Yesterday, following a weekend of wind and rain which
resulted in a bumper crop of walnuts, it seemed appropriate to rethink my
previous decision to just mow over them, wisdom being the better part of
valor, and all that. Facing the prospect of a bone jarring, tooth rattling,
glasses-cap-hearing protector shaking ride, I grabbed a rake and headed into
the walnut laced perimeter to do battle.
I rather quickly discovered the unintended consequence of my
previous tactic. While I mowed I certainly did a good job of husking the
walnuts, and an even better job of pressing the remaining nuts deeply into the
soft soil of the yard where the tines of a leaf rake were of little use. After
one broken rake and two sore shoulders I abandoned the attempt and contrived my
new approach.
Today, after my euphoric experience and a little face time
(more to come on those two counts) I returned to the great outdoors, this time
armed with two rakes including one of the stiff-backed, steel-tined garden variety.
Step one; rake the leaves and loose walnuts with the leaf rake. Step two;
switch to the garden rake and re-rake the entire the walnut perimeter, using the
tines to pry the embedded walnuts out of the sod. Lesson learned: rake first,
then mow. Price: double the original cleanup time before this mowing. Result:
much smoother and stress free mowing experience, plus several hundred calories
burned. Well, on to more pleasant thoughts.
Not that I would categorize a Stress Nuclear Heart Exam as a
pleasant experience; but strangely enough, I felt rather euphoric during the
drive home. I had obviously been stressing about this stress test for several
weeks. My blood pressure was way up, I was feeling edgy, and I was asking all
sorts of questions of the technicians even though I’d been through this test at
least four times over the past several years. Last year’s test uncovered more
coronary artery blockage and resulted in a new stent.
What would they find this time? Nothing. Fully restored
blood flow. Bright clear images. Clean bill of health. Driving home I’m feeling
pretty good; better than pretty good; relieved; great; euphoric. Hmm…good word,
euphoric. Guess I’ve used it more than enough for this post.
Having arrived home after four hours with the cardiologist
including drive time, I prepared a non-savory lunch to avoid temping my spouse
to violate her pre-colonoscopy routine. For a little distraction she called our
daughter to chat a bit. Speaker phone setting is mandatory to include the
grand-kiddoes in the conversation. Our voices almost immediately prompted a
request from Lil C to play with Meema and Pop-pop, meaning a switch to Skype
for a little face time. Hey, who are we to pass up this opportunity? Who cares
if we can’t touch the dolly as long as C puts the doll’s basket right in front
of the camera and demonstrates how she cares for and tucks in her little
friend? And proceeds to tell you all about it, and sings little praise songs
she learned from her dad, and throws in a verse or two of “It’s a Small World”.
Interrupted by E’s demonstration of his prowess with nearly
a quarter of the alphabet, C stated, “I need to practice my letter skills too,”
remarkably articulate for a three year old don’t you think? She proceeded to
pick up each letter E had just identified, repeat it and show it to us before
getting back to our play time with the doll.
Words and letters from E, play time with C, and a chat with
K; all in all a nice bit of face time with the family. That, some good news and
a healthy bout of exercise made for a good day…
Another good day of life in the sandwich…Pops
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