Today was one of those days where I felt like I rushed the entire day. I got alot done, but at the end of the day feel worn out. It's Saturdays like this one that make me glad I have Thursdays off.
I got up at 7:45 and left the house at 8:00. Yesterday I had switched cars with Steven Halbert. He has a little Nissan truck that he has had ever since we were in high school together, and I wanted to use it to pick up mulch. At the "Twin Chimneys Landfill," which is in Honea Path, they give away free mulch to anyone who can haul it away. It isn't the greatest quality because it consists of any yard waste brought there, including grass and leaves, but hey...it's free. On my way out I stopped to get some gas and then ran in Home Depot to get a pitchfork. If you are the person who does mulching with a shovel, you really need to get a pitchfork, it's tons easier.
I got to the landfill around 9 and found the mulch loading location. The lady that I asked was extremely grumpy and treated me like I was a bother. It's her job to sit there and tell people where to go and I was very cordial, so I don't know what her deal was. I try to keep in mind when people are grumpy that they could just be going through rough things in their life, and I should probably just have a little grace for them. Sometimes it works, sometimes not so much.
The whole loading process is cool. You back up to this enormous mulch pile, and then this guy in a massive front end loader picks up mulch and puts it in your truck...and I mean massive. One load of this stuff not only filled the truck up all the way to the top of the cab, it was on the hood and everywhere else also.
After I got my load I pulled over to the side and got out Steven's tarp. Apparently it's a law that you "tarp your load," or so I read online. I had a long piece of rope and a bungee, which I assumed would be enough. This was a big mistake...I'm such a newbie. I got the tarp tied down after a great deal of struggling to connect it to the hooks in the bed. Apparently digging through tons of mulch to get to the hooks is extremely difficult. Live and learn I guess. When I started driving away, it was obvious my tarp job was sub par. I was losing mulch everywhere, so I pulled over and tried to fix things. It wasn't much better, but I made back to 418 where there was a Dollar Tree where I was able to buy more rope and some scissors. This helped a great deal, and I got the tarp tied down much better. After that I took it easy and made it home by about 10:30 with most of the mulch intact. I was glad to be back as the entire ordeal with the tarp was incredibly stressful.I always tend to be judgemental about people in situations until God puts me in a similar situation. After that I tend to have alot of grace for people. Let me tell you...next time I am behind a slow moving pickup with mulch blowing off the back, I will feel sorry for them, especially if they are my age.
My mom had dropped by to say hi, so Kristi and I talked to her for a while and then got started on the mulching. The process went quickly and it showed me how much area of mulch bed my parents actually have. We used to literally get a tractor trailer full of mulch dumped in the cul-de-sac, and then it would take a long day of 6-10 people working to get it all spread around their yard. Thankfully our mulch beds aren't nearly as large. Really it's not even comparable.
I finished unloading the truck bed by 12:40 and took off for the landfill again. It looked like one more load would do it, and their next load time was 1-3 pm. I got there a little after 1 only to find out that the front end loader had broken, and I would have to wait until the guy came back with another one. I think God puts me in situations like this to help me be patient. I sat in the truck for about 30 minutes and tried to just enjoy the time listening to the radio. I'll admit, I was relieved when I saw another front end loader come over the hill. This time I had been very smart and tied the ropes to the hooks and hung them over the side before the load was put in. This made putting the tarp on much easier, and I was off quickly after being loaded up for the second time.
When I got home I ate a quick lunch and headed back outside. I unloaded mulch while Kristi spread it around, which was her job for the day. Lucy's job was apparently finding trash in the mulch and eating it, which is what she did the entire day. Hopefully she isn't going to be sick tomorrow morning, it is such a pain when she is. We finished around 4 and cleaned up Steven's truck. Kristi did a great job cleaning the inside, and then I washed the outside. It was filthy! After I washed it, much of the driveway was covered in dirt. I spent time washing it to the sides and then using the push broom to get the dirty water into the grass. I didn't want the driveway to get stained, which would create another chore of pressure washing for me. When I was done I went inside and took a shower. I know I promised pictures today, but it was getting dark when I went in. Everything looks really good, and I promise I will take some pictures tomorrow afternoon as long as it isn't raining.
Kristi and I went over to her cousin's house tonight for dinner. We had shrimp and grits, and it was so delicious. I'm not really a shrimp and grits person, but the shrimp part had sausage like low country boil and was really good. Even the grits were good. I thoroughly enjoyed the meal. We also watched the Clemson vs. FSU game. Most of the people there were FSU fans because they either went there or lived close to the school, so I tried to quietly cheer for Clemson. We didn't pull it out, but we did score 27 points. I see this season as lost, so as long as our offense continues to improve I feel better and better about next year. By the way, I knew Penn State was going to lose today. They haven't played anyone good all year, and I thought Iowa would be their downfall. I even told Kristi when Penn State was ahead that they were going to lose...you can ask her.
After dinner and dessert we drove Steven's truck back to him and then came home. Even Lucy was tired from all the activity today, because when we came home it seemed like she had slept the whole 4 hours we were gone.
Tomorrow should be a good day. I don't have too many responsibilities tomorrow morning, which will be a nice break. Tomorrow night I am going to go to a show at the Channel which I am really excited about. My good friend Ryan is opening with his band "Torches," and then "All Get Out" is headlining. I really liked them last time I saw them there, so I am excited to go see them again. This music talk reminds me, my Marshall has got a few bids on it, and I'm hoping it goes for over 150$. I was thinking about getting boots and bindings, but that snare is so tempting...
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