A Quiet Day

Well today was supposed to be a quiet, restful day.  Yesterday I packed up a sixth of a cord of Walnut scraps at Calico, then unloaded them at home; cut up most of them with a reciprocating saw; and finally carried the pieces up (30-40 loads) my eighteen back steps, to my winter storage site on my back deck.  Four hours manual labor in the hot sun took me down to 173.4 pounds, as I advanced to my goal of 169 for my 63^rd high school reunion next month.

So, my goal for today was to pick up meds at Kaiser, and while at it, I scheduled my annual review for Sept 13^th, blood tests next week.  I picked up a 3 cubic foot (90 pounds) bag of Happy Frog soil amendment, and a new Jasmine vine from Harmony Farms, so I’d have something outside to do in the afternoon.  I was going to get in some reading for my book clubs.  [and hem up a 3^rd apron for my sink cover].

When much to my bewilderment, when I went to install the new Jasmine, I found that the the entire next three sections, 12-feet of fence line, had fallen, bottom to top 7 feet, into my neighbor’s yard.  This was going to be future work, section by section, probably into next year.  I wasn’t ready for this.  But as I assessed the damage, the neighbors couldn’t get to their garbage can, and other things.

From 2-4, I hedge-trimmed, shears-cut, and hauled sections of hedge to my driveway.  I did it in three sections, each 7’ X 3’ X 4’.  Correy can finish them up – into bags, then the dump.  It was hot, sweaty work, and when I took a shower at 4 pm and weighed myself, it was a recent low at 170.2.  Of course, I drank a lot of fluids and ate a steak dinner, but still, I’m a solid 173, after dinner and re-hydrating.

During all this frenzied activity, by me, my neighbor's gnome-cat watched with total aplomb.  I made noise, stirred activity, but like Lewis Carroll's cat, she just grinned.

OK, the weight thing is cultural – no one who hasn’t seen me in fifty years will know or care whether I weigh 169 or 181.  It is nice however, going back to my annual checkup above.  I was 190 in 2016 and 180 in 2018, getting to 170 in 2019 is a positive trend.  I did this in 2017 and the numbers came out great.