to be continued

I was outside from about 12:30 to 4PM today, working on the front yard, which turned out to be much, much worse than the back yard. My two-day combined lawn bag total was 19. Compare that to a summer average of about 2-3 bags per mowing session (combined total for the front and back yards). Leaves make a difference: they curl up and add volume, acting like styrofoam peanuts. Now if only we could create a "Back to the Future"-style Mr. Fusion energy generator, so as to find an easy way to power the house with all those leaves...

And although both yards have now been mown, and all 19 bags are down at the curb (I piled them onto a tarp and hauled them, in two trips, to the street), there's still more work to do. We've got leaves on our deck, for instance; those need to be blown off and collected. We've also got leaves on the driveway, and leaves scattered on the sidewalk that fronts our property. I might have to go out again tomorrow and take care of all this, but part of me is thinking it would be better to wait until next week: more leaves will have fallen from the trees, and it'll be easier to bag them all in one fell swoop. Yard debris collection day is tomorrow; the recycling guys come early in the morning, so even if I did collect the extra leaves during the late morning or early afternoon, the bags would be sitting for a whole week. Not worth it.

Sean came by today and hung with Mom for a couple hours. He told me that Mom was a bit verbal with him; she even asked Sean where I was. A few minutes ago (4:16PM), Mom's friend Mrs. Krieger called, sounding as if she had a sore throat. She had wanted to say hi to Mom; when I told her that Mom wasn't very verbal, she spoke with me instead. Here's hoping that Mrs. Krieger's upcoming trip to the doc is fruitful. In the meantime, we thank her for her call.

Thanks, as well, to our church for sending us some lovely flowers. Today's good-will ambassador was Beth Cline, whose beaming face I've missed seeing. She introduced herself to me: "I'm Beth Cline!" "I know!" I cheerfully responded. With my short hair and sweaty appearance, I must have been unrecognizable to her. (In truth, I was pretty filthy.)

Tonight's dinner is a modest Southern-style barbecue: pulled BBQ beef, corn bread with honey butter on top, pork and beans, and salad.


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