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The List, Revisited
2007-05-07, 4:56 p.m.

Day 988

So I had a very, very ambitious weekend planned. Made a list & everything. How�d it go? Well, the bolded ones got done. The non-bolded ones? Died due to lack of time and/or importance.


The list: (sort of in order of importance)

Watch Sabres game tonight (hey � the weekend starts Friday night!) (what a game!!)
Do the crazy man 3 class cycling session
Refill 2 propane tanks
Paint the section of house where the window was replaced (at least the priming is done)
Re-hang the shutters when the paint is dry. (restores the exterior to normal at least)
Repair people door on west wall of garage.
Change oil in the van & car (van needs windshield washer juice too)
Change oil in the lawnmower
Mow lawn (a one hour job usually, no biggie)
Plant new perennials (picked up 11 new perennials last week!!)
Clean out the garage (again) � toss 6 billion �rags� out
Go for the 1st real outdoor bike ride of the season (sad, I know, but this IS Rochester)
Till veggie garden � thin the garlic?
Haul scrap metal to salvage yard (couple hundred pounds of aluminum & lead)

Someplace in there will be meals and a beer or two.

All in all, looks like 8 out of 13. Doing the shutters and fixing the garage door are quickies that I can knock off this week sometime. Those last 3? Well, the bike ride I can always sneak in sometime. Tilling the garden won�t be really pressing for another week or two and hauling that metal to the salvage yard has been waiting 2 years so a few more weeks won�t hurt.

I did sneak in some extras too. After changing the oil, I actually managed to wash the van. Offered to do the car, but someone was in a 2 day funk and didn�t want to play nice. Her car didn�t get done.

While tending to the perennials, which grew to a 16 plant instead of 11, we also decided to start replacing some of the deer damaged arborvitae. Went to our favorite local garden store and started looking around. Man! Trying to get 6� tall replacements plants is an expensive proposition. I was used to getting the 4� � 5� arborvitaes for like $25 a pop. Well, replacements that are not considered forage by deer are a little pricier, like $70 & up (up to over $150!!). Instead of replacing all the damaged trees, we decided to replace 1 directly, yank one and leave it at that, and replace a third by shuffling 4 or 5 (or 8) other plants around. Well, got the one direct replacement done. That was the one nearest our pond. Considering we have to look at it every time we�re out on the patio and it was the second worst damaged, it got replaced by a lacy green leaved Japanese Maple. It�s rather appropriate since we�re sporting a slightly oriental theme around the pond as it is.

Also yanked a couple of junipers that had been damaged by the deer (stepped on them on their way to the munchies & broke branches) that will also allow more room for nearby plants to expand.

Then I got to the part where I was going to move a 6�tall Alberta Spruce. Realizing that the rootball on a beast like that could get up into the 200 pounds range, I opted to wait until I had a couple of extra backs to help. The plan was to gently (right) remove the Alberta, put it in where another damaged arborvitae will be removed. Then, to fill the gap where the Alberta came out, we�d (I) would re-arrange another 4 or 5 plants and plop in a lovely new Burning Bush (Euonymous sp. that turns a screaming scarlet in the fall. Very pretty). But, like I said, my unwillingness to attempt to move the Alberta solo derailed that plan. Besides, the Sabres game was on and I was having to constantly move the radio around to hear it.

So what did I do instead? Mowed the yard. Made it even tougher to hear the game. When I started to mow, the score was tied at 1 early in the second period. After doing the front & side yards, I took a little info break only to find the Sabres ahead 4-2 heading into the third period. I�d gotten halfway through the back yard when Cindy came out and offered to mow some. I took full advantage, let her mow and went inside and watched the last half of the third period. Turned out to be a real nail biter, but the Sabres hung on for the series-clinching win. Next: Ottawa. What a series that one will be!

It occurred to me this morning that this weekend would have been a great time to call my sponsor. Cindy was in the midst of pulling one of her Jekyll & Hyde weekends. Passed out Friday night early. Hardly said a word to anybody all day Saturday. Crusher hangover anyone? She finally started acting human Sunday � but that was only after she decided she could give in to the urge to drink again. She was so miserable with out it. In spite of the activities I had lined up, it made for some very long, tiring weekend afternoons.

Keep applying the principles of the program. Got nothing else to do.

Did have a really good cycling session(s) Saturday morning. All 3 of them. Even felt pretty good afterwards. Starting to think that maybe the 100 miler might be possible. Even more so after Cindy doubted my ability to even make it 100k. Talked to a guy at work today about doing the Tour de Cure. He�s done it before but dropped out after they moved it to Sunday�s. Anyhow � he gave me some nice tips. One I knew � drink gallons of water. Drink constantly. The other one was to eat, but do it in little baby bites. First, you don�t want to divert a ton of energy to digesting. Best to let your stomach handle a steady small load. Second, if you stuff a whole energy bar in your mouth, how are you supposed to breathe? Good point, eh? (you�re working so hard, it�s not like breathing through your nose is really an option. Plus, this is Rochester. We all have sinus issues here.)

He also advised finding a partner to ride with, just to help with tempo and having someone to split the work with. Might work on that. Might stay alone too. Sometimes I like it that way.

Well, off for more car shopping with mom. I think we have her expectations narrowed down to a workable level. Might even wrap things up tonight.

One can only hope!


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