Thursday, May 31, 2012

It's Retiree Saturday Again...

...and while I had been convinced that every day being a Saturday, now that I am retired, was a good thing - I am no longer so certain of that anymore. For instance, today, I will go out and again tackle the roots remaining in what used to be my front lawn. Probably would have taken me all of a half hour at most with a roto-tiller but I have been doing it by hand. It seems my pampered and thus soft hands can not take all that much of the roots burning the skin away in small patches as I try to win the tug of war with the toes of the four trees on near my front lawn - an Linden tree at curbside, an Evergreen and Dogwood on the main  part of the lawn and a Japanese Maple on a section between the walkway and driveway that I have not even considered touching until I see how the main part of my postage stamp sized lawn comes out once I have replanted it. If I don't get that section right, then this fall I will call in some professionals to do it the right way. Now back to the backbreaking, knee pulverizing and finger blistering job that I have been doing over the course of what - two weeks now. Man oh man - those tree toes can sure get a grip and be hard to pull out but I am winning, slowly yes, but surely too. I have a small patch remaining, only about 4 hours of work (at most) left to me to get out rest of them. Once they are out, I will turn the soil a bit with a pick, remove any grass or weeds that started to grow since I began my project in lawn procrastination and then I will plant the seeds. That will take all of a half hour at most. what has been taking me so long is mostly that the darned root are a pain in the neck, literally, to pull out and that it has rained an awful lot over the past couple of weeks. Add to that a couple of raw pots on my left fingers, where roots slipped out of my dirty hands but where it seemed like the roots actually tugged back into the earth as I tried to yank em out and that made me take a day or two off too. Wussy that I am, I did not want to go back out there and get garden soil and cat crap (yes, as I was digging up and pulling out roots, I realized it smelled as if a cat let loose on my lawn a few times) into the sores, so I waited a day after each before continuing. Heck, I have a lot of time on my hands every day being a Saturday and all.

Of course, that means my wife thinks I should be doing things to fill my days. I spend about three to four hours online, at least three days per week, looking and applying for jobs. I actually have an interview set up for tomorrow morning for a security job at, of all places, a public library. The pay is pretty low, the hours are few and the job does not commence until September. I have to wonder why a library needs two guards on duty right during the hours the high school across the street from it gets out, make me wonder about whether or not it is a reform school. Oh well, first interview that has been offered other than an on the phone interview after which I did not get that job. I plan to be there with bells on. Other than looking for jobs, I do the wash, do the dishes, mend some minor things, mow the lawn, do some vegetable gardening and weed pulling and water the wife's flower garden. I don't do a heck of a lot. Maybe I should start some projects in the house just to keep me busy and her happy.

Today, I'll be mowing the lawn, putting out fertilizer spikes for the trees, and ripping out roots (and making the trees moan). After that, if there is still time, I have to package up a shotgun for shipment to Browning for repair. Hopefully I'll make a trip to UPS with it today, to get it on its way. As you can see though, it is already almost noon and I am still sitting here blogging via my laptop. Oh well, no hurry, I can always do whatever needs to be done on Saturday. Heck, that's right, today is Saturday - so is everyday now that I am retired. Rats!

Really now and right now, I have got to go and get some work done before the wife gets home from work or she may clobber me. Later 4 U.

All the best,
Glenn B