This weekend was certainly busy. It all started Friday afternoon. I left work early and went to buy grass seed and pick up the tiller. I have a hard enough time driving Alann’s truck as it is, but with the little tiller trailer on the back, and making strange noises, I was pretty nervous. Luckily, the rental place is not terribly far away. I got it home and parked pretty easily. Then I got it off the trailer and tried to start it. I HATE pull-start motors with a passion. Whoever invented them needs to be shot, repeatedly, and possibly set on fire afterwards. I am not a weakling. But these things frustrate the crap out of me. First of all, must the handle attached to the string be specifically designed to injure the hands of whoever is pulling it? I mean really. It took me a good ten minutes to get the stupid thing started. Then I got it into the back yard and tilled my corn patch and got it back into the front yard. Then I took a break. I felt bad about wasting daylight and time while waiting for Alann to come home, so I went back out and tilled the side yard. Then I went back inside. Then I decided I should do some more. This time, I couldn’t get the thing started to save my life. After another 5 (painful, irritating, frustrating) minutes, I gave up. My hands hurt so bad I couldn’t physically pull the rope anymore. Alann came home and it started on one of the first pulls. (Mom, remember the snowflake incident in kindergarten? I don’t, but I assume pull-start motors make me feel, think, and act like they did.) By the end of the night, we had the whole yard tilled rather deeply, experienced few injuries, frightened the dogs half to death with the big loud tiller, and generally made good work. In the morning, Alann tilled the back yard a little by the fence where we got some free fill dirt that was mostly sand. We are hoping that it will mix in a little better and support life. Then I tried to take the tiller back to the rental place. I say tried because I couldn’t get it out of the driveway. Alann makes it look so easy! So then I drove slowly back to the rental place, then to Smiths for donuts. I came home to get a tarp that I forgot so I could go to the landfill and get compost. I decided to take Tanner. He enjoyed it, until the bulldozer came near us to put the compost in the truck. Then he tried to climb into my lap. He is such a wuss!!! We made it home, though Alann says I almost broke his shocks. It worked. We got the side yard finished, as much as possible, and took a break. Ian came over to help us clear the yard and level it out. We worked most of the day in the yard. Shannon was kind enough to invite us over for dinner, which we thoroughly enjoyed. After a few hours of relaxing to Fraggle Rock and preparing for lessons and talks, we went to bed rather early. Sunday, we rested from out toils.
We spent most of Monday running errands. We went to the nursery and got shrubs. We went to Lowes and got pipes. We went grocery shopping. Then we got to work. And it poured. And I got soaked. But I planted my shrubs and the side yard, if viewed without the front yard, looks really nice. We just need some gravel to fill the border. Tanner has decided that mulch is fun to chew on, but not to walk on, and avoids it like the plague. They have pretty much been banned to the backyard. Alann replaced the front hose bib, which was so terribly rusted it’s amazing it worked at all. And I got to go shopping. I have new fabric for tablecloths. And some fabric for more grocery bags. Now I just need time to sew….
I have some pictures. As usual, I forgot to take before shots. I will post them tomorrow. Hope your weekend went well!