Aced It!
The older ones on Stauffer Avenue have aced this Thursday . . . the last day of April. We had a goal that included working on the garage walls for prep in painting and doing the first mowing of the 2020 season.
With those plans in mind, I beat feet out early this morning to get my walk in. The birds were out in full force as I headed east on Stauffer Avenue. The walking has become a compulsion. Dang . . . a good habit.
Dennis and I have agreed that this 2020 painting of the garage will be the last painting. The next time there is a need for a face lift, it will be siding. Most likely it will be steel. With Stauffer Avenue being a gravel road, rocks can and do make holes in vinyl siding. That’s the thought for now. Enough visiting, it was time for me to get back to scraping the north side. Dennis went to the south side for scrubbing of siding and garage doors. Twelve noon we took a break, closed down the garage work and went in to have some buttered toast with grape jelly. Oh that tasted so good.
Mowing the acre for the first time is a pain. Finding the twigs that fell after we had done the twig sweep of winter is a must. I stick to the front yard and around our house with my push mower with the bagger. We have a huge evergreen in the front yard that had a ton of needles that had fallen and made a good sized dust storm when the mower got them into the bag. Michael had always kidded me that I should have a self-propelled mower. I did try that and it was not successful. My hands have all they can do to keep the bar engaged for the mower to keep running and the blade to spin and cut. I don’t have the expanse in my hands to keep the bar pushed down for the mower to continue running as well as the bar for it being self-propelled. Bummer.
When this great day is ending, sitting on the patio and enjoying the investment of our energy . . . priceless. It takes Dennis a lot longer to mow the majority of the acre compared to my portion. That gives me time to get our lightweight trimmer out to take care of the nonsense growth that the mowers can’t get close enough to. Tidy, tidy. I think we have agreed that we need to get a second battery for our leaf blower. As with the trimmer, we got a lightweight blower and naturally the batteries go hand in hand with the size of the unit. The strength in my arms had determined the tools that we have purchased. It’s a good thing.
Tomorrow will be another “work on the garage day.” I had actually put a request on Facebook in regard to someone that would be interested in hiring out for working on our garage project. How many responses? Zero. That told me that even when many have been put out of employment . . . nobody wants to work. Dennis and I are doing great and it brings to mind something that Kevin told me a long time ago: “They probably wouldn’t do it to your specifications anyway.” Good Lord, my kid knows me well.