Wednesday, August 22, 2018

Before Pat’s surgery he did some trimming and pruning on the bushes in the yard – I’m not to be trusted with mechanical snippers! I delayed picking up the piles but the weather forecast says we might get rain tomorrow so I decided I’d better get them bundled up before they got wet and nasty. I had a showing at the Hall at 11 AM so I couldn’t follow my usual “first thing in the day and get it done” schedule.

While I waited for my appointment yesterday afternoon I paced the Hall and deck – back and forth, back and forth. But today while I waited I decided to pull a few weeds from the lawn; I didn’t actually pull the weeds, I pulled the flowers and stems in the hope that they wouldn’t all go to seed. I don’t know what the weeds are called and I couldn’t even identify them online. They are tall, stringy things that my push mower couldn’t handle and they grow well, like weeds, in the grass all over town. We have the Hall grass mowed once a month but these weeds were making it look uncared for; I pulled almost a bag full before my appointment arrived. She was late and we took only about five minutes as she has rented the Hall before. After she left I finished my task.

As soon as I got home I started to work on our own yard. The first pile of clippings didn’t quite fill the bag so I did a bit of weeding in one of the side beds and along the bricks, making my way to the second pile. The second pile was quite a bit bigger than the first so it took longer and I needed to do a lot more clipping. My hands and wrists are suffering now but, if the rain comes, at least the piles are dealt with.

And everyone is really hoping the rain arrives. We are still smothered in smoke and small particles of ash, and we really need the rain. I’ve been hearing sirens all day and every time one goes by I hope that it isn’t a wildfire. I worry a lot about the boulevard beside our house; we are on a direct line between the 7-Eleven and a couple of bars and one discarded cigarette could be disastrous.