It’s 7 o’clock on Saturday morning and I’ve just returned from a walk (a couple of miles, I think). This is not an unusual event – I take a walk almost every morning – but, for the second day in a row, it was not a horrible experience for me, temperature-wise. Yesterday morning and this morning were both the beneficiaries of, I assume, the storm that’s currently wafting around the southland (Hermine?). Light breeze, temperature in the low 70s. Really nice. I should mention that I also have the window to my deck open in front of me, so I’m still benefitting from the breeze, and the cats seem to be loving it.
Strike that. I just had to close the window because one of the feral cats just came up on the deck and started messing with Chamberlain’s head.
So it’s a long Labor Day weekend, made longer by the fact that I took Thursday and yesterday off several months ago with the intent at the time of driving up to East Lansing, MI, to shoot the Furman/Michigan State game, which occurred last night. For various reasons – expense of renting equipment, a dearth of desire to drive for 24 hours in a 72-hour span, and Jenny’s vacation to Peru – I didn’t go. I did watch the game on the Big10 network, however. The Furman guys acquitted themselves well, holding one of last year’s FBS semi-finalists to 28 points and getting 13 of their own marks on the scoreboard. The official point spread was set at 42.5, which was patently ridiculous for a number of reasons. Were I a betting man, I would’ve put the house on Furman and the points. Be that as it may, for a team that went 4-7 a year ago to lose by only 15 to the team that won the Big 10 during the same period ain’t bad at all. Perhaps – just perhaps – there is reason to hope for good things in Greenville this year.
As I said, Jenny’s in Peru – at least I think it’s Peru – and I’ve been tasked with taking care of her cats and, at some point, going out to dinner with Herb, who’s been feeling all of his 83 years recently, what with having to deal with Andi in assisted living (still recovering from her leg surgery), deciding what he’s going to do with himself and their house, and (I would assume) still working 40 hours a week. I also need to bring him some packages that Jenny had sent to my house and, if I can figure out how, to borrow (read: take forever) his extension ladder.
I need the latter (the ladder – get it?) because I noticed during the day of the great tree massacre that I have a tree growing in one of my gutters. Wish I could say that I’m joking about that, but I’m not. There’s literally a small pine growing in the gutter over the back door, and I don’t have a ladder tall enough to get up there and clean the gutters – and I’m not getting on the roof. Don’t remember exactly when I became deathly afraid of heights, but I did. And I am. And me no go on roof. I took out my pole saw a few days ago and tried the classic “knock that sucker down” approach to the gutter-tree, but all I managed to do was knock some dirt on myself. So an extension ladder is the next step.
If I can’t do that, well…me go on roof. I’ve had a full life. It’s been nice knowing you. Somebody take care of my cats – and get my clock fixed. Sorry, Dad. Quincy’s clock needs to go to the shop again. 4 times in 150+ years….I guess that’s not bad.
So the picture up there is what my back yard looked like on the day after the tree guys left. It’s a panorama, which explains things like the shape of the yard and the fact that the bird-feeder pole looks funny, but the things to notice are the large stump near the fence on the left, the fact that my shed is actually visible, and the lack of privet on the right. The south forty, behind the white fence, will be the next area to get mauled by my tree peeps. That’ll cost me another $2,300, but all except one of the trees back there (a large Oak) will be gone. Once that’s done, I’ll have the fence back there replaced (it’s in bad shape), and will then decide what to do with it. Either a garden (doubtful) or some new grass. For the last couple of years, I’ve basically abandoned that area because nothing except trees will grow there. I’d love to be able to get it sodded and maybe put in a swing, for which the frame is already there.
I can hear you all thinking, “Man. That yard looks like shit. He spent how much on that?” And, for now, you’re all right. It does look crappy. Largely because of the tree, which is now gone, and the limbs on the Beech tree in the center, also gone. Nothing could grow there. Now, hopefully, grass can. If that photo doesn’t open (I don’t think it does), you can get a better view from the one below.
Today, I think, I might start to reclaim Scott’s old room (which also served as a recovery ward for Chamberlain when he broke his leg) and turn it back into a home office – which is what I had nearly completed when Scott first moved in 6 years ago. I’ll have one decent expense for that project: since I got the new laptop, I’ll need to get a new docking station for it. Other than that, though, it should just be some sweat equity.
Might help me lose some weight.