Sunday, April 23

Workout Videos and Other Housing Stuff

Well, Zorak is out back, working on Vol. II (The Outdoor Sessions) of his "Fit and Fatigued at 40" workout series for men. You, too, can have abs of steel along with an increased need for cholesterol-lowering foods. It will come at a time when you no longer need, nor really desire, anything on your body to resemble metal, but it can be yours. (That's a longwinded way of saying that yes, it's eleven o'clock at night and he's out there building steps off the back balcony.)

I don't know that they were all that necessary, truthfully. It was getting kinda fun to grab the wash and leap from the deck. Yes, I am so lazy that I'd rather risk a broken arm than have to walk ALL THE WAY around the house to get to the clothes line. But it was also partially just fun to see if any garments in particular would give me enough drag to float down.

We have begun tackling the exterior now. Not just for aesthetics, but also to work on the tick reduction process (ie. -- more than just whining about it). The boys have been taking garlic tablets for a week (and it does seem to be working! Huzzah!) Balto got some tick spray. We bought a lawn mower. I got out there and mowed the grass-like stuff in front of the house this evening. Scalped it pretty good, I must say, and it feels SO good to walk around to the side of the house without anything to brush against my legs and make me twitch with each step like Steve Martin.

In a region where having a riding mower is the norm, and having a "zero-turn" mower is a status symbol, we have opted to ignore the Jones' and go with a push mower. For now, at least. It's definitely going to have to earn its keep, but the difference in price came to ten sheets of drywall, a roll of tape and 50' of Romex. If it bothers the Jones' that we're out there push-mowing our acreage, then they can come help. But otherwise, we're going to be in FINE shape (or dead) come fall, and the property will look... less abandoned. Everyone wins.

We also purchased some lawn pesticide stuff. Our dreams of going organic on the Forever Home were dashed by the Freddy Krueger-like influence of the Ticks. If given the choice of dying young or living a long time with the heebie-jeebies, let me die young and peaceful. Tomorrow I also plan to slather down the mowed portion of the yard with weed 'n feed. It's clover season here in the South, and we'd like to be pro-active in keeping the Forever Yard James-friendly.

We believe the foyer is just a day or two from being forced from sick bay and sent back to active duty. Yay. If you stand at just the right angle and peer through the front door, everything in view looks pretty now! 'Course, we look like idiots, leaning awkwardly to one side, staring into our own home, but that's okay because nobody can see us!

Tomorrow it's back to school, work, and routine. It's starting to come together and flow, which feels wonderful. And now, I'm going to treat myself to getting caught up with my favorite blogs!

Kiss those babies!
~Dy

4 comments:

Melora said...

I'm with you on "better living through chemistry" to kill those ticks, and I hope that was the right call on that mower! You appear to have a Lot of acreage, and I understand that Alabama gets warm, so that mowing may become onerous. Don't you think that exposed studs, freed of their old drywall, and unencumbered by new, have a certain rustic charm? Okay, maybe not. And you are a stalwart lot, so I'm sure you Will manage that push mower. I look forward to seeing a picture of that view in the front door!
Cordially,
Melora

Dy said...

Melora, we do have a lot of land, but thankfully not all of it needs to be mowed. My *hope* is that this will help get me in shape for the summer. The *truth* is that when we get to the meadows, I may well be all tuckered out and opt to call the bush hog guy in to do those. :-)

You know what we missed most when we put up the new drywall? Shelving! We'd become so accustomed to using the blocking for shelves that about a week after we'd put in new walls in a room, we would turn in circles looking for a place to set things! There were no horizontal surfaces anymore! We do miss our blocking... *wistful sigh*

Ok, I've watered, laid the weed 'n feed, mowed the back lot, and now it's time for breakfast!

Dy

hornblower said...

Hey, I just found something which you might like for Balto. It's called Revolution (!) and it's like Advantage & Frontline - it's a once a month med you put topically between their shoulder blades, but this one is not just for fleas but also ticks, heartworm and mites.

And LOL about Zorak's video! Roo was just moaning about how he's not as young as he used to be. He was stripping furniture at midnight on Saturday & took Sunday off from all projects because he was just beat.
I'm going to reassure him that it's just a matter of building up the stamina and soon, he too will be building steps in the middle of the night!

Amber said...

Matt and I have been chuckling about the "Fit and Fatigued at 40" workout all day.

Reading about all your exploits with the house is bringing out some sort of competitive masochistic streak in Matt or something... he's really starting to think about either building or renovating ourselves. Personally, I'm game, but I do sort of wonder if we should perhaps have a bit more experience than we currently have in order to do it... but then again, there's nothing like learning on the job, right?