Another Day in the Yard

Tuesday was as delightful as Monday. I was out at 8:00 am pruning the herbs in my edible garden and clearing the beds of the inch of Fir needles on their surface. Then I weed whacked a large section of the backyard lawn. (I’m awaiting a call from Doug Robertson saying that my lawn mower is ready for pickup.) It was lovely and warm, and there was lots of sunshine, but the thin clouds kept me and the air from getting too warm.

Work, rest, drink: That was is my mantra as I continue to rescue Pinecone Park from the cover of branches, twigs, cones and needles—all acidic detritus that must be removed. I’m really thrilled with the results, too. There’s not that much more to do. In no time, I’ll be switching to chopping and stacking wood on all my outdoor days. When the wood is done, the rest of the season will be less demanding. The big chore will be watering soon.

I reckon that fatigue is cumulative—at least it is for a couch potato in transition. Yesterday, I took a break every hour for a delicious cold drink and a short rest. The results of my work are so rewarding to my soul, that returning to work is easy after each break. But just past 2:30 I was done. I stopped for the day very satisfied with all I accomplished from the day’s work.

I’m back at it today, but at noon, Anna-Mae is coming for lunch. She’ll give me an excuse for a nice long mid-day break. I hope I’ll want to do more work after we eat, but if not, I’m under no pressure to finish all the yard work quickly. Besides all the wood to chop, I have a lot of scraping to do on the deck. The pain is peeling worse than ever and I’m glad. I can’t believe that someone painted treated wood with paint. It won’t adhere and so my deck looks quite crappy. However, if I take a wire brush to it and scrape with a palette knife where necessary, it looks much better.

Easily the nicest parts of the day were having my soak in the spa, and in the evening, wandering through the backyard admiring my work — rough as it is, cutting lawn with a weed whacker. 

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My speech is extremely bad right now. I could barely speak with Bruce yesterday on FaceTime, and he is one of my closest friends. Something’s amiss. All I can do is ride it out.