Ouch!

My dog woke me up this morning with her shelty-howl. It's ear splitting and always sounds like an emergency. She has done this since she was a puppy. We bought her 6 weeks after our first baby was born, and I maintain that, as she has seen 6 more babies join the family, her howls have grown louder just so she'll get fed and let out and noticed once and a while. Now this 13 year old dog is deaf, and if it is possible she howls even louder. Needless to say, I woke with a start and hopped out of bed.

Or should I say I thought I was hopping out of bed, but what actually happened is I hobbled out of bed. You see, yesterday was an aggressive work-in-the-lawn day, and, oh yes, I did work.

I cut off about 10 big branches from a large pine tree in our back yard. The branches were hanging so low it was very trecherous to walk into the shed next to it. I had to use one of those hand saws on a pole, with a built in clipper controlled by a string. I worked at that for few hours, with my hands over my head, sawing, clipping, and using muscles that had forgotten they exhisted. I only had the very branch I had just cut fall on my head twice, only popped myself in the face with the string handle once, and only yelled at the stupid, stupid saw five or six times.

Then I began cleaning out the shed, with the help of my kids. Winter clutter had obscured any order that may have existed, and I had been spending more time looking for items in the shed than actually using any of them.

Then I continued hand digging our large garden area. Usually my dad brings over a roto-tiller and does this for me, but this year one of us was busy til June and it just didn't happen. Yesterday my daughters and began to hand turn the soil. After 10 or so minutes of that we were quite discouraged. My husband zipped off and rented a tiller for me, began the work and showed my how to use the machine, and off I went. I can not believe how hard it was! The upper body strength required to control the machine, the grip necesarry to keep it moving, and the trunk strenth one must posses to stabilize the machine as it pulverizes the soil was amazing to me. After a few hours and many breaks, my husband came home from work and finished the job.

First, I cannot believe how easy my dad made this job look.

Second, my husband is MUCH stronger than me.

Third, today it was physically impossible to hop out of bed.

My hands are so sore, I can barely lift my coffee cup. This serious, people! But let me tell you, do I have a beautiful clean slate in my front yard with which to work! I have already bought 8 bushes, and will try to plant them today. I have a lovely hosta garden with some huge plants that need splitting, and tons of ostrich ferns from which my oldest son and I can choose a few to go out front. I am going to get quite a few perennials from my mom and fill in much of the space. My two oldest daughters are going to put in their vegetable garden there, and then I will haul mulch to the area to keep the weeds out. Just typing these words make me sore (really, my hands hurt that badly), so I can't say how long this will take, but I will say progress was made in the yard, and toward this goal. Particularly this quote ~

"Here's the way I look at it. I would like to join a gym and get in shape. Can't afford it, don't know where the time would come from.

I would like to hire landscapers. Can't afford it.

So, I will get a work out for free, landscaping my yard myself, for free. Makes sense, eh?

Today, I got all the mental work done. And now I wait for warmer weather. And a lot more energy. And a few more muscles."

Mission begun!