Sunburn season is upon us, and boy did I get a whopper of one over the weekend. Friday after work, Brian and I mowed Penny's lower 40 for the second time. It was beautiful weather, so we thought it best to take advantage of it. After mowing we enjoyed some adult beverages, and worked on organizing her garage; removing a plethora of cardboard boxes, breaking them down and boxing them up. All told, I'm fairly confident to estimate that we prepped 50 or more pounds of cardboard for recycling. Penny also donated around 50 pair of shoes to BR's collection for Haiti. Way to go Penny!!!
On Saturday, Brian, Penny and I drove to Cuba/Rushford to go antiquing and pick up some perennials from the plant lady (another post). Needless to say the weather was fantastic, so we had the sunroof open. I've apparently forgotten that I'm Irish, have no hair, and tan like a fork in the microwave. Top of the head burnt, when we returned to town, I donned a cap and spend 2 hours working on the bank in front of the house. Raking, digging, planting, more raking, etc. etc. etc. In the end, the bank showed improvement and I was left with two mountainous piles of soil and degrading mulch on the sidewalk.
Today, I awoke with a brilliant idea. Necessity is the mother of invention, and it was necessary that I find some other way to get the dirt from the bank out back without having to use my rickety wheelbarrow. I called Brian, who obliged my request to convert his Hummer into an urban dump truck using a blue tarp and a snow shovel. We hauled the first load up the hill and the send we took to his house to use as base material for a raised bed. We then headed to Wal-mart to pick up some potting soil for porch boxes and some topsoil to mix in with the soil at his house. Dirt delivered, we planted sunflowers and put the cardboard from Penny's to the curb. We returned to my house and dug up some plantings for around Brian's house. By time we were done his urban dump truck had been refilled with flora for his homestead. Another side note, Brian donated two monitors and a keyboard to BR's computer drive for Haiti.. Way to go Brian!!! Unfortunately, I put these both in the back of my car, and summarily forgot about them, so when i opened the back of the Suzuki on of the 25 pounders fell out and landed on my foot. While my toes remained intact, I have a massive bruise and the monitor was kaput..,
After Bubba left I picked up weeds that we had pulled while plant picking and moved around 100 daffodil bulbs from the front of the house to the built in planter off of the back patio. When I bought the 5 gallon pail of bulbs last summer I thought they would make a beautiful addition to the gardens, but let me tell you, a 5 gallon bucket of bulbs equals a LOT of plants that take up a LOT of room. After planting, I weedeated around the house, planted geraniums in the porch boxes and moved some hosts to the back of the house, where I think they'll do better given the shade.
At 2:30 I went to meet Jim and Jen in Allegany to help out with work in Bob's Woods. For those of unfamiliar with Bob's woods, its a system of trails that BR has made over the past several years. Its an absolutely beautiful system that I would highly recommend it to any outdoor enthusiasts, including hikers, bikers, runners and walkers. You can access the trail from several points on the SBU campus, as well as from Gargoyle Park. There may likely be other areas that I am not aware of, but make the effort to go. You won't be disappointed. We began at the storage area to pick up chainsaws, mowers, etc, and headed to the West end of the trail, where Jim and I mowed double wide trail paths (think of two snowplows following each other clear a highway). We then parted ways to mow other parts of the west trail, with Jen trimming back brush and the like as we went. After mowing we removed a tree that was blocking the path and proceeded to the East side of the system. Again, Jim and I mowed in a follow the leader formation, and then split off with he heading toward gargoyle park, and myself doubling back to mow the south trail of the East end. Imagine if you will that go for a 10 mile hike across an uneven, occasionally difficult in a wooded area , and for fun, decide to push the law mower the whole way. Been there, done that.
We wrapped up the day on the gargoyle Park side of the trail system, and then doubled back to storage to unload. On that note, I've taken muscles relaxer and smeared myself with lotion, so its off to bed for me. Great weekend!!! Congratulations SBU grads!!!!
-Nate
