Cinco de Derby Moon

Have you ever been caught up short by just not thinking?
That was my Saturday. THE Saturday which was host to
Cinco de Mayo
Kentucky Derby
Pleine Air  events
and the occurrence of the
Super Moon

Yes well.
I did not attend any festivals, parties, competitions or celebrations.
Nada.

My week has been knocked off kilter a bit  by several events.

The appliance man was called last Monday and came on Tuesday to discover the washer was flooding my house because the main drain was impacted. This meant pressure of water with no place to go had  ruptured the drain tubes for the washer. This diagnosis meant I could not get any laundry done before  moving the appliances  out of the utility room before the  new floor gets installed.The plumber could not get here until today. The tile installer and his idiotic assistant were here Wednesday, Thursday and Friday mornings. I have a rush design job in progress in the mountains an hour away. So it's been necessary to be here in the mornings for the tile installation and then get to the job site to check the trades, etc. in the afternoons. I like busy but this past week was not the kind of busy I enjoy.

My house is filthy.
Like days of  my youth I am wishing for the power to twitch my nose and  voila! a perfect house. Sigh.

Blowfish and the appliance man, in their wisdom, moved vacuums,  floor scrubber, brooms, mops, cleaning supplies out of the utility room in order of smallest to largest . For some unfathomable reason they chose to use the guest bedroom as the store room. (A room with hardwood floors does not seem to me to be the best place to park leaky equipment.)  So they took all the stuff I need to maintain this house and put it along the far wall of the guest room then placed in front of it one dryer and, smack in the doorway, one washer. Effectively making it impossible to enter the room or fetch any of the cleaning equipment necessary to maintain our home. This overall is not a good scenario. It is especially difficult for a woman who deals with stress and anxiety by doing laundry.

Since being inside was not productive, and concentration impossible, I decided the best use of my time would be spent in the yard. Spring is a time of many chores in Zone 7. Many.  Not the least of which is mulching. Over the three mornings I trimmed hedges, pulled weeds, dead headed flowers and then raked and hauled.  Then  raked and hauled some more. Progress felt good but as I was working I realized this long term, unrelenting drought was already causing signs of distress around our property.

One of my biggest fantasies is to have all the mulch I want. Well. that is half of the fantasy.  The other part includes the mulch accompanied by  heavy equipment and laborers. Mulching is hard work. Most of our Springs here at the Pond we have  ordered a  ginormous truck load of mulch be dumped at the end of the tennis court then have pitchforked and hauled it all around the property. It cannot be done in a day or even a weekend. It is backbreaking labor.

So a few years ago I went down to the Fafard plant and had them load my cargo bay with bags of mulch. Then I drove around the property with Blowfish throwing out bags where  they were needed. A quick X with a blade followed by flipping the bag put most of the mulch where needed and the only thing left to haul was empty wrappers. It took multiple trips to Fafard but overall this was a more manageable approach.

Saturday morning  I decided I would finish trimming and hauling the holly hedge. This is an undertaking because it's 2oo linear feet of hedges and uphill hauling.  As the clock rolled around to mid afternoon I noticed some of the bushes were looking droopy. This is not a good sign. I never get too worried when the annuals go to drooping  but when the shade growing bushes get the droop it is an indication of urgent need.  So I turned the sprinklers on and went to fetch bags of mulch.

 Did I mention Blowfish was not available?
 As in  not on the premises so there absolutely was no laborer but me? I realize my yard will never look like a magazine ad but I was hoping to  maybe  get enough  mulch out  to keep the moisture from evaporating around the bushes. Hours later I came in to get cleaned up thinking I would join friends and festivities at the local Irishman's Pub. As I was toweling my hair dry I turned on the tv and realized they were calling "Jockeys up!".  No way could I get hair, make-up, clothing and driving to the pub done in a few minutes.  So I went to fetch a beverage and watch the race thinking I would still meet up with friends for the Cinco celebrations.

It was some time after 9pm when Mother Nature woke me up by the brilliance of the Super Moon shining  through the window. So, that was my  Cinco de Derby Moon Day. How was yours?