After waking two or three times it became evident that I wasn’t going to fall back asleep, so I got up & out of bed. It was 815am. I felt a little woozy but that quickly faded after brushing my teeth and chugging some water. And after starting some coffee and exercise, I felt good as new.
Before jumping into my usual Saturday morning routine of exercise, coffee, and internet, I went to the basement to turn the water on to the irrigation system. Upstairs, I placed the backflow meter inspection form on the front door with a magnet. Paul the meter guy was scheduled to come by for the annual inspection sometime during the day.
It was about 930am when I had my routine behind me and was ready for a run. It was much cooler than it’s been in a while, only the mid 30’s, but to counter that, it was sunny and bright. It dawned on me as I was heading out the door that I didn’t stretch. I simply forgot.
I felt good and ran strong for four miles. I was surprised to find Mindy still asleep even after my return. It was approximately 1015am. However, I wasn’t back long before she finally rolled out of bed and joined me for coffee. While enjoying coffee, she shared her plans to attend yoga and then the grocery store. She left around 1130am. Right behind her, I headed out to continue, and hopefully finish, edging the flower beds.
I methodically worked my way around the rear beds east to west. It must’ve been about an hour’s work getting around to the west over by the hose bib and irrigation system box. At the same time, Paul pulled up to inspect the backflow meter. After a quick greeting I moved to the “Sparky” bed to edge. After about ten minutes Paul hollered out back that he was done. Ching - $55.
I was done edging shortly after, but not done working. Now I had to gather & dump all the edgings. Not easy work!
I used the Deere and trailer to gather the edgings. I filled a trailer load before hauling it all to the compost pile. I was running out of steam but didn’t really want to stop. With the edging now done, I wanted to groom the beds, which in my case entails clipping away lots & lots of red maple surface roots, and then gathering up all the remaining dead mulch and bits of clay. I needed to do the last part to all the beds, front included.
Mindy arrived home from the grocery while I was busy detailing the beds. She didn’t bother asking for my assistance carrying in the groceries. I finished up around up 300pm. The beds were Com-Til/mulch ready.
I took a break and headed inside where I enjoyed a can of Diet Coke, the only thing that would cut through my thirst. I’m sure I needed the sugar too. I wasted little time jumping into my next to-do, cleaning out the dryer vent from the dryer to the outdoors. I haven’t cleaned the entire run for a few years. I remember it being a big pain the ass. I grabbed my flashlight and box knife and headed for the basement. I duct taped all the joints to prevent water dripping at the junctions. I had to cut the ld duct tape away before pulling the joints apart. It didn’t take too long to get the duct apart and pulled down from the elbow in the floor to the piece heading out under the bay window and ultimately outside. That long stretch wasn’t even close to clogged but did have about a half inch of lint encircling the entire 4” circumference of the 8’ section of duct.
The section going out under the bay window was another story. With my flashlight I could see that it was clogged pretty well. I went for my fish tape and tried using it to scrape or pull out the clumps of damp lint. That was futile. About all that did was get me swearing. The end of my fish tape kept getting snagged on the lip of the vent. I was angry. I needed a better way. Hmm? I asked Mindy for a vegetable brush.
I ended up fastening it to the end of my fish tape securing it with duct tape. Ingenious, or so I thought. That worked OK, but there was still plenty of lint laying loosely at the ducts end. Enter the shop-vac. Why not? I have two long plastic wand-type extensions and an 8’ hose. That worked perfectly. I had the duct cleaner than it’s been in years. All that remained was cleaning up and piecing it all back together. But that took some doing.
After lots of swearing, and dropping an breaking the bulb in my rechargeable flashlight, I left the basement satisfied with my handy work. Mindy headed up for a shower while I put my tools away. Before dubbing the project completely done, I was hell bent on crawling under the deck to inspect the actual vent louvers to make sure that any remaining loose lint was not gathered at its end. I toted a coat hanger and some diagonals along with me.
Crawling under the deck is not easy. For one, there’s barely enough room for me to squeeze under the double 2X10’s supporting the main deck I have to squash my physique against the gravel underlayment and squeeze under with a swimming motion. I always feel like I’m gonna get caught. Kind of frightening. And that doesn’t even consider the labyrinth of spider webs, and the possibility of raccoons nesting under there.
I cleared the spider webs with my coat hanger. When I got back to the vent I spotted a large pile of raccoon crap just right of my head. I was spooked a little quickly glancing in all directions looking for a rabid coon. Lucky, no one home. As soon as I stuck my hand in the vent oodles of lint flew out into the immediate air. Still more, I kept flipping the vent tabs opened and closed to force the rest out. All of sudden I heard some buzzing, looking to my left I spotted a swarm of fat wood bees hovering just overhead. AHHHHH! I flew out from under the deck in a split second leaving my tools lying scattered behind. I was done!
I brushed as much loose debris from my filthy clothes before heading inside. I headed upstairs for a much needed shower. I shared my deck story with Mindy. She commented about my swearing from the basement. Yeah, I know. Brutal!
After showers, we planned a trip to Target and then eventually to dinner. Where we would dine, however, was still up in the air. I wanted to shop for a new picture frame for our kitchen eating area since I moved my September sunset picture around the corner to the familyroom. I have 6 or 7 photos tagged for possible framing. I also intended to look for a cheap pair of reading glasses. Mindy wanted to pick-up some balloons for Jacob’s birthday party, too.
I have no idea what time it was when we arrived at Target. I looked for reading glasses first thinking they’d be by the sunglasses. Nope. However, while back there I found a pair of really cool sunglasses. I couldn’t resist. I carted ‘em. While Mindy looked at make-up I sought out the reading glasses. We found them in the pharmacy department. I didn’t like any of them. Figured I’d use Mindy’s if the need arose for now. Our cart disappeared along with my new sunglasses. Dammit!
We found the perfect 16”X20” black frame w/ white matting for an 8”X`10” photo. We made our way back towards the sunglasses where I picked up another pair of the same. Mindy fetched some more window clings too. We decided to buy Bella two pair of summer shorts. They looked like Bella. I picked up the lofty Target tab - $91.
We debated our dinner options in the Target parking lot. After lots of hemming and hawing, we decided on the Big Fat. Scallops sounded terrific, that or a gyro. We took 70E to I-270N to the Fishinger Rd exit (Mill Run). Took no more than ten minutes.
The Big Fat was packed. We opted to wait for our table from the bar where I ordered an Elevator Pale Ale. Mindy ordered a glass of wine. We nibbled on pita and olive dip too. It’s delicious.
Must’ve waited about 20 minutes for a table. We briefly toyed with eating at the bar. Alex was our server. Like most servers, he was very friendly, very attentive. I ordered my usual scallops. Mindy went with one of their three specials, stuffed salmon. I ordered a second beer and nibbled on more pita and dip before our dinner arrived.
Must’ve been another 20 minutes waiting on our meal, not bad at all. The scallops were to die for, melt-in-your-mouth delicious. Mindy loved her salmon, too. Never a bad meal. Mindy agreed to get the check. We headed for home.
I’m guessing it near 9pm when we got home. I suggested we watch a pay-per-view movie, but we couldn’t find one that seemed worthy of our time and money. We both agreed to watch the Hangover DVD instead. Last time, I fell asleep (XMAS night) missing a significant chunk. Great movie. Good for plenty of laughs.
I fell asleep towards the end missing maybe five minutes, but did see the very, very end. We headed to bed afterwards.
After waking two or three times it became evident that I wasn’t going to fall back asleep, so I got up & out of bed. It was 815am. I felt a little woozy but that quickly faded after brushing my teeth and chugging some water. And after starting some coffee and exercise, I felt good as new.
Before jumping into my usual Saturday morning routine of exercise, coffee, and internet, I went to the basement to turn the water on to the irrigation system. Upstairs, I placed the backflow meter inspection form on the front door with a magnet. Paul the meter guy was scheduled to come by for the annual inspection sometime during the day.
It was about 930am when I had my routine behind me and was ready for a run. It was much cooler than it’s been in a while, only the mid 30’s, but to counter that, it was sunny and bright. It dawned on me as I was heading out the door that I didn’t stretch. I simply forgot.
I felt good and ran strong for four miles. I was surprised to find Mindy still asleep even after my return. It was approximately 1015am. However, I wasn’t back long before she finally rolled out of bed and joined me for coffee. While enjoying coffee, she shared her plans to attend yoga and then the grocery store. She left around 1130am. Right behind her, I headed out to continue, and hopefully finish, edging the flower beds.
I methodically worked my way around the rear beds east to west. It must’ve been about an hour’s work getting around to the west over by the hose bib and irrigation system box. At the same time, Paul pulled up to inspect the backflow meter. After a quick greeting I moved to the “Sparky” bed to edge. After about ten minutes Paul hollered out back that he was done. Ching - $55.
I was done edging shortly after, but not done working. Now I had to gather & dump all the edgings. Not easy work!
I used the Deere and trailer to gather the edgings. I filled a trailer load before hauling it all to the compost pile. I was running out of steam but didn’t really want to stop. With the edging now done, I wanted to groom the beds, which in my case entails clipping away lots & lots of red maple surface roots, and then gathering up all the remaining dead mulch and bits of clay. I needed to do the last part to all the beds, front included.
Mindy arrived home from the grocery while I was busy detailing the beds. She didn’t bother asking for my assistance carrying in the groceries. I finished up around up 300pm. The beds were Com-Til/mulch ready.
I took a break and headed inside where I enjoyed a can of Diet Coke, the only thing that would cut through my thirst. I’m sure I needed the sugar too. I wasted little time jumping into my next to-do, cleaning out the dryer vent from the dryer to the outdoors. I haven’t cleaned the entire run for a few years. I remember it being a big pain the ass. I grabbed my flashlight and box knife and headed for the basement. I duct taped all the joints to prevent water dripping at the junctions. I had to cut the ld duct tape away before pulling the joints apart. It didn’t take too long to get the duct apart and pulled down from the elbow in the floor to the piece heading out under the bay window and ultimately outside. That long stretch wasn’t even close to clogged but did have about a half inch of lint encircling the entire 4” circumference of the 8’ section of duct.
The section going out under the bay window was another story. With my flashlight I could see that it was clogged pretty well. I went for my fish tape and tried using it to scrape or pull out the clumps of damp lint. That was futile. About all that did was get me swearing. The end of my fish tape kept getting snagged on the lip of the vent. I was angry. I needed a better way. Hmm? I asked Mindy for a vegetable brush.
I ended up fastening it to the end of my fish tape securing it with duct tape. Ingenious, or so I thought. That worked OK, but there was still plenty of lint laying loosely at the ducts end. Enter the shop-vac. Why not? I have two long plastic wand-type extensions and an 8’ hose. That worked perfectly. I had the duct cleaner than it’s been in years. All that remained was cleaning up and piecing it all back together. But that took some doing.
After lots of swearing, and dropping an breaking the bulb in my rechargeable flashlight, I left the basement satisfied with my handy work. Mindy headed up for a shower while I put my tools away. Before dubbing the project completely done, I was hell bent on crawling under the deck to inspect the actual vent louvers to make sure that any remaining loose lint was not gathered at its end. I toted a coat hanger and some diagonals along with me.
Crawling under the deck is not easy. For one, there’s barely enough room for me to squeeze under the double 2X10’s supporting the main deck I have to squash my physique against the gravel underlayment and squeeze under with a swimming motion. I always feel like I’m gonna get caught. Kind of frightening. And that doesn’t even consider the labyrinth of spider webs, and the possibility of raccoons nesting under there.
I cleared the spider webs with my coat hanger. When I got back to the vent I spotted a large pile of raccoon crap just right of my head. I was spooked a little quickly glancing in all directions looking for a rabid coon. Lucky, no one home. As soon as I stuck my hand in the vent oodles of lint flew out into the immediate air. Still more, I kept flipping the vent tabs opened and closed to force the rest out. All of sudden I heard some buzzing, looking to my left I spotted a swarm of fat wood bees hovering just overhead. AHHHHH! I flew out from under the deck in a split second leaving my tools lying scattered behind. I was done!
I brushed as much loose debris from my filthy clothes before heading inside. I headed upstairs for a much needed shower. I shared my deck story with Mindy. She commented about my swearing from the basement. Yeah, I know. Brutal!
After showers, we planned a trip to Target and then eventually to dinner. Where we would dine, however, was still up in the air. I wanted to shop for a new picture frame for our kitchen eating area since I moved my September sunset picture around the corner to the familyroom. I have 6 or 7 photos tagged for possible framing. I also intended to look for a cheap pair of reading glasses. Mindy wanted to pick-up some balloons for Jacob’s birthday party, too.
I have no idea what time it was when we arrived at Target. I looked for reading glasses first thinking they’d be by the sunglasses. Nope. However, while back there I found a pair of really cool sunglasses. I couldn’t resist. I carted ‘em. While Mindy looked at make-up I sought out the reading glasses. We found them in the pharmacy department. I didn’t like any of them. Figured I’d use Mindy’s if the need arose for now. Our cart disappeared along with my new sunglasses. Dammit!
We found the perfect 16”X20” black frame w/ white matting for an 8”X`10” photo. We made our way back towards the sunglasses where I picked up another pair of the same. Mindy fetched some more window clings too. We decided to buy Bella two pair of summer shorts. They looked like Bella. I picked up the lofty Target tab - $91.
We debated our dinner options in the Target parking lot. After lots of hemming and hawing, we decided on the Big Fat. Scallops sounded terrific, that or a gyro. We took 70E to I-270N to the Fishinger Rd exit (Mill Run). Took no more than ten minutes.
The Big Fat was packed. We opted to wait for our table from the bar where I ordered an Elevator Pale Ale. Mindy ordered a glass of wine. We nibbled on pita and olive dip too. It’s delicious.
Must’ve waited about 20 minutes for a table. We briefly toyed with eating at the bar. Alex was our server. Like most servers, he was very friendly, very attentive. I ordered my usual scallops. Mindy went with one of their three specials, stuffed salmon. I ordered a second beer and nibbled on more pita and dip before our dinner arrived.
Must’ve been another 20 minutes waiting on our meal, not bad at all. The scallops were to die for, melt-in-your-mouth delicious. Mindy loved her salmon, too. Never a bad meal. Mindy agreed to get the check. We headed for home.
I’m guessing it near 9pm when we got home. I suggested we watch a pay-per-view movie, but we couldn’t find one that seemed worthy of our time and money. We both agreed to watch the Hangover DVD instead. Last time, I fell asleep (XMAS night) missing a significant chunk. Great movie. Good for plenty of laughs.
I fell asleep towards the end missing maybe five minutes, but did see the very, very end. We headed to bed afterwards.
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