My Labors

Well! That was interesting. Is it Monday already?

My weekend went by in a blur, but I am rather pleased at what I was able to accomplish.

I got most of my tasks done, except for powerswashing the deck. I got behind schedule while I was laying out Susan's new flower bed (Do you have any idea how many trips to Lowe's you have to make for soil and mulch when you drive a Mercury Sable?).

Thursday and Friday went well enough, but Saturday was the real kicker. I got started first thing in the morning @ 7:30. Just me and my Ipod... I trimmed the boxwoods waaay back, and manicured the azalea hedge that is in front of it. I then cut back our two wayward rose bushes. Getting all of that done enabled me to get at the vines (Virginia Creeper and Ivy... Some was poison Ivy) that were starting to choke the hedges and roses. After all of that was done, I went to Lowes for garden soil and mulch.

Aside: It's a damn shame when you have to go and BUY dirt!

I loaded my trunk with 5 bags of garden soil, @ 3 cubic feet per bag, and 4 bags of shredded cypress mulch, @ 2 cubic feet per bag, and urged my car towards home. Once I got there, I unloaded the car and spread the soil in the nicely prepared bed (already dug out and lined with anti-weed cloth) , and then mulched it.

I knew it wasn't going to be enough, so I decided to take a break and then go back to Lowe's for another load... but first, I was going to take a bit of a break. I rewarded myself by watching most of the first half of the South Africa v. New Zealand rugby match that I had recorded live at 3:30 that morning. Bad news for New Zealand... South Africa scored a try in the opening 14 seconds of the match! Fortunately, they rebounded and were doing quite well by the time I was off to Lowe's again.

I went through the garden section and got the same things again and while I waited to pay (there was only one checkout person) I realized that I smelled like a used horse! Geesh!

I drove home and finished my project!

Huzzah!

It was 1:30 and I was done...

Or, so I thought.

While I was doing the aforementioned work, I noticed some nasty (and large) roots from our late lamented tree that were just at the surface of what is left of our lawn. I got out my trusty two-pronged hoe (that's "hoe" as in garden implement, not "'ho" as in Britney Spears). And dug around that sucker. It was huge! Since I was doing some digging, I figured I would get at a few more semi-submerged roots so I dug out a few more. Once I was done, I went into the basement and delved into my collection of tools and got out my hatchet and went to work. It took nearly an hour, but I got some very large roots out of the yard that would have undoubtedly caused me some problems when it is time to sod my lawn in September.

Um... did I mention that while I was doing this work it was getting hotter, and hotter, and hotter? Well, trust me, it was. I stayed hydrated as best I could, with frequent trips to the 'fridge for aqua fria (cold water, for those of you that don't habla... big points if you get the movie reference).

I figured I had done all I was capable of doing for the day, without making a heat casualty out of myself.

Aside: If you have never suffered from heat exhaustion, trust me when I tell you that it is something to be avoided.

I cleaned up the yard, sidewalk, and walkway and got inside the house at just about 4:00. I finished watching the game, which New Zealand won 35 to 17. (See Rugby news and results here: http://www.rugbyrugby.com/news/story_52564.shtml)

Feeling virtuous, I decided to get cleaned up and go to the movies. Being alone for the weekend provided a great opportunity to go see something that I wanted to see. No chick flicks. No romances. Nothing with Reese bloody Witherspoon! What did I go see? Superman Returns! OK, I can hear your eyes rolling, so quit it!

I loved this movie. I am not going to recap it other than to say, that Superman is still "the man", I think that Brandon Routh did a creditable job as The Man of Steel, as well as playing an appropriately geeky Clark Kent. I do, however, think that Kate Bosworth was miscast in the role of Lois Lane... that woman was to skinny to be believable. Maybe it is just a personal bias (I admit the zaftig body-type is more to my liking), but I didn't care for her... and her acting wasn't what you could call great. I thought Kevin Spacey was an excellent villain!

Anyway, go see it... you'll like it.

By the way, it rained while I was in the theater, so everything was cool and clean when I got home. I settled in front of the TV with a pint of Dead Guy Ale, and promptly went to sleep.

So there is my day.