Inventive Grazing

The first Saturday in what seems like a long time that we didn’t have anything planned.  We did receive a late notice for a house showing late in the afternoon so my wife was in DEFCON 8 cleaning mode all day.  I assisted in my own incompetent fashion (her words not mine) before I decided the front yard and the accumulation of Nor’easter induced leaves needed my attention.  I think she acquiesced to simply get me out of the way.

My innate laziness must tap into my moribund creative side because, as I wrote earlier this week, the leaves were so thick that my usual approach of mowing them up would not work.  Or so I thought!  In the never-ending battle to avoid actually raking leaves I came up with a bastardized system involving our rubbish bin and the lawn tractor.  I tried this a couple times unsuccessfully but yesterday I worked all the bugs out.

Front Yard Before

I would make one pass on the lawn and then dump the leaves in the bin, pack the leaves and then repeat eight or nine times.  This left me with a huge bin packed with leaves that had to get to the far side of the back yard.  I worked out a way that I could reach out and hand tow the bin to the side while going slowly on the tractor.  I’m sure I looked semi-ridiculous moving around the yard but I successfully avoided the rake once again!

And After

When it came time for the showing my wife and I were of different minds about what we should do while we vacated the house.  I thought our Herculean cleaning efforts (well at least hers) deserved a short sojourn at the neighborhood bar (my default reaction to free time).  She wanted to go grocery shopping.  We had a lively debate and on our way to the grocery shopping she relented by saying she would be quick and we would still have time for a touch and go at the bar. 

I should have known better.  Buddy and I spent the better part of an hour waiting for her out in the parking lot listening to various sports programming on the radio.  Buddy would occasionally break up the monotony by barking furiously at anybody approaching within 50 yards of the car.  His timing was impeccable because this usually happened just as I dozed off from all the fresh air I consumed while moving leaves.

When asked why it had taken so long my wife blithely replied that she had to consider each decision to insure it was correct.  I knew she was incapable of my method of shopping which involves entering the store finding what you want and then purchasing it.  She inevitably gets distracted and starts what I call – grazing.  Now you understand why I chose to remain in the car with the Wonder Pooch – of such decisions are successful marriages built.

My Parking Lot Guardian Yesterday

We returned home and had just taken our shoes off when the doorbell rang and Buddy launched into his normal paroxysm of terrorizing guard dog mentality.  While holding Buddy at bay I was greeted by the realtor who was supposed to come at 4.  She explained there had been a mix up and they were here to see the house.  We hadn’t had time to sully our earlier work so my wife went next door for grandmother training while Buddy and I went for an extended walk.  The Wonder Pooch must have wondered at his varied adventures of the day as he was certainly the only one enjoying them.