The Final Cut

Up at 920am (thanks to the end of Day Light Savings Time) I was feeling much better than expected. I am sure that had something to do with the two Advil Mindy had provided me earlier that morning. After exercising, walking Sparky, and having some coffee, I was feeling like, well, ½ a million dollars. My plan today was simple. After running, I would spend my day cutting grass and winterizing my yard, as well as making room in my garage for both cars and mowers. And by the way, I was able to run in shorts! I began my yard chores shortly after 11am. It took me almost three hours to cut the grass because I had to rake all of the fallen walnuts from the western edge of my yard and along pond. This was a banner year for walnuts. By comparison, I had three to four times the number I had last season. I need to bitch a little… last year I bought myself a new gas powered weed eater, a Toro. My first “cheap” gas powered weed eater lasted 15 plus years. This time I didn’t want to skimp so I bought a good one, or so I thought. This is only the second season for the new one, and already I have had a number of problems with it. What's worse, it doubles as a gas powered edger so if it's broke I am out two important yard grooming tools. I was having trouble starting it so I pulled the spark plug to clean it. After cleaning it and gingerly trying to reinsert it, it seemed to strip the engine housing. GREAT!!!!!! Piece of shit! There, I feel much better. Back to my yard work. I also had to thin the English Ivy that grows vigorously in many of my flower beds. If it isn’t thinned, it has a tendency to mold over in the late winter early spring, which then requires severe pruning to nurture it back to health, the aesthetics aside. In addition, I trimmed all of my deciduous and evergreen shrubs so they maintain a much tidier appearance over the winter and have a fresh start come spring. I managed to accomplish that with little fanfare. By 4pm I had finished the lawn, trimmed the shrubs, thinned the ivy, raked the walnuts, removed the remnants of my dead annuals, and prepped my garage for two car parking. As I sat back and looked at my accomplishments I realized that I should have cut my lawn a notch or two shorter. Had I done so, I might have been able to dub that the Final Cut! As it stands now, I’ll have to cut at least one more time. No big deal though. At 430pm I retired to the inside of my home to shower and enjoy a small snack. I had some chunks of cheese and lots of water. I made arrangements to visit Mindy around 730pm. I stopped at Walmart on my way to see if they had any pumpkins left. Mindy needed some for her class project on Monday and Kroger was all out. I was certain they’d have some. They didn’t. I tried! I hung out at Mindy's for a while but was home in bed sometime around 11pm. Weekend over...