Hangin' with Hector

I woke early, a few minutes ahead of 7am. I was very excited that it was Saturday. I felt good, it was sunny, and I could eat and drink anything I wanted. I started some coffee first thing.

I spent a good 90 minutes online reading and enjoying coffee. I even updated my blog. At 830am I headed out for a run. It was 50 degrees and sunny, a lovely morning for a run. I had all sorts of energy, and even an extra bounce in my gate. I wondered if the colon cleansing might’ve had something to do with that. Hmm? The run was even easier than usual.

Can’t say for sure what time it was when Mindy got up, but once she was, we spent a little time together on the deck and in the yard before carrying on with our day. Late morning I took the Pilot and headed off to run a few errands, including a stop at Lowes, Straders, and Target. I wanted to get yet another bag of potting soil for potting tomato plants, tomato plants, and Mother’s Day cards. At Lowes I bought the potting soil I was after as well as new bulbs for the shed security light fixture, a new post light fixture for our front lawn, and then two small hydrangeas, one whit and one red. I bought 4 trays of impatiens too.

I left Lowes super hungry and headed directly across the street to Burger King where I ordered two BK burgers from the dollar menu before heading up the road to Target where I picked up a couple Mother’s Day cards. I wasn’t in their long at all. To Strader’s next. Being the day before Mother’s Day, it was packed to the walls. They had a rent-a-cop out front directing traffic in and out. Oh boy! All I wanted/needed were a few tomato and pepper plants. I found parking spot and headed inside the large greenhouse. Without o much fuss, I picked out two 3-plant trays of tomato plants, one each of tumblers and Roma’s. I bought a 3-pack of bell peppers too, that’s it. I was out of there.

At home I carried all of my stuff to the deck then readied for some lawn work. Mindy was still in her PJs and busy making an omelet. Said she’d have my lunch ready in a jiffy. I felt bad but shared that I wasn’t hungry having stopped at Burger King within the hour. I headed out to get started on the lawn.

I completed almost all of the push mowing front and back before Hector showed up. Wow! Wasn’t really expecting him this early. It was about noon. I finished the last are of push mowing near the work area of concern all the while he carried his gear. I noticed that he was alone. Hmm? I asked if he needed anything to get started. Nope. Cool!

While Hector got started on the tree I kept myself busy with whacking, edging and blowing out front. I didn’t want to waste time watching. He worked hard and fast. I finished all the lawn work save for the tractor stuff which would have to wait until Hector was done. I watched him bring down the largest branch about 16” around and 30’ long. I could see that he cut a hinge to strategically bring it down between my near maple and Trena’s. Obviously, he was more worried about hers. Turns out, when the bug branch fell, it wiped out three or four large branches on my maple. Shit! I was disappointed. Hector looked at me apologetically. I shrugged it off, Split milk now. Earlier in the day Mindy and I noticed another dead branch in the sister Ash about 10” in diameter. I planned to ask Hector what he’d charge to cut it out too. I waited until he took a break then asked if he’d take it out for another $50. He agreed. Cool! He had the cutting done within an hour of his arrival. It was the cut up and haul away that took all the time.

While he managed that, I continued on with several more yard chores, including potting the tomato plants in large deck pots, sinking some impatiens out front, and then installing the new post light fixture. That was really easy. Our old post lamp fixture has needed replaced for 6 or 7 years. Glad to have that taken care of. Looks nice! Did all sorts of other small yard shores while Hector hauled the cut tree to his street side trailer. Mindy was back from the grocery around 4pm. Helped her carry everything inside. Hector finished up around 5 or 6pm and I scrawled out a check for the amount agreed. It was everything I could do not to help him carry tree debris. I’m not used to paying someone else to do work like that. It was well worth the money though.

Mindy agreed to pick-up gyros from the Big Fat for dinner rather than go out to dinner. We also made arrangements to have the peanut (Bella) come home. She was way excited to learn that Mindy was coming after her. She had already endured a full day of Jacob’s soccer tournament, and there were at least two more games on Sunday. Mindy said she wanted to spend Mother’s Day with at least one of her babies. While Mindy ran off after food, I took a much needed shower. She and Bella got home about the same time that I finished showering and grooming. Great timing!

Failed to mention earlier that I received our home owner’s insurance policy renewal declaration last week. Problem is, we got two, and each had different policy numbers and different costs. One was $300+ more than the other. Troubled, I tried reaching my agent on Friday morning but she was out on vacation. I was worried that I might be getting billed for two policies through my escrow account.

Bella was home but didn’t eat dinner with us. Said she had spaghetti with her dad. She did break down and enjoy some of our Greek salads. The Big Fat’s Greek salads are to-die-for delicious. I ate only about a third of my jumbo gyro choosing instead to save room for beer. After dinner we retired to the deck to enjoy the beautiful flowers and our lovely backyard. It’s so peaceful out there in the evening with the long shadows from the trees. Chrissy walked over and joined us for a few. Said they were dining with the neighbors, Mike & Teri. Apparently a few neighbors brought food for them to enjoy because of the fire earlier in the week.

While we enjoyed a beer on the deck with Chrissy, Mindy let Eiknarf roam off with the neighbors dogs, who stay securely in their back yard because of the electric fence. Here comes Kenny walking around the house with Eiknarf. Said she was out front and across the street. We put her inside. Bad girl! Neighbors invited to join them, and we planned to take them up on the invite. We poured two more Bodhi’s and walked down around 8 or 9pm.
Kenny & Mike were watching the NASCAR race, which is something I just don’t enjoy. Still, we had a lot of fun joking around and drinking a few beers. With little trouble, Mindy & I eventually polished off the jug of Bodhi. I walked home and fetched a bottle of White Rajah and then a Brooklyn Brewing Chocolate Stout. We finished those too. And by the time it was all said and done, it was after 11pm. The four of us, me, Mindy, Bella, and Frankie headed for home.

Mindy & I laughed at the fact that Eiknarf would be sleeping with Bella. Neither of us sleep well when she’s with us. We were up maybe another 30 minutes before it was lights out. Good night moon!