A few days away

I simply stayed away from the computer most of the weekend, so no update yesterday.  No update Friday because, well the same reason, but slightly different.  In both cases I was busy and by the time the end of the day rolled around, I was so entirely beat I simply had to fall into bed.  

Friday I played pool with a friend after work.  That was nice, but a little too expensive to do very often.  I think maybe once a month with a little less food would probably fit the budget okay.  Have not played pool in a long time, but I still managed to "not lose" using my patented 'clog-the-table' strategy.  By allowing my opponent ample opportunities to scratch on the 8-ball, I would avoid losing.  I was beaten twice however - but I can't not-lose every time.  I'm hopeful that I'll be able to try this again relatively soon and improve my skills.  My fine-touch shots were much better than I recall.

Yesterday was a long day, which involved my lawn mostly.  I mentioned to my dad that I wanted to top dress my lawn, and he said that April was a good month to do that.  He called me early and said he was heading out to get some top soil, was I ready?  I said sure because if I didn't do it then, it probably wouldn't get done.  Or I would have to order some soil, which would mean the cost of the dirt (~ $30/cubic yard) plus delivery charges ($50-$100 I'm guessing).  In other words, delivery is at least as much as the soil itself, and seeing as I need only a few yards, the delivery would be the majority cost.  I believe that most places will waive the delivery fee if you order enough, but "enough" is usually "a truckload" and that's > 10 cubic yards.  That would be enough to choke my entire lawn and create flower beds around the whole house and represents a lot of work to haul.  Considering topsoil weighs about 2400 lbs (1.2 tons) per cubic yard, I don't think I'd have the energy to move that much dirty.  In one day anyway.

Anyway, my dad was able to fit about 2.5 cubic yards in his pickup and we spread that over the front lawn and made some piles in the back.  Then it was lunch - a fine steak lunch - and then resting, followed by spreading the dirt in the back yard, mixing fertilizer and grass seed, spreading that over the front and back lawns, followed by racking everything with a metal fan-rake.  That was enough for one day, but I think that I did what I needed to.  We'll see how everything turns out in a few weeks.  I'm pretty sure my lawn is in good shape, as it looks a bit better than most of my neighbour's lawns.  I don't like to water my lawn, mainly because I'm I think that I shouldn't really have to do that, plus it's a bit of a waste of water.  Several neighbours have sprinklers built into their lawns, and one adjacent neighbour waters consistently all summer.  I think that after 3 years of non-watering, my lawn has developed a deeper root system and that is why it looks better now.  Their lawns will remain very good during the summer while they water them, but I'm hopeful that my lawn will remain thick and non-dead even if I don't water it much.  I'd rather have a lawn suited to the climate (read: I don't have to water) .  My dad has mentioned that all the grasses he's seen growing native near his house (out in fields and such) are much more robust and remain green and full all summer, no matter how wet or dry it becomes.

Anyway, enough lawn talk - that was a long day's work.  I tried to catch up with my playoff watching, but I simply could not.  That combined with the scheduled power-outage meant that I had to go to bed before I passed out, although that nearly happened three or four times...  I didn't really need to unplug anything, although I turned off one power bar - it was more to turn off my UPSs.  I have one on my main computer and one on my cordless phone.  The cordless phone one is most annoying - it has no buttons except on/off and it beeps every few minutes when the power is off to indicate it is using battery power.  I cannot think of anything more annoying that sitting in the dark with a UPS beeping at me.  It's not like I don't know the power is out - I understand the battery is being used. In fact, that's why I bought it! Can't it just do it's job quietly???  Even if it had a blinky light to show it was on battery, that would be okay because you can't see it if you're asleep or in a different room.  But anyway, that's the way it is.  Everything seems to be okay today, so I don't think anything went "kablamo".

Today it was simple chores around the house and Rock Band.  The perennial favorite.  I tried to arrange a session with my almost-brother-in-law, but I just wasn't persistent enough.  He was interested, but I didn't get him on the phone until late in the day.  Oh well - a couple of weeks and we'll be good to go.  I have to make sure I have some beer and vittles so we can arrange things.  It will be good.