Friday, But Not a 'Firkin Friday'

My freshly cut lawn My pet squirel, Rocky

Didn't make it to Barley's

I woke Friday morning around 630am eager to get going with my day. The first thing I noticed was just how lovely the morning was going to be as evidence by the abundance of stars wavering to the dawn. I hit the ‘go’ button on my coffee maker as I often do on the weekends, and began my daily calisthenics. Before 7am, I was walking Ykraps on what was shaping up to be a very lovely morning. Upon my return to the house I saw that the forecast had been improved to a high of 70 degrees along with sunny skies all day long. For this I was grateful. As requested, I logged onto my laptop and checked in with work to make sure things were off and running smoothly. And so far, everything was grand. For the next hour, I played on the PC emailing and catching up on the latest stuff about tomorrow’s NFL draft. I hit the road at 8:05am hell bent on having my run in the bag before 9am. And a good run it was! After returning home I began focusing on the day ahead and once gain checked with one of my peers at work. I had made arrangements earlier to meet him at Home Depot some time today to pick-up some lumber (deck replacement boards) with his 14’ trailer. We agreed to meet there around 12noon, but he call me when he was 15 minutes out. So not to waste valuable time, I got cracking on my 120 volt exterior spotlight project that I had began last Sunday, MY goal was to have the completed by day’s end. Last Sunday I drilled the hole in the side of my house into the basement and had dug the short trench from my flower bed to the underside of my pine tree. Today I needed to run the wire, conduit, connect, test & backfill. The wiring went rather quickly. I had it entirely ran inside and out in less than 1.5 hours – much quicker than I had anticipated. Come noon, I went inside to eat some food since I had pretty much denied myself any breakfast. When I finished my late breakfast/early lunch, I took to the deck with guitar in hand. I played for about half an hour along with the singing birds. It was nothing short of lovely!! About the time I put my guitar away, Ken dinged me letting me know that he was leaving work and would meet me at Home Depot by 1pm. I readied myself accordingly and headed that way. I arrived at Home Depot well ahead of Ken, but by design. I went about grabbing a cart for the 16’ decking boards and hailed the attention the of a home Depot attendant to help me get a 4’X8’ sheet of treated plywood I needed for my boat cushions. I had him cut it into 4 - 2’X4” sections for ease of transport and use. Ken still wasn’t there yet so I shopped their selection power washers since having one is high on my list of toys. After about ten minutes Ken showed up and we began the tedious process of selecting only the best decking boards. I was willing to spend the extra cash on premium grade lumber, but that doesn’t mean you can blindly select any of the premium boards. One still needs to inspect each board carefully if you want to avoid knots, warped, or cupped pieces. After sorting through about fifty specimens, we found 16 to my liking. A little extra time selecting boards up front is well worth it hassle! My purchase was about 4300 for the 16 – 16’ premium decking boards and the 4X8 sheet of plywood. Not too bad! The trip back to my house went without incident. After unloading the lumber into my garage and relaxing with a Coke, Ken went on his way after turning down some gas money. He is a true friend and very generous with his time and his vehicle. Thanks Ken! When Ken left I got right back to work on my lighting project. Before finishing off out doors I knew I had to get the circuit turned up and tested. Nothing would be worse than having to dig up the conduit and wire should some unseen problem arise. I’ve done lots of electrical work in my day and this was a small project in comparison. Still, anytime you’re dealing with electricity, you can never be too careful. I try to hold myself to hire standards than what your typical electrician would. After all, it’s my personal safety. I did the outside connect first and got that done in about 20 minute. Moving inside, the most challenging part was identifying the circuit breaker for the outdoor lighting already ran out from that I was cutting into. It took my about 7 tries to identify the right one. And as luck would have it, it ran off the same circuit that provides lighting in the basement thus I had to provide a non-local lighting source to complete my work. A quick test revealed the fruits of my labor. The completion of this lighting project puts closure on the outdoor lighting plan that I had originally conceived some years ago. I completed it in four phases with last spring’s being the most challenging. After wrapping up the heady part, I preceded to backfill the trench and restore the sod that I had cut up and set aside. I was careful to tamp the fill several times to avoid sinking later. Too, I was mindful of the backfill and made sure to put the rough fill in first leaving the top soil for last to aid in the grassed future health. I wrapped that up by 4pm. All totaled, I had about 3.5 hours worth of labor in the lighting project today. There was little time to rest. Next I moved onto prepping my front flower beds for Com-Til that I planned to retrieve and lay tomorrow morning. All I had to do was trim another 1’ of English Ivy from the front flower bed and then do the final groom to remove small rocks and other unwanted impediments. While going at it, Mindy and kids pulled up. We hadn’t planned for her visit but I more than expected it. We’re in sync that way. After a quick greeting the kids and Mindy went outback to feed, play, and harass the geese and ducks. I kept at it. They stayed for about 45 minutes while continued the final flower bed preparation. Before they left we firmed plans for later this evening which included me visiting their house for dinner. I figured on being there sometime around 7pm. After they left I watered in the sod covering my trench and picked up all my yard tools, and then hit the shower. The shower felt great! After making myself presentable I walked Ykraps before heading out. Mindy and I touched base before I left my house when she asked that I bring some jalapeños, scallions, and strawberries. I wanted to stop and get some beer, so that was no problem at all. I stopped at Kroger Silver Horn. While there, I picked up a fresh bouquet of flowers too. I was about ten minutes later than I had anticipated arriving at Mindy’s but that was no big deal. The kids and Mindy both seemed happy to see me. In short order we were enjoying some wings and me a beer. Mindy, on the other hand, was having water since she’s in the first phase of her low carb life style. After finishing up our wings and then playing for while, we readied the kids for bed. They were uncharacteristically up till almost 9pm. Once they were down we took to the sofa where we talked for about an hour. Mindy began dosing and reported being exceptionally tired – I mean real tired. I can relate as that happens to me every so often. She needed to crash, so that was my queue to leave. I had an aggressive day planned for tomorrow too thus needed the rest myself. When I arrived home I woofed down a quick snack and then went right to bed. I was asleep before 11pm. It didn’t seem like a Friday evening at all.