“Remoted” – Day 145 (Saturday)

It was a Saturday morning like many before it. There was coffee and Candy Crush and enough online news to cause stress. A few sites are now on pause to spare myself the ongoing aggravation. Once the coffee kicked in, inspiration struck for some yard work. One of the front yard gates is at a paved walkway, the other opens to grass. The idea was to take out some of the grass at the one gate and set stone blocks to make the gate placement feel more deliberate. There are several squarish stones from Neighbor Guy’s old wall in a pile in the back yard. Grass was removed, dirt was leveled, and blocks were schlepped from the pile in the back yard. Because they aren’t actually paver stones and are the former top of a wide wall, the squares are thick. And heavy.

Oops. Created a dust bowl.

There were problems. The size of the blocks and the size of the gate opening don’t really work together. Two blocks are too narrow, and three don’t fit by about one-third of a block. This could probably be worked through with strategic gravel placement or some bricks, but there was another problem. The blocks are about three inches thick, so unless I dig down a few more inches to bring it level, it’s a major trip hazard. As one who trips a lot, often without provocation, I don’t need to be planting additional obstacles in my own way. So now, instead of lush, green crabgrass I have a naked dust bowl under the gate. It looks like something tried to tunnel under it. On the plus side, it was a good workout pulling grass and weeds and schlepping the heavy pavers back and forth.

Roasted potato salad, salmon salad,
and chilled roasted butternut squash.

There was Netflix. There was a nap. There was more Netflix. There was half-hearted online grocery cart filling at Whole Foods, abandoned due to lack of my own interest. A Facebook ad indicated that Hannaford now has delivery, and a cart was filled there, insanely heavy on ice cream. The ice cream selection is much better on the Hannaford website, in terms of brands and flavors, including pumpkin ice cream! The prices are better at Hannaford, but the $10 delivery charge probably evens the score. This is the price of avoiding the store. But I spend more when grocery shopping in person, so however it’s sliced and diced, grocery shopping costs me a bunch of coin.

About the only thing that was completed, beside the wonderful nap, was supper. After the online shopping, the pantry was explored and a forgotten can of salmon was unearthed. Mixed with a seasoning blend and mayo, and served with potato salad and chilled roasted butternut squash chunks it made for a tasty meal. It’s today’s success story.