Parenting, Gardening, and Time…

I’m finding that this year has by far been the most challenging year for the garden. At least so far. It’s not just because of the sweltering heat that is sitting on us like some big ole bear on a circus ball. And it’s not just the complete lack of rain over the last couple week (wait I did feel about 5-6 drops the other day – no exaggeration here – only 5-6 drops). What has really made this year a challenge so far is time.

Time is the one factor in everything that is beyond our control. We can manipulate how we spend our time but no matter what we do time still goes, it travels, and it travels fast! It seems like overnight my oldest daughter finished kindergarten. School was a challenge – not for her she breezed through – but for me. For those who have followed this blog for a while now you probably know I’m a stay-at-home dad.  For those who didn’t know that before, now you do! My schedule changed to accommodate her school schedule which meant no more early morning gardening, not more getting out when it’s cool to pull weeds or to propagate plants. It’s all part of being the dad so I’m not complaining, not much anyway.

Now that school is out time is on my side again right? Not so fast — now we have swim lessons! This time both girls get to go to the same class to learn how to swim. It’s an important skill that everyone should know how to do just in case you ever need to. You never know when you might fall into a garden water feature and you have to know how to make it back to safety. It’s not like your koi fish are going to give you a ride. They seem to really be enjoying the swimming lessons so far but again it takes away that morning time again.

And of course there’s our newest addition. He’s almost ready for walking, talking, and is already getting into everything. He will be a year old in July. While he is probably the easiest baby in the world to take care of that doesn’t mean it’s easy.  Between diaper changes, keeping toys and papers out of his mouth, feeding him and all the other things parents do, time for extra stuff goes out the window. Extra stuff like the garden.

You might be wondering “what about the rest of the day?” With temperatures at 92-96 degrees each day for the last two weeks I don’t want my kids outside for very long – or me for that matter. When the heat index rests over 100 degrees working in the garden isn’t the fun relaxing activity that it should be.

I hope this doesn’t sound like I’m complaining. I wouldn’t trade these three for anything – I just wish I could do everything else too! If I had the power to freeze time I might actually keep up with what needs done outside. The vegetable garden is growing well – too well probably since the deer have decided to visit again and the weeds are getting tall.  There are a bunch of plants I’d like to propagate but I’ve found that cuttings taken too late in the day have poorer success rates. The cuttings get too much heat and lose water rapidly which leads to failure. I need a few days of catch-up time.

So you might be asking “why is Dave writing about his kids and lack of time?” Lately I feel that I haven’t been able to to give blogging the time I used to be able to give. I still strive for a post a day with weekend exceptions but that pace has been a challenge to keep up with. I’m won’t be changing anything with my posting intentionally but over the next few weeks my writing may seem sporadic.  Also I want to apologize to my fellow bloggers because I just can’t keep up with your blogs as I would like to.  Time just isn’t on this blogger’s side right now.

I still have many more projects I want to get to (including a renewed interest in a deer proof fence) and as always I’ll be documenting each project as I get to it. We’ll just have to see what time allows me to accomplish.

For now I just have to be patient and enjoy time where is. You can never get back the times you let pass…