the deep blue field

Who knew that the supposedly simple act of un-crumpling nine blue tarps, kicking away the ice that kept them clenched closed, mooring their corners with bricks and other heavy objects, then brooming off whatever surface ice remained would take so long?

I was supposed to spread out the tarps, let them dry, then flip them over to let their other sides dry. The day's temperatures crept upward to something approaching warmth, but however warm today was, it wasn't warm enough to melt away the remaining surface water on the tarps. The tarps sat out all day and even now remain spread upon the ground, covering almost half the back yard. They aren't ready to be flipped.

Luckily, I did make progress on other fronts. My tent has been taken down (see previous photo), for one thing. All the piles of "spare" wood, leftovers from deck construction, have been shunted to the forward corner of the back yard. I imagine we'll be making some special trash runs to get rid of that mess. The cargo pallets have also been piled together by the fence; they'll be loaded into the van, a few at a time, and taken... somewhere. The remains of the kitchen tent setup, tossed back into the back yard by the renovators so they could finish up with the deck, are back on the deck and ready to be put into storage.

I've just gobbled a bunch of aspirin to counteract the ache in my shoulders and neck. It's been a few weeks since the last time I engaged in any heavy lifting, so I think my muscles were a bit surprised to find themselves once again called to duty. I ought to be fine in the next hour or so. Just in time for sleep.

Tomorrow: tarp-flipping. The weather forecast calls for wind in the DC-Metro area. This ought to be fun. I've got one other major project: there's a huge cargo pallet still out back. It needs to be moved to where the other pallets are (at the head of our driveway, where they can be easily loaded into Dad's van), but that particular pallet is very hard to move: it's the size and weight of four normal pallets. I'm strong enough to carry two pallets at a time, but the only way I'm getting this super-pallet across the yard is by either (1) a combination of end-over-end flipping and dragging, or (2) chopping that sucker into smaller pallets with an axe. I'd rather not ruin the yard any further by dragging this thing; it'd make some nasty-deep furrows.

Actually, there is a third possibility: my brother David might be coming over Saturday afternoon, so he and I might be able to move the superpallet together. I might just wait for David to show up. Then again... in order to throw the pallet away, it's going to have to be chopped up, anyway, ja?

So! Calling Mr. Axe...


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