Strange, but Good, Weekend

My weekend. Busy! I got outside on Saturday for several hours and did some big time yard cleaning. The weather here has been gorgeous, upper 50s to upper 60s, so I decided it was time to begin the task of clearing the undergrowth which has been here since waaaay before I bought the house.

I started with long handled pruning nippers to cut the scrub oak. It worked fine, but was slow going. I trimmed with those for an hour or so, and I knew I needed to do something more facile. Last summer I bought a weed eater that has a brushcutting attachment with a steel blade to cut through heavier growth like I have. I was frankly avoiding using it because I wasn't sure I could assemble it and get it running. I've never "built" my own power tools.

Therefore, because I was covertly avoiding that, I sidetracked myself into widening a concrete block walkway that leads to the under-house storage. It didn't take me a terribly long time. I think I had the blocks all reasonably level in a little over an hour. I took a break to replace fluids and rest for a while, but the nagging wouldn't stop in my head. I knew I had to put the machine together. So I assembled it, put gas in, and to my amazement (since I assembled it), it started right off.

I spent a couple hours and cleared a pretty good area. Boy, does that thing wipe out the shrubs! I hated to quit when I did, but I was feeling the muscle weariness of holding and swinging the weed eater. I used a whole tank of gas and started on a second one before giving up. I'm so glad I got that much out of the way. I still have four or five times that much to do, but I'm not "afraid" of it anymore. And since I won't delay until noon to start next time, I won't use up some of my energy lifting and placing concrete blocks, and won't hum and sing to make the voices in my head stop taunting me, I might even get more done!!

There is a lot of stuff to pick up and pile for the County to collect. I did part of it, but honestly, the bending and straightening was wearing on my body more than the cutting. I stopped. I'm going to see if I can hire a friend's teenage son to pick up the rest.

I was dreading how I was going to feel today. I mean, I was aching and feeling the muscle strain yesterday, so how could I not expect today to be a real challenge? I took a hot shower, took Tylenol, had dinner, and took more Tylenol at bedtime, along with a muscle relaxer. Even with that I had trouble falling asleep, I think I was worried about how today would go. But I woke this morning with only minor discomfort. Boy, was I surprised! This is a good thing. I know I can work myself reasonable hard and not put myself to bed for a couple days!

This morning's weather is extremely different from yesterday's. It is very foggy and cold. As I write this, it is approaching noon and the temp is still just 29 degrees. I was thinking last night about packing away some of my winder clothes, the heavier ones, but I guess I won't be doing that just yet!! I'd also planned to go outside and do a little clean up of the bushes today, but I won't. This kind of weather is not what you want with the muscle sensitivity. A dose of cold, wet air might just reverse all the good preparation I took.

The remainder of this is written after 7:30. As I was in the middle of writing it earlier, I suddenly had no Internet access. I did all the restart everything tricks, then called to find out what was wrong. Some guy named "Peter" who spoke with a decided Indian accent told me that there was a systemic problem that would be fixed ASAP. I left till just a bit ago,and indeed, it is back. And speaking of the practice of outsourcing ......




This afternoon I went to dinner at a coworker's house. I wasn't even thinking about doing anything for Easter, but since I was invited, you bet I'll go. Eating someone else's cooking if always a treat, especially when they are good cooks like this person and her husband. They always bring "his and hers" dishes to the potlucks, and none of us are complaining! It was a good dinner ... ham (of course), yams, sautéed asparagus, and pea salad (I love, LOVE pea salad!). A simple but absolutely delicious dinner. Oh, and it ended with some pumpkin tarts, a Klondike bar (Triple chocolate, yum!!), and a cup of AL's wonderful latte. sighhh. It couldn't get much better, good food, good beverages, and good company. Yeah ...

Life is beautiful!!!

BTW, the fog never lifted today and the high was, I think 33. The fog on the mountains behind my house was freezing in the trees, so it looked like snow on the trees, very pretty. And tomorrow will be ... are you ready for this? ... 64 and sunny!! Spring will be back, thank goodness!!