Finally Friday

I went to Home Depot at lunch on Friday. I needed a few things. BTW, it's warm again today (too warm for fat, old, bald guys - 83 degrees is the expected high). I am so sick of sweating!

I bought two more bags of mulch, some dry repair cement (for the chiminea) and a new smoke/carbon monoxide detector (the one in my bedroom died yesterday). I also figured out what to do about the peas. My original plan was to by small trellises (either wood or metal) but they don't sell them. So, I ended up buying two short fence posts (two feet useable height after you pound them in) and a small roll of two-foot chicken wire.

Cost me a bundle, but I needed it. Oh, BTW, how did I know I needed a new smoke/carbon monoxide detector? Because I read the back. If the batteries are bad, it beeps every 60 seconds and says (in that annoying woman's voice) "Low batteries." But, if the unit is totally f*cked, it beeps every 30 seconds. I tried new batteries last night, but no luck. Damn thing cost about $40 bucks US.

As I was backing out of the driveway to return to work, the mailman stopped me. He had a box with that lawn mower tractor cable I'd ordered. So I have another thing to add to the long weekend ToDo list (both the weekend and the list are long, LOL).

In the afternoon, I was teasing a co-worker about always wearing long sleeved sweaters. I said, "Tell me the truth, you got like wicked biker tattoos on your biceps, right." She laughed and said, "No, I'm just always cold in air conditioning. So, you want to see my arms?" And, then she took off her sweater. No tattoos, but to make it worse, she flexed her muscle and her biceps were nicer than mine! She said take my hand (which I did) and see how cold it is. It was and she said, "OMG, your hand is so warm." I told her that's because I was so hot-blooded. She said well, than I must be cold-blooded (her hands were freezing). So we agreed my new nickname for her would be snake.

I like flirting... And, holding hands was nice, too.

Back home after work, I treated the cats, changed clothes and then watered all the container gardens (it was supposed to rain yesterday, but didn't, here). They were all dry as a bone.

I checked the phone and had a "just checking in" message from my daughter Melissa. Thanks, Babe! Have a great weekend!

Then I went out and pounded in the short fence posts. I measured them (39 inches apart) and with great difficulty, unrolled the chicken wire. I cut it off about 46 inches long. The toughest problem was to flatten it. Then I took it outside, separated the pea plants (they were all intermingled) and put it up. It bowed slightly in the middle, so I inserted a wooden stake to hold it in place. Then I used the Velcro plant tape to tie them up to the new fence.

The Velcro tape is a recent development, BTW. I can remember when they first came out with a roll of green twist ties. Back when I was a lad, my Mother used old nylon stocking to tie up tomato plants to a stake. But, this stuff works great!

Then I used the garden weasel to work up the row I couldn't before (due to the laying down pea plants). I added some fertilizer and worked that in.

Then I attached the hose and started watering the raised bed garden. I went in and got my camera and took a picture for you. But, I noticed the slight west wind was blowing most of the water to the eastern half of the garden. So, I shut the water off and put it on the far left (of the picture) edge of the garden.

I set the stove timer for 40 minutes and set a coffee cup on the right side ledge. Now, years ago, my friend B___ told me to put an empty tuna fish can in the yard to measure the amount of water from the sprinkler versus the time. I have used that faithfully for the lawn, but I didn't have an empty tuna fish can tonight. So, I used a coffee cup. After the timer went off, I shut off the water and checked the coffee cup. There was just over 1/2 inches of water in it (a tad too much).

I disconnected the sprinkler, reeled in the hose and then attached the metal sprayer to it. I watered (heavily) all the new herbs I'd planted (they were starting to droop). I shut down everything and went back into the house just before 8:00 PM.

I warmed up that T-bone steak and two ears of roasted corn for dinner and ate it all! I was watching TV when my friend B___ called. I hadn't talked to him all week, so it took a while to catch each other up on what's been going on. When we hung up, I went to bed.