Henri's First Day

Tuesday was a gorgeous late Summer day. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky, and it was a lovely 20° in the afternoon. 

Our day began with a dog walk with our friends. I left to join them shortly after Henri arrived for work. I told him when he arrived that I was going to pay him $5 more per hour than he asked for; he’d quoted me $25/hr. and that seemed morally wrong to me.

When we got back from our walk, I got busy taking all my flimsy little tree fences down from around all my front yard trees so that Henri could spend all his time on the construction of the new ones. He’s done a great job, and I enjoy his company. It felt good to help him. I hate sitting around on my fat ass while someone is working for me. Then I went into the village to fetch wood chips and fertilizer. Henri wants to spread wood chips on my raised beds and around the trees.

Next up for me was watering. I watered all the backyard beds, and I left the rest to do today. There is no rain in the forecast for the coming week. At 3:00, Henri left, and I am pleased with his work. I have a couple of minor complaints that I can fix myself, but he is a hard and conscientious worker. We are going to get along just fine and, weather permitting, he’ll be here for a day every week until all the work I want done is done.

I kept at it until 3:30 and by then I was so tired I felt broken. But I have been using my inhalers three times a day instead of just two, and I felt much better yesterday than I did on Tuesday. Tuesday sucked. I could hardly wait to strip off my clothes and get into the spa to relax and recover from a long and busy day. And then came dinner and a movie that I more than deserved. I’d worked hard (for me) all day.

•

If I had to move into an apartment, I think I’d go mad. When I last lived in Vancouver, I became a walker because where I lived, I had no yard. I lived right in the city centre where there is naught but concrete and asphalt. So, I’d go for walks every sunny day—long walks. I walked 20 to 30 kilometres on 90% of my walks.

Here, I have my own private little park, and I never want to live without one for as long as I possibly can. It’s a lot of work and it’s an expensive hobby. What I love, is that it gives me something to do every day. There is always work to be done, especially at the rate at which I work. But Henri will to the heavy lifting, and I’ll do the easy stuff—watering, raking, and mowing.