The first order of business, as it is always,
was performing the wife directed work. After
the sectional couch was repaired, large mirror re-installed (despite daughterly
feng shui complications), and two paintings moved, I could spend some time on
what I needed to get done – namely tackle that bane of my winter existence –
the snow blower.
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| The Task Ahead of Me |
I’ve decided the bonfire where this execrable
piece of frustration is consumed will have to wait for an appropriate audience
(or I may just sell it for scrap iron).
This annual rite of converting the tractor back to lawn mower status is
always a bit of a mental exercise as I dimly recall where certain connections
are made. The Chinese speaker who authored the Sears instruction book is of
limited help. I actually got it right
(at least I think I did) and you should pay no attention to the spare washers
left on the floor (I eventually figured out where they went).
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| Buddy Assisting Me |
Buddy came down to assist me in the process
and since I was laying on the floor this meant it was play time for him. I think he was just celebrating that it just
a little too cold for his first outside (garden hose) bath of the year. I did
get to speak on the phone with my daughter while I was under the tractor where
she related the social comings and goings of her fun gang in NYC. She recommended I get out the instruction
book and to mollify her concerns I promised I would but I succeeded without it!
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| Mission Complete (I Hope!) |
My wife used the time to virtually sanitize
her car and cast aspersions as to Buddy’s ability to shed hair from inside his
cage into her car. Once she was assured
I had the lawn mower working she decided to continue her relentless program of
garden expansion. This meant I faced the
task of digging up and removing sod from the designated target areas.
In a little bit of a deception campaign I selectively
convinced her garden should go into the areas that are the toughest to
mow. I also decided to use the removed
sod to address a long standing personal peeve.
Every time I entered the driveway I would see the pipe and it bugged
me. There is a drainage pipe right next
to my driveway peeking up out of the grass.
My engineer son expressively forbids me from removing it (something
about complete loss of the front lawn or something equally nonsensical). I therefore took it upon myself to dig up
around the pipe and then bury it deeper and cover it from the sod of my wife’s
new gardens.
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| Pipe Excavation |
Sounded like an easy enough plan until the digging
started and the thousands of small rocks had to be moved. My wife was a little nervous when she saw the
huge pile of rocks building up on the driveway.
I eventually did get it done and I’m happy with the result – I do have
the obligatory busted up knuckles that I can’t seem to avoid whenever I do
chores like this. There was also a
pervasive sense of exhaustion as middle aged digging is a bit more taxing than
in my younger years.
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| Looks Pretty Good |
I get to recuperate today with the long
delayed trip back to my hometown where my Keene friend finally has a day off. He
was unemployed for several months and seems bound and determined to catch up on
effort levels by rarely taking a day off.
It will be so good to see him again.
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