Tired and Torn

The "torn" reference in this post is literal.  My arms and legs are all scratched up.  Taking the dead vegetation out of the yard has resulted in as much injury to my limbs as the hedges.  Florida is NOT intended to withstand frost.  My little area of Tampa never freezes.  Last year I opted to not bring any plants in on the one day we were threatened with a freeze, and we got a little frost.  I lost a few things, but it did not even effect the orchids, which is pretty amazing, as they are a distinctly tropical plant, and in my yard they are more exposed than is recommended.  This year, when they said "freeze" I went through the yadda-yadda, whatever, not in my neighborhood, head in the sand trip; and was thoroughly amazed at the white blanket of frost in the park the next morning.  And the next.  And the next.  By day 5 I had pretty much figured out that this is a "cleansing" year for the garden.  

Everything needs to be replaced. But first it needs to be removed.  A tropical garden, with large sections that are allowed to run wild, is a very sad thing after a big freeze.  When I first moved to Tampa, the south had been hit with record breaking freezes, all of the out-lying areas were filled with row upon row of orange tree skeletons, eerie, sad, and incomprehensible to a farm girl used to the ebb and flow of northern life.  I don't think my Caramobola (Star -Fruit tree) will make it.  It could surprise me, it is 7 years old, good solid trunk and has had two years of prolific fruit bearing.  Surprisingly, my cinnamon tree looks fine.  It is not supposed to handle any freeze, Tampa is actually a little too far north for recommended growing.
I doubt that I will have it all cleared this weekend, but we are moving toward a goal.  

I would be farther along on the yard, but yesterday was a wash.  I would blame it on the rain, but I was beat, and only managed about 2 hours of actual work.  Friday night I picked up my daughter, 3 other girls and one of the gym moms for a field trip to Gainesville.  We watched our first college gym meet.  4th ranked UF (go Gator's) against 13th ranked LSU.  LSU has the nation's top-ranked All Around gymnast, and she rocked it, but UF has an amazing group of specialty gymnasts, and some really great all-around contenders.  TGD had a huge turn out, and we sat mostly together, just above the uneven bars.    Fun, Fun, Fun!  And I think the Wild Child could actually become a sports photographer, with a little practice, and some bigger lenses.  Anyway - Traffic was horrible - and it took us forever to get out of the garage, forever to find a spot at Ben and Jerry's, forever to order, forever to get on the road, etc. etc.  We ended up not getting back to Tampa until 1:30 am.  It took lots and lots of caffeine to get me home.  The other mom had to work at 6:00am, so she slept, as did the girls.  I had a coffee/toffee ice-cream and 2 shots of espresso float at Ben & Jerry's - so I was good for the trip.  But that amount of coffee can backfire on a girl after midnight.  Restless sleep, then wide awake at 5:00am - UGH!!!!!  sooo - not much got done, but the girl made it to practice at 9:00 am.  The whole trip was a flashback to "away games" when I was in high school.  Fun, exhausted, useless the next day.  Ready to do it again, just not for several weeks.