I would like to thank Holly and Alex for somehow acquiring the flu which led to a bonus afternoon of work for me! Joy!
The May 24 long weekend is a honoured Canadian tradition where the following generally happens:
– Beer is drank
– Sunburns are acquired
– Bare flesh hits the water somewhere (preferably a lake!)
Gone are the days of Matt’s cottage parties of yore, but hey, we have vegetable gardens to plant!
Friday night Vero whipped up some pizzas and Trish came over to watch 10 Cloverfield Lane which was a fantastic film. Dan Trachtenberg (of Totally Rad Show and the aborted Y: The Last Man film) makes a fantastic directorial debut here! Check the film out!
Saturday was spent drooling over an amazing tool that Mike lent me: the Stihl Kombisystem. It’s basically a motor on the top, and an interchangeable set of tools on the bottom. For example, he has a whipper snipper, a mini chainsaw and the piece de resistance…the root-tiller.
The morning started off with hearing the neighbourhood having good laughs while I toiled away in the vegetable garden pulling out weeds that had grown over the spring. I also got to chat with neighbour Brian and his son Sebastian who live across the Palmer River. It’s hard to meet neighbours on that side as I have to crawl through the woods, but I managed to chat with him and he is a pretty cool guy and I’m sure beers will be shared in the future.
Then it was time to go to town…I let the roto-tiller rip. Now, last year Vero and I rented a roto-tiller from Home Depot and that thing was a beast. Her and I had to hold it back or else it would have just gone off on its own! This Stihl tiller was the cats meow and much easier to manage. It took a good 30 minutes but it was the easiest 30 minutes I’ve ever had in the garden. Honestly, there is something to be said for tools that just make backbreaking work easier. Sure, it leads to a less fit society, but hey, it’s a smarter use of my time to not have to till the soil by shovel! I give this tool two thumbs up and I am going to be keeping my eyes open for one myself.
The rest of Saturday was spent running around town picking up mulch (on sale at Home Depot for $3.50, sweet!). For future reference, ten bags in the front would be perfect. I found a couple of extra bags that the previous owners had left in behind the dog house. I wouldn’t have noticed these bags if I didn’t chat with the neighbour so I tip my hat to you good sir. We managed to find a decent crop of veggies this year, but no zucchini or cucumbers were to be found at Ritchies due to the frost a few weeks back. Vero managed to find them at the Navan garden place the next day so we’re good on that front. We’re going to try corn again this year but the racoons got it last year which really pissed me off.
My favourite part of having a baby soon is the fact that the car is always packed with luggage that we will need for the hospital. But as soon as I need to go for a trip for some mulch, I have to unpack the entire car, then repack when it again. Welcome to fatherhood?
We’re also having some major problems in the front yard near the ditch where a lot of the grass has gone dead. I tilled that grass up and spread some grass seed/fertilizer with Mike’s spreader (I need to pick up that guy some beer for all the things he lent me!) so we’ll see how that works out after I water it for three weeks. I have zero knowledge of lawn maintenance and I have to say that every year that the Weed Man calls us, I get very tempted to spend whatever they are asking. But we made a pact to forget about professional lawn maintenance until the mortgage is paid for. We will see how we fare on our own!
Sunday we planted the veggies in the garden and then got ready to head to Vero and Martin’s wedding celebration. They had got married last fall at City Hall, then went and got married down in Cuba, and now they were holding a celebration in their backyard for the people who couldn’t make it to those other events. It was a great afternoon with plenty of sunshine. I had a good laugh when I realized that I had worn the exact same outfit as the groom. I got his permission to keep my hat on! I have to think that they were probably pretty burn out since they were starting strong at 11am and the party was winding down at 9pm! That’s a wild day. But there were good laughs, great munchies and all around a good celebration. Congrats Vero and Martin!
Monday was a more relaxing day which involved mowing the grass and catching up with some reading. Mike and Melanie dropped by with Max who looks to be teething right now. It’s cool to see him up and about and I would say 50% of the time I drop by, he’s managed to hide himself from me. But hey, that’s life of a 6 month old. Just laughter, pooping and sleeping.
All in all, a great long weekend. It’s an interesting time in our lives right now…every day that passes just makes us realize that it’s nearing the end of a chapter of being two adults who just do what they want, when they want. We’re nearing the end of that adventure and entering a new one!