and will do anything for some dough, and Bill who is a super-hero gem of a husband. But, much as I enjoy his help, like all men Bill  has his lovable eccentiricites,( many of which force me to place all of the sharp objects in the house out of reach just in case things get  ugly.)

One of his most endearing eccentricities (if you are the CEO of Home Depot) , is his deep pocket approach to problem solving in the household chore arena. Bill sees a problem, rapidly assesses  what needs to be done to remedy it, then hops in his car and flies off the the store to drop a load of cash on stuff we either don’t need , or that he already has but can’t locate due to organizational dysfunction.Seroiusly, if I took inventory of the utility room, first I might cry, and then I could open up my own hardware store right in the basement.He has a whole stash of extra blades (at $50 each) for a saw he uses about once a year, a wall of fasteners in litle bins that are unlabeled so therefore do not exist in his head becasue they are too hard to find, many little metal bits like screws and bolts etc all in their original baggies purpose unknown, His cable running supplies take up two whole toolboxes and a large carboard box and several plastic bags as well(FYI he is a suit wearing financial guy, not an electrician or cable installer by trade).He also owns every tool most people borrow like tile wet saws, power mitre saw, screw guns, power washers, air compressors, table saw, you get the idea. This all gets overwhelming to me , as I like things neat and organized and hate his stashing habit and his ability to spend large  money on the most useless of items….BUT….one day while out doing some cleanup in the yard, Bill abruptly left for a while, then came back with this

The Chipper

Honest to God, my heart was beating so fast I needed to take a little lie-down to recouperate! OUR VERY OWN CHIPPER! What a joy!

Now, I hear your warning:   new chipper+ mouthy wife with crappy attitude+ wait? are those bags of lime he stacked in the corner of the garage? =fresh addition to compost pile .Maybe it will be best to tiptoe around Bill for a while, be on my best behavior and such. Duly noted.But… as long as I am looking at it from the OUTSIDE, the chipper is a thing a beauty, a wonder to behold, the love of my gardening life. We have chipped and chipped, and mulched and mulched, then chipped some more. The compost pile is usuable almost immediately thanks to the chipper, and those large stacks of limbs and twigs have all but disappreared, only existing now as the most wonderful and free wood chips for the garden. This weekend, what typically would have taken several days was compacted into two thanks to the chipper (Thankyou Bill) nad now the beds have a rich layer of shredded leaves over them which is a great soil conditioner. I am a lucky girl 🙂