A New Front Lawn

Oh the joy of the hot tub being back in operation! I’m addicted to its charms—all of them: its disco lights, its massage jets, its enveloping warmth and the inevitable relaxation it forces upon every epidermal cell in your body. It’s the first thing I did today.

I despised its presence when I bought the place. It was Todd who decided it should be make operational when he was here helping me move in. I began using it to humour him and then, after he left, I rarely used it for months.

But then one day my soul opened. I will never move until I have to so that it’s forever present in my life. Along with my hammock, the fountain, the eternal funereal quiet and the birds, it’s soul soothing.

Stepping into the hot fresh sparkling clean water—totally free of chemicals for a while—was truly sublime. All is right with the world right now: A clean hot spa and no Kinder Morgan pipeline.

The new front lawn is seeded!

Once the vegetable garden is done, to the right of the driveway,
I'll be putting gravel on the driveway and the front yard will be done.

Working in the cool fresh air of early Friday morning was much more pleasant than it had been on Thursday—for about twenty minutes. Then I was sweating and panting like a racehorse. I began today, already tired from yesterday. 

I was able to spread the last of the soil on the front yard, however, before Darrell arrived.

By the time he got here I was a walking zombie. My mouth was caked with salt and dirt and I was mumbling all my responses. When I went to the nursery for some supplies, I replied to a clerk’s cheery, “Good morning! How are you?” with: “I’m almost dead, thanks.”

The best part of each break was washing my head, neck and face with a cool washcloth and having a cold, cold drink.

While Darrell built the border for the lawn, I started planting Creeping Thyme in the cracks between the paving stones of my courtyard. Like I’m not busy! Then I backfilled the space between the log border and the rest of the lawn and Darrell fetched the roller—oh my God, talk about manly—and seed. 

I raked the whole yard, then rolled it and the raked it again. Then Darrell seeded it, and I raked it again and rolled it again. Then I watered it while every muscle in my body was signaling that it was time for bed.

Darrell worked on the vegetable garden. The posts are in and ready for cementing. Once the posts are up, the fence will go up quickly. I’m using wire, not wood, so the vegetables are not deprived of any light.

He left at 1:00 and I headed straight to the spa, the lawn was done and my legs wanted to secede. 

But there was to be no resting. Keeping the lawn moist in the hot sun kept me alert all afternoon, but at three, Sheba and I broke for Drumbeg. We earned ourselves a little bit of heaven. We came home and I was toast for the rest of the day.