There is no better concept than the three-day weekend...
...except maybe retirement.
Anyhoo.
We started off the day yesterday getting our summer haircuts--and I was grateful for that, because being shorn boy-short again (I think that at this point my hair is shorter than Paul's) made the rest of the day much more pleasant than it might have been, considering the heat and the activity.
I suppose that the_paulr took the hint that when I was pulling my hair into a 1 inch ponytail just to keep it off the back of my neck, then it was time to drag the wife to get her hair cut. And he was right, because even though taking the time to get my hair cut was the last thing I felt like doing yesterday, it was definitely the right thing to do.
After getting well and duly cropped, we headed to the market to pick up some essentials for dinner. I pre-cooked the ribs the day before (parboiled in water with onion, carrot, celery, garlic and salt), so they were sitting in a plastic bag in the refrigerator, but I wanted salad-y things because it was so warm that I thought that having lots of cool sides loaded with summer vegetables would be refreshing and rejuvenating, so I got tomatoes and avocados and fresh mozzarella and stuff for cole slaw.
And then we came home and beat the shit out of the yard.
Everything mown, most everything weed-whacked, three bags of mulch down, and Paul used his new loppers to cut back some tree branches that were making mowing hazardous to the eyes--it's looking almost--horrors!--TIDY out there!
I do have a tendency to like my gardens looking a little on the rambling side rather than pristine, but it had gone beyond "rambling" to "disaster area", and even I couldn't justify that to myself. So that needed to be put to rights.
Although, to be fair, we only got the push mower back from maintenance last weekend, and so the front yard really COULDN'T be done effectively until now...
Did I tell you it was hot out there?
Yeah--it was hot out there.
I do find myself, however, doing things more in stages than I used to, and taking more frequent breaks to cool down and re-hydrate. I don't know if that's an increase in good sense or just simply creeping age, but it's been better--I'm not even sore this morning, so it seems that the regularity of garden work-outs really IS paying off, even if the exertion is about 75% of what it used to be.
I used to do all of this by myself. I don't know how I did that.
Needless to say, I am MOST grateful for Paul's willingness to get out there and get dirty and sweaty right along with me.
And just like two garlics cancel each other out, two dirty and sweatys cancel each other out, too! ;-)
So that done, and showers being accomplished, I put together the tomato-avocado-mozzarella salad and the cole slaw, put them in the fridge to get nice and cold, and then I lay down for awhile and Paul noodled on the computer till it was time for dinner.
The storm came up just as Paul was firing up the grill, but the ribs and the corn only needed about 20 minutes on the fire, and the pergola kept him dry while he was waiting. Plus the worst of it didn't even hit until we were inside and safe.
We ate as we watched the thunderstorm warnings on the Weather Channel, watching the storm advance on doppler radar...and I made note of the insanity of watching the weather on TV rather than just looking out the window!
A wonderful day, all in all, full of fresh air and sunshine and the smell of green things--and I slept like a baby....
Actually, even better, because after that meal, I didn't even need a two o'clock feeding!
Anyhoo.
We started off the day yesterday getting our summer haircuts--and I was grateful for that, because being shorn boy-short again (I think that at this point my hair is shorter than Paul's) made the rest of the day much more pleasant than it might have been, considering the heat and the activity.
I suppose that the_paulr took the hint that when I was pulling my hair into a 1 inch ponytail just to keep it off the back of my neck, then it was time to drag the wife to get her hair cut. And he was right, because even though taking the time to get my hair cut was the last thing I felt like doing yesterday, it was definitely the right thing to do.
After getting well and duly cropped, we headed to the market to pick up some essentials for dinner. I pre-cooked the ribs the day before (parboiled in water with onion, carrot, celery, garlic and salt), so they were sitting in a plastic bag in the refrigerator, but I wanted salad-y things because it was so warm that I thought that having lots of cool sides loaded with summer vegetables would be refreshing and rejuvenating, so I got tomatoes and avocados and fresh mozzarella and stuff for cole slaw.
And then we came home and beat the shit out of the yard.
Everything mown, most everything weed-whacked, three bags of mulch down, and Paul used his new loppers to cut back some tree branches that were making mowing hazardous to the eyes--it's looking almost--horrors!--TIDY out there!
I do have a tendency to like my gardens looking a little on the rambling side rather than pristine, but it had gone beyond "rambling" to "disaster area", and even I couldn't justify that to myself. So that needed to be put to rights.
Although, to be fair, we only got the push mower back from maintenance last weekend, and so the front yard really COULDN'T be done effectively until now...
Did I tell you it was hot out there?
Yeah--it was hot out there.
I do find myself, however, doing things more in stages than I used to, and taking more frequent breaks to cool down and re-hydrate. I don't know if that's an increase in good sense or just simply creeping age, but it's been better--I'm not even sore this morning, so it seems that the regularity of garden work-outs really IS paying off, even if the exertion is about 75% of what it used to be.
I used to do all of this by myself. I don't know how I did that.
Needless to say, I am MOST grateful for Paul's willingness to get out there and get dirty and sweaty right along with me.
And just like two garlics cancel each other out, two dirty and sweatys cancel each other out, too! ;-)
So that done, and showers being accomplished, I put together the tomato-avocado-mozzarella salad and the cole slaw, put them in the fridge to get nice and cold, and then I lay down for awhile and Paul noodled on the computer till it was time for dinner.
The storm came up just as Paul was firing up the grill, but the ribs and the corn only needed about 20 minutes on the fire, and the pergola kept him dry while he was waiting. Plus the worst of it didn't even hit until we were inside and safe.
We ate as we watched the thunderstorm warnings on the Weather Channel, watching the storm advance on doppler radar...and I made note of the insanity of watching the weather on TV rather than just looking out the window!
A wonderful day, all in all, full of fresh air and sunshine and the smell of green things--and I slept like a baby....
Actually, even better, because after that meal, I didn't even need a two o'clock feeding!