I spent most of last week’s holiday weekend outside. The weather cooperated with three days of sunshine as I tried to reclaim my yard. My wife pitched in on days two and three, so the work wasn’t the usual solitary endeavor with only the tunes on my iPod to keep me company.
Chores always go more smoothly when we work as a team.
Saturday was the day of the rake. We have lots of trees, so raking is both a fall and a spring necessity. The repetitive motion of digging out the leaves from the dried weeds and grass always makes my muscles ache. I’ve learned that if I skip this arduous step, the grass grows in patches and I end up being annoyed whenever I look outside, so I raked. My daughters responded to my calls for help with indifference.
“Thanks, but no thanks,” was all that I heard as they listed their reasons for declining my offer. If I had sons, I would have no problem forcing them to help, but daughters are different. Yes, dad’s a pushover. I finished up by mowing and fertilizing the lawn. It was a good day’s work.
For day two, I had a great idea. Why not dig out all of the decorative rocks surrounding our small flower bed, wash them off, lay a new weed barrier, and replace the rocks? In truth, it was only a great idea for as long as it remained just an idea. When my wife and I actually started the project, we discovered that it was really difficult work.
I wanted to quit. The area was a mess. She insisted that we press on, so we continued.
Dig out the rocks, place a shovelful on a metal screen, hand wash them. Repeat.
Madness!
Our neighbors across the street were also busy. They were converting a carport into a garage. I turned to my wife and told her that I envisioned the following conversation:
“What did you do last weekend?”
“I built walls.”
“What about you?”
“I cleaned rocks.”
It took all day, but we finished.
I got up early on Monday and drove to Home Depot. We hadn’t reclaimed all of the rocks, so I bought eight more 50-pound bags. Next, I picked up some flowers from Walmart. We spread the new rocks on top of the old ones and prepared the flower bed. My youngest child graciously agreed to plant the flowers. There were lots of complaints about the heat as she worked, but she got it done.
I ended the weekend by trying to dig out a tree stump. I even bought a new hand tool for the task. I had seen a YouTube video on the proper way to do it and it didn’t look too hard.
Some of us are easily fooled by what we see.
It turned out to be very hard work. Shocking, huh? It will probably take me all summer to get that stump out of the ground.
Some of my neighbors have given up on yard work altogether by covering them up with gravel. They may be onto something. Others use a lawn service, but I’m too cheap for that.
For a desk-jockey like me, the physical activity made me feel good. Sure, I was sore, but I think that it was worth the effort. Still, this weekend, I went the other way. It’s Sunday morning and I haven’t been outside at all this weekend. Old habits are hard to break. Maybe I’ll settle into being a bi-weekly weekend warrior.
Everything in moderation, right?
Fortunately, I also bought this cool wooden swing bench to sit on during those off weekends.
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He works with numbers for a living, but don't judge - boring accountants need love too. His blog has no niche (unless writing about things that are important to him is a niche). Some folks cringe when he gets “all political” on them, but he does it anyway when he's in that kind of mood. Sometimes, he writes something nice about someone, but you shouldn't get used to that. His first book, the one he hasn't written yet, is not available on Amazon. Subscribe to Ray's Blog via RSS or Email.
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
I’ve been helping my husband put up a new fence… trouble is I’ve problems with my feet and my balance and am actually not much help at all!
Washing rocks, hey? Hmmm….
What sort of ‘decorative’ are they? Polished? (The pics aren’t quite large enough for me to see)
Hi Val,
Putting up a fence sounds like a big project. I’m sure that your husband appreciates any help that you are able to give him.
They are just river rocks – smooth edges; colored – and they aren’t very expensive. I first used them several years ago. Since then, the weed barrier had rotted away and many of the rocks had sunk into the dirt, so something had to be done. Once I dug them out, tossing them in the trash didn’t seem like a good option.
Ray
Now I know what to do with the rocks that line the side of my house that I don’t want anymore! I’ll wash them and send them to you!
I hope you weren’t too sore. I think moderation is BEST in all things, so being a bi-weekly weekend warrior sounds like a fine thing to me.
As for the tree stump, just take your time. It will still be there.
Hi SurprisedMom,
You’ll wash them first? Cool. I’ll take ‘em.
I’m not sore at all now, since this was the off weekend.
Yes, the stump will definitely be there. It has been there for about two years already, so I agree… no rush.
Ray
This was a fun post. It took me back to the good old days when the nicest thing about the bank owned home we bought in Utah was the yard. Then we spent so much time fixing up the inside during the hot summer that the yard never looked the same again.
Unfortunately for my family, the landlord just called and we no longer have gardeners. Our landlord owns his own construction business and I guess the gardeners were part of it. He hasn’t had much business lately so he dropped the gardeners. He said he’d bring a lawn mower over tomorrow since we gave ours away before we moved. Hopefully bi-monthly yard work will suffice. We’ll have to get a nice swing to relax on the off weekends like you.
Thanks, Tristan.
As I considered quitting the rock cleaning exercise, I imagined writing a post about why it’s sometimes good to give up.
Your experience with the yard never looking the same again is what I’m facing now. I know that it can be brought back, but not right away. People are cutting back all over, so I guess that your landlord’s decision was an obvious choice. After all, it’s not his yard that’s not getting mowed.
Last summer, I gave up by mid-July and as a result I spent much less time outside.
Yes, get a swing. Since I’ve placed mine under the trees, it’s cool and comfortable — even if it seems that the bugs like hanging around there too.
Ray
I dislike any sort of outside work that involved garden tools, hammers, bugs, dirt, sweat. I do like exercise in a gym, walking for hours, a nice garden, but if I have to go to Home Depot or a garden center, I start to shake and feign mental illness.
Brenda, you are on the same page as my oldest daughter in terms of all things having to do with the outside. Count her out. I’m not crazy about the bugs and stuff, but I do like the results. Home Depot is cool. You can easily spend hours looking at things that you don’t really need. Also, you can get ideas for projects that will most likely have disastrous results when attempted. What’s better than that? Ray