Garden Railroading Garden Fun!

Garden Railroading Garden Fun

"Workday Wednesday" saw me get my hands dirty in the "rust" garden.  In only one hour, all of the overgrown weeds were removed and a single bag of mulch was all that was required to spruce up the bed.

This was the look of the garden 60 minutes before!

 The last of the Siberian Irises were in bloom.

The lamp shade and other various artifacts can now be seen again...

...whereas before they were covered in unwanted greenery.

The little pagoda was the only ornament still in view.

Now all of the ornament are visible.

Fred coined the term "rust garden" due to the rusted out artifacts which abound...such as the boxcar stirrup step which you can clearly see to the center right of the above pic.

The little turtle is happy.

As are all of the plants!

More paraphenalia!

Bernie later hammered down the rail spikes for me.

Rust is cool!

The hosta is happy.

As is little old Mike!

While I know the main reason we come to Fred's is to run the trains, it's still nice to see the garden all cleaned up and presentable.  After all, it is the first thing a visitor sees when they walk into Fred's backyard!

Bernie snapped these two pics of Fred and me.

We do have so much fun, don't we!

As does Bernie!

And...the railroad awaits it trains.

A great note of appreciation goes out to the lads who helped put up the canopy last week.  Thanks go out to Bernie, Marcel, Malcolm and Lawrence for their assistance.  

(If I missed someone, please let me know and I will add their names to the list.)

It's nice to know that we can, once again, be protected from the sun.

Malcolm sent along this wonderful photograph of him wearing the great looking mask his lovely wife had made for him.  Check out the steam locomotive.  Malcolm's wife has made many of these masks for others which is greatly appreciated!

Carl Swail is spending his time up at the cottage.

Carl sent along these two images of his first run of the season in cottage country!  Awesome looking railroad, Carl!

Send more pics when you have time!

As for me...hmmm...which locomotive will I bring out next when we run our trains at Fred's?  In retirement, that's the kind of decision I don't mind having to make!

Enjoy your week everyone!

Mike Hamer, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada