Plant Sitting

This is my friend Alice's wheel barrow filled with some of her annuals. I am plant sitting for her and this is the one she may not get back. She asked if I would take care of her plants while she and her husband were on a three week motorcycle trip. I didn't hestitate to say yes, after all, we both love gardening and flowers.

Alice thought it would be better to bring her plants to me since we live about 20 minutes apart and they would be gone so long. She said she had quite a few for me to take care of but I had to laugh when she and her husband pulled up last Thursday. They had the truck with them and the bed was full! Now, I do have to tell you it was a shortened bed as the truck has a four seat cab but it was full! My front porch and both sets of steps are full of color and I am enjoying them but I ran into a problem.....enter my friend Holly.

Now Holly said she needed my help (have I told you I have trouble saying no?) Anyway, Holly told me how her husband Bill had been working six days a week and she knew he needed a break but wouldn't take one left to his own devices. She wanted to suprise him with a little trip away and wanted Ron and I to go with them. We researched where we could go on short notice and decided on Lancaster, PA for four days and three nights. Holly has it all set that we fake his "kidnapping" and whisk him off. "Betty" will be basically giving the orders telling him where to go. She is a GPS that we are borrowing from another friend. Ron is a bit nervous and keeps asking if Holly's sure Bill won't be mad. Holly assured us he would love it and I figured it would be fun, after all, how often do you get to pull that kind of surprise on someone? Ron and I could use a break as well but I have Alice's plants to care for and of course Franklin and Princess to worry about. Now how do you find someone willing to water all those flowers and give Franklin all the loving he needs?

You probably guessed, I conned Apple into plant and cat sitting for me. I did tell her about Alice's plants and she already knows I have a plant problem but I counted them today just for fun. There are six hanging baskets, seven flower boxes and 20 potted plants (one of which is the big wheel barrow.) The pipe outside is broken so it means filling my three watering cans inside the house and hauling the water. This is all while trying not to let Franklin, our escape artist out. Oh Apple, I owe you big time! Thank you!