The Elysian Fields

Wow. Lots of heavy lifting lately, especially today.

This is what I really need to do lots of - and what's been lacking in my life for most parts of the last decade. Heavy lifting two or three times a year just doesn't help. Just gives you some aches and pains that take forever to go away. With all the extra activity lately, the achey bit goes away pretty quickly, and I'm left feeling better and stronger.

Justin and I had planned to do some garage organization and then slice and dice the dead oak at the top of the driveway, but the garage proved a bigger task than we had thought. Part of the delay was in the attempt to run the mower out of gas so I could install the larger tank. Justin wound up running around the back yard and mulching the leaves because the thing just did not quit. To be fair, I had it on idle, but still - I'd always been worried that it would shut off almost immediately as it approached E on the fuel gauge. I know my car does. =)

So we straightened out the stuff on "my side" of the garage, and swapped the mower for the snowblower. Still have gas in the tank, even though it's not enough to run, so we'll have to see what happens there. I'll need to pick up some Winter weight oil and do an oil change as well. Reminds me, I need to see where I can recycle the oil. Also, was all prepared to grease up a few connections with the grease gun. Would be a great idea if I actually picked up some grease. I'm looking into a new product called BioBlend, but it seems to be new enough that only its manufacturer lists it and I can't locate distributors. I've been following some evaluations using canola oil as a bar oil on their chainsaws. As I can, I'll swap all oils for VOs or something a wee bit healthier than Dead Dinos.

Moved the grandfather clock downstairs and moved the sewing machine out to the kitchen - other than that, we didn't get all that much moved out of the garage.

"Deb's side" is still plagued with cardboard that needs cut up and then taken to recycling along with the cans and bottles and so on. Rachel was supposed to fold up some newsprint paper used as packing materials. Great stuff for Mr. B's (and others) art projects. She started in on it the last time Justin and I did some cleaning out there, and she hasn't touched it since. I had her do a bit, but most is tough to reach until Justin and I carry all the sports stuff down cellar. Before Deb will be able to get her car in, I need to pick up some ladder hooks and get that extension ladder up on the wall and out of the way.

Tomorrow we need to get to that tree.

Oh, we also helped Phil discover his attic. The builders put a cheesy 2x4 stair up into the attic space - you need a flashlight to get through the (unlit) closet and up the stairs before you can turn on the light. Like ours, they don't have any floor boards up there. Unlike ours, they are overstuffed with rolled out insulation, where we have blown in insulation (settled to a "packed" state). They also have Winter electric bills that go way into the $300's just like ours. Our neighbor across the street says their bill never went above $100 a month, but then again, that one was built to the prior owners spec, where ours were built and then sold, without any sensible design guidance like "make it energy efficient" and so on.