Deep dark depression…Blessed misery…If that little rhyme doesn’t ring a bell, it’s because you didn’t grow up watching Hee Haw every Saturday night like I did.

It doesn’t translate well to 2007, but at the time, to my 7- or 8-year-old self, it was humorous and entertaining to see grown men and women dressed as country bumpkins popping up from behind hay bales delivering stoopid jokes and chewing on hay.

The reason this little ditty is apropos today is because I played a bit of hookey to work in the garden. But rather than it being an uplifting experience, all I could see were the problems. For example:

-The seedlings I transplanted looked pathetically small and vulnerable in the harsh, cruel sun. How will they ever survive?

-My hostas, astilbes, daylillies, lilies, helebores and other perennials need to be divided. Is it too late?

-There are a couple of beds with a BIG weed issue.

-There is a pussy willow bush that is just aching to be incorporated into a proper border.

-I have three other bushes waiting to be planted as well as a few extra hollyhocks that don’t yet have a home.

-My specimen trees need to have the suckers removed.

-I still have about 20 bags of mulch to deal with.

-The new bed next to the driveway is mostly leaf mulch on one side and topsoil on the other. However will I marry the two?

-I still need to set up my fountain in the back.

-I am finding volunteer cone flowers in odd places that need to be relocated.

-I still have house plants waiting to be repotted.The list goes on and on and on…When will I ever find the time?

Doom, despair and agony on me!
Deep dark depression. Blessed misery!
If it weren’t for bad luck, I’d have no luck at all…

If you remember the rest, please let me know. It’ll drive me crazy until I find out.

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Robin

2 Responses to “Doom, Despair and Agony on Me”

  1. Buck Owens Says:

    Hiya Robin!

    Actually, many people make the boo-boo that you did. The song is actually "Gloom, despair…"

    And, hee haw, the last line is a kicker. It’s the same as the first!

    Gloom, despair, and agony on me.
    Deep dark depression. Excessive misery.
    If it weren’t for bad luck, I’d have no luck at all.
    Gloom, despair, and agony on me.

    Hehehe. Hawhaw. By the way, Roy says "Hay!"

    Hugs,
    Buck

  2. Elvis Presley Says:

    Hi Bumblebee,

    I’m really sorry to tell you something. Are you sitting down? Buck Owens died last year. He couldn’t possibly be the real author of the previous comment.

    I’m sorry to be the bearer of sad tidings.

    Love ya’
    Elvis

Right Now at Bumblebee

July 24th, 2010

It was nearly 100 degrees while I was working outside today. I have a sliver of wood in my big toe, poison ivy and am covered in bug bites. Sometimes I think I need an easier hobby.

Robin

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June 24th, 2010

Holy moly, it’s hot. I was just outside providing drought assistance to the suffering greenery. Now excuse me while I cower here in the air conditioning for a bit before making dinner.

It has been such a busy work week. I have been chained to the desk. I can’t wait until the weekend. I have tomatoes to stake, flowers to plant, garlic to harvest, strawberries to keep in control, some clipping and pruning and, who can forget, weeding!

My friend Helen Yoest, from Gardening With Confidence, will be here in about 10 days. I plan to pick her brain and get advice about some real problem areas here. I was hoping for more time to prepare for an esteemed guest, but that’s just not to be. She’ll have to take me as I am.

I hope you’re all keeping cool.

Robin

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June 17th, 2010

You can’t pick up the newspaper or turn on the television without hearing more about the Gulf Coast oil disaster.

The wildlife population will be devastated for years, perhaps decades, to come. You can help with the conservation, monitoring and aid to the birds by donating to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. This is the top school and science center for birds in the U.S. and sponsor of many, many programs, including citizen scientist-type programs. If you cannot afford to donate, it’s a great place to just be informed or to get involved through volunteer activities you can do in your own back yard.

Robin

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May 26th, 2010

Tonight I am grateful for the internets.

Over dinner we were talking about blast-from-the-past music and then blast-from-the-past comedy. Harry and I explained how we would play stacks of 45s on the turntable to my 19-year-old son. And I remembered my parents’ Dick Newhart album and “Driving Instructor.”  And while we were talking about old comedy, who can forget, George Carlin’s “Seven Dirty Words?” Ah, the things I am teaching my 19-year-old son! Yes, I taught him about seven dirty words!

I am also grateful that the chickens had walkabout time without destroying my garden this afternoon.

And I am grateful for that arms and shoulders P90X workout, although I will be sore again tomorrow.

Live the dream,

Robin

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