Progress in Paradise...

Progress in Paradise...  Debbie's still on the mend.  Tomorrow's the big day: surgical evaluation.

I started my day with a walk, at about 5 am, with all three dogs (some photos below).  The weather was lovely, and we all watched the rising sun playing on the hills across the valley, to the west.  Race was bounding through the tall alfalfa like a mad dog – in the space of five minutes, I'm sure he traveled at least two miles.  At one point he was a half mile or so away from me.  All I could see was the madly waving white tip of his tail, except for when he made a great leap onto a (possibly imaginary) vole.  He did this about every ten seconds.  He's going to be very disappointed on our next walk, though – the alfalfa field was mowed today.  They'll probably bale it on Friday, then start watering to start the next cutting off growing quickly...

I had a good day today; got a lot done. I started by making a long-overdue cleanup of the shed's first floor.  I loaded the tractor's forklift up three times: once with plastic and other packing trash, again with cardboard and pallets, and finally with two giant trash containers.  You can actually see the floor in the garage section now :)  Then I installed three swinging hummingbird feeder holders on our balcony rail.  This, of course, involved several trips to the hardware store for screws, paint, etc.  But it's done now! 

Toward the end of the day my Billy Goat blower arrived (mine is similar to the one pictured at right).  I had to meet the truck in Providence (about 8 miles away) and we transferred the 165 pound box to my pickup.  Naturally it was a kit, and it took me about an hour to assemble it.  The Honda motor started on the third pull (after being shipped without either gas or oil) and roared to life with no hassles at all.  My test run down the driveway was a spectacular success – one pass each way and every last foreign object is blown off the pavement.  Awesome!  I never knew such a device existed until the crew came to seal my driveway two weeks ago.  They used one of these to clean my driveway before spraying the sealant.  After watching them work with theirs, I said “I gotta get me one of those!”  So I did :)

Now I've got some laundry going, and I'm about to go wash the dishes, tend the cats, walk the dogs, and then crash.  Hard!