Tired Tuesday

I slept terrible Monday night. I think I woke up almost every hour on the hour, usually in the middle of a bad dream. And I spent the time between 4:00 AM until the 5:30 alarm just trying to fall back asleep, although I never did.

The winds had slowed or maybe even stopped when I left for work on Tuesday. I remembered just in time to swerve or I would have run over my own garbage can!

I left for lunch and went to the Feed Store. I picked up 40 pounds of their “Michigan Mix” bird seed. I had to stop at CVS, so before going inside, I went next door to the Chinese take-out place and ordered a quart of chicken fried rice. I went into CVS and took care of my business, then went back next door and picked up my lunch/dinner.

When I got home, there was a huge pile of leaves in the road, blocking my mailbox. WTF? I pulled around it and went into the garage and noticed there wasn’t a single leaf in either my front or back yard. While I was eating lunch, I heard a weird sound and looked out the window. A truck from my landscaping company had pulled in and was sucking up all the leaves!

Now, there’s two things wrong with this: 1.) There are still a TON of leaves on my trees and 2.) They are supposed to blow all the leaves into my compost piles.

So, when I left to go back to work, I asked the guy (and they are just worker bees, of course) if they are coming back and doing this again when all the other leaves fall. He said he was told they will still be cutting grass until mid-November, but other than that, he didn’t know anything. So, I decided I’d have to call and see what’s going on.

So, when I got back to work, I did call and explained the situation. The receptionist said, “Well, we do this from now on any time we cut the grass.” I explained that, last year, they only did it once and blew it all into my compost heap. She said it must have been a special request (it was) because this is how they normally do it. I said, “That’s fine, then.” Because of my back, I never did dig out any compost this spring anyway, so I really don’t need more, I suppose.

[Sidebar to Jake: Is that how they did it at your house in Westland? Several times rather than just one big time cleanup?]

Also, when I got back to work, Vicky gave me some “Arroz con pollo y lenteja” (a Puerto Rican dish of chicken with lentils and rice) for my dinner that her Mother had made. So, I will have certainly met my chicken and rice requirements for the day!

I had just left the bird seed on the back seat of the car all afternoon (I find it easier to slide it out and into the wagon or wheel barrow from the seat than to try and lift it up and out of the trunk, so that’s where I always have them load it). So, when I got home, and before I changed clothes, I took the wheel barrow out front, opened the garage door, slid the bag into the wheel barrow and wheeled it around the side of the house. I went back and shut the garage door (you learn to never work in the back yard with the garage door open in these troubled times). I walked through the house and outside, then I wheeled the bag over to the seed can. I put it inside of the can and refilled the bird feeder. Then I put the wheel barrow back, made sure the gate was shut and went inside for the night.

I watched the Nightly News drinking a cup of coffee. Then I warmed up the Puerto Rican food. This is the second or third home cooked meal I’ve tasted and I think I am understanding this style of cooking. Like Vicky always says, its spicy, but not hot. I’m going to ask, but I think they must use a lot of allspice. It was very different, but very good and very, very filling! It didn’t seem like a lot, but I was full when I finished.

I did a few minor chores after that (unloaded the dishwasher, etc.) and watched a little TV, but I did sleep bad the night before, so I ended up going to bed around 10:00 PM.