Dirt and Sod on the National Mall

We drove in to town last Friday for a walkabout. It was a beautiful and bright, but chilly morning. Because the parking at the Tidal Basin is so convenient compared to Capitol Hill, we oftentimes prefer this side of the National Mall to our old neighborhood. And my husband loves Constitution Gardens because it is so serene and not really well known compared to the WWII Memorial, Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, Korean and Vietnam memorials. On the way over and back there was something interesting happening. Of course there is always some sort of construction or road work going on. But what we saw was very unique - especially the size and scope. Apparently there is a grass replacement project going on in between the WWII Memorial and the Washington Monument. From the street to the Washington Monument was dirt. And on the dirt were huge grass rolls/sod that were systematically being planted by an army of workers. It almost looked like farmland from one view with hay rolls. The area was roped off to keep the foot traffic away. I suppose this is a good time of the year for this type of planting, but there is no rain in the forecast. So we spent a bit of time watching the production - it seemed more interesting than all of the other things around us. 

The Mud Room

In Milwaukee we knew we had lousy weather, had a big dog, and needed designated space for a washing machine and dryer. When we added on to the house, a part of the existing garage space was turned in to a mud room, complete with separate "locker" space for our coats and shoes and hats, and window box for a variety of plants. It came in especially handy for the dog food station and wash tub. We also had an artist paint the walls with some of our favorite things - birds, candles, Persian script. Here in DC we didn't really expect to have to deal with almost the same kind of weather we thought we had escaped from. Unfortunately in a 500 square foot house we don't have anything remotely similar to a mud room. So all the wet and snowy shoes land in front of the patio door in the kitchen on a Chilewich floor mat. It's just not the same - in more ways than you can imagine. 

A Luggage Carrier Put to Good Use

One thing we learned in Milwaukee was to make sure the soil next to the house was high enough against the wall so any water would flow away from the foundation - not towards it. Because water damage is more common around here than I'd like to think about, we needed to make sure the same approach applied here. We are lucky to have a nice little patio garden attached to our condo. Unfortunately we have to maintain it ourselves. That's fine when replacing tomato plants with mums, but not for heavy lifting maintenance. The soil in the corner had worn down so replacement dirt was required. It's not as easy to get this kind of thing to the patio, and we are a lot older and very wary of carrying heavy objects. We know too many people with back pain. We don't own a wheelbarrow any longer, so we needed to improvise. I'm glad we saved our old luggage carrier - that we bought before luggage had wheels - and used it to move the dirt from the car. We don't have a large shovel either. So we used our dustpan to do the job of moving the dirt from the bag to the garden. Unfortunately, three bags just about did it. I really don't want to do this again!