Dirt & Draft

Even though I wasn’t feeling at 100%, I rolled out of bed at 7:15am. The promise of summery weather was enough to get me going. Besides, I was expecting 14 yards of dirt to be delivered sometime that morning. I made coffee and then completed my exercise routine. I took three Ibuprofen before heading out with Ykraps. I didn’t feel bad, however. Instead, I took them for preventative purposes, knowing that I’d be moving dirt all day long. It was already 68 degrees. There wasn’t even a hint of coolness to the morning air. It smelt more like a summer morning. It was awesome. I poured some coffee and then grabbed my guitar and headed out onto the deck. There’s nothing like sipping coffee and strumming the guitar while basking in warm morning sunshine. I kept a close eye on the clock. I went in at 8:10am to get my phone since Jones Top Soil said they’d call first. Before leaving for my run I did some blogging. At 8:40am I took my phone to Mindy and woke her up. I wanted her to field their call if it came while I was out running. I didn’t think to take her coffee. She was still sleeping. I just knew that she’d ding me for it later, however. For the first time since early last fall, I wore shorts and a sleeveless wicking shirt for my run. It was a fantastic run. I forgot to emphasize to Mindy that I had already paid for the dirt. If they showed up in my absence, I hoped she wouldn’t pay them again. I half expected the dirt to be there by the time I made it home, but it wasn’t. It was 9:30am. Mindy was finally up and busy making bacon and pancakes. The house smelt terrific. Mindy bought me some real maple syrup after I complained that the Aunt Jemima wasn’t nothing more colored corn syrup. However, turns out, pure maple syrup isn’t as flavorful as I expected. Still, my breakfast was delicious. After cleaning up the breakfast dishes, I went to the computer. Mindy & the kids headed upstairs to get dressed. The ‘dirt man’ called around 10:15am to tell me he was no more than 30 minutes out. Cool. I nicknamed him Dirty Bob. When he called, I couldn’t understand much of what he said, including his name. The dirt guy showed up before 11am. He wasn’t real sure how to dump 14 yards of dirt on our driveway given its steepness without scraping his trailer on the drive. I certainly didn’t want that. Although, we did it without any trouble. The pile was about what I expected. Mindy photographed the entire event. Like sugar to ants, it didn’t take long for the dirt pile to attract kids. Before I could load the first trailer full, Jacob, Bella, and all their neighborhood friends were crawling and riding their bikes all over the huge pile of dirt. Initially, the bikes sunk into the soft top soil, but it didn’t take long for it to get packed down pretty tight. Mindy was a Trooper. She shoveled dirt all afternoon and drove the tractor pulling the trailer behind. I hauled dirt via the wheel barrow. Meanwhile, the temperature soared well into the 80s under brilliantly blue skies. I could feel my skin beginning to burn but didn’t stop. We moved dirt until about 4pm. And the kids played in the dirt pile the entire time. Neighbor Kenny came over just as Mindy & I were dumping the day’s final load. We were beat. More than anything, our arms were sore from all the shoveling, let alone the dumping and spreading. Kenny offered to bring his Bobcat over tomorrow morning to use as a top loader. In addition, he’d bring his tractor and trailer over as well. I accepted. At the rate we were going, I’d be at it all day Sunday and still not finish. And Mindy was already complaining of being too sore to continue. By the time I got everything put away it was after 5pm. We made plans to cookout with Kenny & Crissy at their place. I checked the NFL draft status. The Viking had yet to make their first pick. But by the time I got my shower their pick was in. They took Percy Harvin, wide receiver from Florida. He’s said to be a huge talent but comes to us with baggage. Mindy walked Ykraps with me before we headed over to the neighbors. We took hot dogs, chicken, and brats. We also took about six good beers, including a couple that neighbors David and Becky brought us earlier in the day. That was nice! We watched the rest of the NFL draft while at Kenny & Crissy’s. I love following it. Mindy & I were pretty tired come 9:00pm. We called it a night and headed home with the kids. Back at home, we debated the pros and cons of turning on the AC. The house was warm and we were both sunburned. We opted not. We headed to bed around 10pm since we had so much dirt yet to move on Sunday. I’d say a little more than half remained.