Daily Routine

We hope to get back to our original daily routine of working in the morning and relaxing in the afternoon.  I always have been a "morning person," so working when I have the energy early in the morning is always better for me.  Rick tends to be the same way, so this arrangement works out well.

Rick fills in the area around the Florida Room
window to complete the paint on the house.

This morning dawned clear and warm, so it was a perfect day to get back outside.  Rick painted the final coat of paint on the back wall which greatly helped "disguise" the patch job to the stucco.  Next year I would like to add some kind of art or visual interest on that wall, but for now the blank wall with the electrical plug will just have to do.

Raking in the shade was much easier than waiting until later
when this whole area is in the sun.  Each time I rake, the yard
seems to get bigger.

While Rick was painting, I raked half of the back yard.  The wind was low today, and what was blowing was blowing away from the house, so conditions were in my favor.  I actually had to rake each area twice.  The first time was to use a garden rake to dig up the leaves, stones, sticks, and other junk that was clogging the grass.  Then I switched to a regular rake to pick up the dead mulched grass clippings and the finer debris.  In all, I now have three full black bags of leaves and debris to drag to the curb for Monday pick-up.  I still have a little area of the back yard to complete, but since we have other construction debris to take to the curb, I had better wait until next week.  If we put too much out, the garbage men refuse to take it all.

After I finished, the back yard looks pretty pathetic.  We have more weeds than grass, and more dirt than weeds.  Because of that, we ordered more grass seed.  We will try to over-seed the entire back yard and see if anything grows.

We removed the burlap from the front yard this afternoon.  In some places the grass came in well; other places have some pretty bare areas.  Again, I will keep watering what is there, add more seed as needed, and hope that it all fills in this summer.

We were finished by noon today which left the afternoon to do a little shopping, and then to relax with books, puzzles, and other past times.  This is what retirement should be.