Man I am getting old

Over the weekend I decided that 90+ degrees with a heat index of near 100 would be a good opportunity to get a little yardwork done. I didn't bother grabbing a shower in the morning and just went right to the swimsuit rather than shorts. After cutting the grass I decided that now was the time to mark out the area that the monster swingset would be positioned. I had tried to do this before, but it was hard to imagine the actual footprint of this monster, so I took out a bunch of string and steaks and layed it out to the inch. After measuring, sweating, marking and sweating I went in and had Jenny come outside so get her approval. Little too close to the fence. So more measuring,sweating, marking and sweating. She came back outside and thought it looked good whereupon I quickly agreed.

NOW what to do about the ground underneath the swingset. We had decided to put down mulch as a "soft" barrier in case the kids fell of the swings or whatever. Question was do we dig down a little bit to create a pit or just put up landscape timbers, kill the grass, and mulch on top. I decided to dig up the sod a couple of inches thick. It actually went surprisingly well with the soil having just enough moisture to let me get a shovel beneath it. I transported this sod to another part of the backyard where I had pulled up the flagstone and it's starting to look pretty good. Digging up sod is a long and tedious process where I am digging up 12" x 8" pieces at a time so I can transplant them to another area of the yard. I might see how much it costs to rent a sodcutter since these little miracles do exist, but after a couple hours of work I am almost a quarter of the way done (of a 15' x 26' area) so it will just depend on cost.

I took special care to stay properly hydrated during the day by taking out a large container of ice water whereupon William kept drinking it since he loves drinking out of a straw so many trips inside for a refill. One of the best purchases of the summer has been the $10 inflatable pool from target. I filled up the pool in the morning with some real chilly water outta the hose and took a few trips to soak my feet and get my head wet. I decided to call it a day after a couple hours of doing this and ended my day on another project outside and actually felt halfway decent going to bed.... and then I woke up the next morning. ouch ouch hey they hurts. Pain in my arms mostly and a few complaints from my back too.. man I am getting old.