Memorial Day

I woke up at 6:30 AM on Monday, Memorial Day. I took a quick physical inventory after I tried several times to get out of bed.

Both my knees were shot and the small of my back (not my spine) was killing me (I assume that’s from shoveling all the dirt).

It’s supposed to be hot and steamy today, with a slight chance of thunderstorms so the revised plan is to go out early and transplant the herbs. Maybe apply the herbicide on the patio, Jake’s patio, the sidewalk and the remaining vegetation in the driveway.

Then, I’ll clean up the garage so I can get the car in. After that, I’ll rest and relax and, if I’m bored, work on indoor projects. That’s the plan, anyway. We’ll see...

Since I just showered last night, I skipped it and shaving until later when I’m dirty. I got dressed in shorts and a tee shirt and went out to move herbs.

I deliberately dug out more than just where I’d put them, in case any new roots had grown out during their short vegetable garden stay. So now, starting from the south end, the raised bed planter has dill, flat-leaf parsley, sage, basil, rosemary and, finally, thyme.

Then I turned my attention to the now torn up vegetable garden. I moved the eggplants (or is it eggplant plants?) forward to give them more room. I took the dirt (two bags of garden soil and one of potting soil) left over from the herb planter project, mixed it together and used it as top dressing for the vegetable garden (which did not get its usual top dressing of my homemade compost this spring).

I used the garden weasel to mix it in. I planted two rows of string-less bush green beans to fill in the rest of the space and then watered the garden for an hour.

By then it was too windy to take the chance of spraying the herbicide. I should have done it at dawn (had I been awake and moving) when it was calm. Oh well, the weeds and grass will still be there next weekend.

So, I turned my attention to the garage. I put away the project tools, sawhorses, excess lumber and aluminum leftovers. Then I swept out the garage as best I could and finally put the car back in the garage.

Before coming in from the heat (it’s supposed to be over 90 degrees and humid today) I watered all the front container gardens and those begonias I planted in the front garden.

Finally inside (hopefully for the rest of the day) I vacuumed all the places I’d walked the last two days, especially the walk-off carpets (one’s by the back door and one at the bottom of the stairs). I even vacuumed the walk-off carpet in the garage. I also washed my crocs inside and out to make sure they were rid of any dirt, sawdust and/or concrete dust. I hung them up to dry over the wash tub.

Then I took a much needed pain pill and a much more needed shave and shower. I put the clothes I’d sweated in during the morning and all the bath towels in the wash machine for the last load of the long weekend.

Dressed in just a tee shirt and boxers, I adjusted my bed and at 2:30 PM, I took a long break. I ate some of Tammy’s potato salad, for lunch. It was very good and while it didn’t have eggs in it (neither did the Kroger deli potato salad) it did have a nice extra: sliced green olives! You can say what you want about neighbors, but that woman can cook!

I was watching some DIY shows, but fell asleep. I took about a two hour nap! It might have even been longer, but the phone ringing woke me up. It was B___ and we compared our weekend activities. It was funny as both of us worked our butts off and neither of us did anything fun. We really are getting too old, I guess.

I put my now-dried off brace back on and got the clothes out of the dryer and put in place. I filled in the Blog and checked the weather channel. It was still 90 degrees at 8:00 PM! I wouldn’t have minded some more rain, but there was none to be found around here.

I warmed up a brat and ate that with some of the Kroger potato salad for dinner.

I have had the new picture frame lying on a bath towel on the table ever since I picked it up, but I decided it was too late to tackle that assembly project tonight. I did, however, determine where the picture hanger should go on the office wall and put it in.

I couldn’t find anything that interesting on the TV, so I finished that George Carlin book Jake had sent me. Most of it was hilarious, but parts of it were, well, redundant. It was the same joke (how people in authority are substituting “modern” words for good old fashion words) but using different examples. I suppose I sound too critical but I really do appreciate him sending me that book! Thanks!

I put the book down, set the alarm and went to bed at 10:30 PM.