Catching Up

Sheesh, I haven't posted forever.

Somehow, I don't get to post from home much, just when I'm taking a break at work.

Yesterday I took the day off from work. Kevin had a pre-op appointment in the morning. His wisdom teeth are blocking his 12-year molars from coming in so they have to come out. Because of his autism, the oral surgeon wants to do the work at a surgery center where he'll have a professional nursing staff to monitor Kevin's recovery, instead of in his office where recovery consists of sitting in a chair until you're awake enough to walk out. The surgery is planned for next Wednesday.

After I got Kevin back to his day camp I went home and cleaned the kitchen, complete with a floor mopping. I was waiting to hear from my brother and dad. They were coming out to help with some yard work and I had to give them directions to the rental center. If you read my husband's blog you might remember this post about his tree-trimming project.

We hadn't done anything with the trimmed branches, they were still where they fell. For months Dan and I talked about how to get rid of them. There was a lot of branches from the 20 trees. Too many to drag to the curb on yard-trash days. We considered buying a personal sized chipper but that meant we'd still have a lot of work cutting down the branches so they'd fit. We considered renting a chipper, as well as hiring a tree company.

I ended up renting a industrial sized chipper which took limbs up to 6" in diameter. OK, stop thinking Fargo. My brother came out with his truck with a trailer hitch so we could get the thing home. For two hours Mark and I hauled, dragged and carried branches to the chipper while my Dad fed them in the chute, except when Dad took a break and took pictures of his kids (I'll have to check his blog later to see if he posted them) and Mark and I did the chute feeding.

It was fun watching big branches go in and mulch come out. I wanted to put in something else to watch it shred à la Malcolm in the Middle but since the rental company had my $800 deposit and I wanted it back, I thought better of it.

My new mulch pile is about 3' tall by 3' wide. That ought to cover a couple flower beds when I find the energy to haul it around the yard. Can I use that right away or does it have to age for a while? Anyone know?

Monday I took the day off, too. Dan and I played golf with AM and Mark in another fund-raising tournament. I started off playing OK, but went down-hill mid-way through. I guess I used up too many good shots at the driving range before we played.

Saturday I took AM out to a local executive course to play nine holes. She hadn't golfed since the tournament in May and I thought she'd like the practice. I played very well Saturday. Except for putting, we won't talk about that. At many of the latter holes, while we were waiting for the guy in front of us to finish, we'd hit two balls instead of just one. AM called it "testicle golf."