Yard Work

Nothing like waiting until it get up to 90 degrees to start working in the yard. What was I thinking?

Part of my problem is that I get some of the same feelings toward yard work that some folks feel about going to the dentist. In fact, I think I’d almost rather go to the dentist. At least their offices are usually air conditioned. With fewer gnats. And they usually numb you up a little before the unpleasantries start. Where else can you go and be expected to drool? And spitting is actually encouraged?

What should have taken me a couple of hours yesterday took pretty much all day. I’m sure my attitude had something to do with it. The mower needed gas. So did the gas can. I left them that way at the end of last season thinking it would be safer with fewer inflammables [now there’s a dumb word. Inflammable = flammable. Why have two words that mean the same thing? Shouldn’t inflammable mean not flammable? Dumb.] stored in the garage. But yesterday I was thinking I’d have to make a trip to Wal-mart to get some gas, and an air filter for the mower. And as long as I was going…

I did find a use for the self check-out lane, though. It is nice when you have a personal care item that might be awkward to have a checker scan.

So an hour and a half after I went outside I got to mowing. But since Gorgeous and I are having 20+ folks over for dinner tomorrow, it being Easter and all, I had to do the full monte, complete with the weed-eater & edger.

Which is where I encountered another challenge.

Since I’m not a big fan of yard work, I don’t have much interest in spending money on quality yard tools. I haven’t upgraded anything in years. They aren’t in the greatest shape. So it didn’t rock my harmony when the weed-eater didn’t work. A few seasons ago the extension cord pretty much melted to the handle of the thing. I scrapped the melted plastic off the contacts and put another end on the cord. And it worked great.

But not yesterday. The contacts must have corroded over the off season. (I can’t bring myself to call what we get here “winter”.) I scraped them off. Nothing.

No problem, I just thought that meant I was getting a by-week on the weed-eating but the edger didn’t work either. Nor did the blower. Hmm… Bad cord, right?

Nope. I took it apart and all the connections in the cord were still solid. Hmmm… Dead outlet? Quick check of the circuit breakers showed them all on. So what. I’ll just move the cord from the porch to the garage.

Nothing. Hmmmm… Let’s flip a bunch of the breakers and reset them just to be sure. I got the one’s marked “garage” as well as a few others that looked interesting.

Still nothing. Next I went into the office to get a lamp and started testing outlets all over the place. Everything worked except the ones outside and the ones in the garage. Just the ones I needed were dead and no breakers were tripped.

I was starting to get frustrated. Did I mention it was 90 degrees?

I found an outlet on the far side of the garage and took the lamp over to it. Dead.

BUT that one single outlet had a little breaker in it that was tripped. Who knew?

That whole thing only added about an hour and a half to my yard working pleasure. Good thing for me Gorgeous had a rummage sale a couple of weeks ago. That whole side of the garage had been piled high with junk she was unloading and I never would have found the problem.

I was eventually able to get it all done, much to the delight of my neighbors, I’m sure.

Today was spent designing and ordering some new business cards for Gorgeous and finishing a home improvement project that had dragged on way too long.

And tomorrow is Easter. Looking forward to having a house full.

Enjoy!