in the rose garden with anna~

the rose garden is really coming together with the addition of anna! long ago picked out, I had been waiting for the perfect time to add her to the garden, it was called "A SALE"! a friend notified me of a storewide sale the night before and luckily my husband already had the day off so we were up at the crack of dawn to head to my very favorite destination.

 

 

first ones in the doors, we embraced her quickly for her forever home. after tucked in the truck my husband carefully strapped in her for the 45' ride home...

 

 

while I was seated outside at the restaurant toasting with mimosas!

 

 

welcome home anna, have a good look around!

 

 

 

 

 

now comes the true test, when purchasing her they did not know her weight... our tractor has a limit, with guesses from 500 to 1000 pounds I was on pins and needles IF we could move her at all...

 

 

our limit is around 850-900 pounds...

 

 

as the store said, if we break it you get a new one, if you break it, you get to buy it again...

 

 

I was EXTREMELY NERVOUS as my husband kept shouting are we cleared of the truck yet?

and then it gets REALLY SCARY! the tractor was at its limit, she weighs at least 900 pounds...

%&$#, as he backs away from the truck the tractors rear wheels come off the ground! I don't handle stress well... my husband doesn't handle me well... he is able to lower her down without toppling the tractor or her, now we have to move her slowly to her pedestal...

 

 

ok, she is close, but of course the drama is still unfolding... the ground is so uneven he cannot raise her to the pedestal, he has to search for wood to plank the area around her to make the tractor more stable.

 

 

I am staring at her, just waiting for the tractor bucket hydraulics to fail holding her steady with a violent crash... 

 

 

we are so close, but still so far!

 

 

with the wood under the tires he able to raise her, but not high enough to set her down level, she is beyond the weight limit of our tractor. next, things get very hairy, she is partially on and tettering forward, but he is not able to slide the tractor away at the angle she is positioned...

 

 I will say my husband is brilliant and calm, I am neither, I am screaming the sky is falling, he is screaming be quiet or you WILL make me nervous. he needs a heavy counterweight to pull her forward out of the bucket, did I mention where I am standing is fully planted, only whats behind her is barren, he wants a vehicle where I am to winch her off. omg... next thing he is driving Tessie into the rose garden, right over my roses! replace roses or break the statue, no matter what it was still hard for me to watch!

 

 

bottom line is anna is home, and the best news of all is even though he drove over ten roses*, not a single branch even broke!

 

 

* please do not try this at home

 

and now the real fun starts, this is my final planting for the rose garden! the name of the statue is the dancer, I am surrounding her with ballerina roses, hence her name, anna, as in pavlova, my favorite desert too! I think I will call her Annabelle because her arrival formed a deep bond, something a little more down home comforting then a perfect Russian ballerina~