Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009
This is terrible, just terrible. I think I have found myself walking down a very bad path.
Okay, so I already told you that I am taking some trees down in the woods next to the house. This is a good thing and it’s really starting to look nice over there. I actually took two more trees down today. I don’t like to do too many at a time because I would rather get used to the small changes I make and think about what I am doing before I go ahead and take down some more. Either way, I am building up next year’s supply of firewood.
This is where the problem starts. I still have about a cord of wood from the trees I cut down last summer. It’s is seasoning quite nicely and will make for some splendid firewood come this winter.
Now, I am almost positive that I have complained about the miserable (in)efficiency of a regular fireplace. We have one here and it does a really great job of sucking up what ever heat you already have in the house, out the chimney. Sure, the living room is warm, but you have to wear a snow suit in all the other rooms. Really, I don’t even use it much…just on those chilly spring or autumn evening when the pellet stove isn’t running.
So here I am, sitting on a cord of seasoned firewood and building up next year’s supply. What to do?
I am very happy with the pellet stove we got last year. It kicks butt when it comes to heating up about 3/4 of the house. To get that much heat, I need to keep it humming all winter. Last winter, I used four tons of pellets. I wouldn’t mind having a heat supplement helping out the pellet stove.
I am going to make a long whiny story short here. I really want a Hampton HI300 Wood Insert for the fireplace in the living room. Take a look at it:
http://www.hampton-fire.com/Wood/Inserts/HI300/index.php
It’s really nice, isn’t it?
I called the fellas down at the fireplace store today and told them what I wanted. He wrote up a quote and faxed it over to me. The thing is, it’s pricey. I know I’m not going to save any money by getting this little toy, so I’m iffy about the whole thing. To make matters worse, there is a tax credit that’s available called the “The U.S. Biomass Tax Credit.” It gives you back 30% of your purchase and installation price, up to $1500. That is just driving me crazy. You can learn about the tax credit here.
I know I am going to find myself in the car tomorrow or the next day driving down to the fireplace store. It’s bad, but I just want to feel that heat cranking out of that stove this winter. It even has a blower.
I’ll let you know what happens.
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Sunday, May 24th, 2009
This is becoming a little tradition for me. Every year, I take some nice photos of the first Bearded Iris to bloom.
This purple and white beauty bloomed yesterday. A few more came to life today and I expect the rest will start showing their colors tomorrow. When the entire row is bloomed, I’ll take some pictures for you.
The bearded Iris is, by far, my favorite flower. The flower stems are like small trees. They are tall and strong. Although the flower itself has a short life, it’s really good looking. The best part of all is that the Bearded Iris multiplies, so you can pretty much expand your garden as far as you would like throughout the years. I have these flowers growing all over the place here.
I took a few pictures of this bearded Iris today. I tried to get a regular shot, one from the top and another close up so you can see the pollen. Lastly, I got a photo of another plant’s bud.
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Purple and white Bearded Iris
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Purple and white Bearded Iris viewed from above
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Up close picture of a Bearded Iris yellow pistil and pollen
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Purple Bearded Iris unbloomed bud
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Thursday, April 9th, 2009
This is a sweet, sweet present I have been looking forward to for many years.
About a month ago, there was a day that offered perfect weather. I would say it was about 55 degrees and sunny. Coming off a cold winter, this was just what we were looking for. I was outside just walking around, when Laura decided to join me. We talked for a little while and decided to have a seat on an area of mulch. It was warm and dry. We continued talking and after a while, we ended up laying there looking up at the sky. That’s when she said, “Wouldn’t having a hammock be really cool?” It was like a light bulb went off in my head.
Yesterday, I wrote about getting some stuff at Home Depot. What I didn’t write was about the hammock I bought. I wanted that to be a surprise. I also needed to set it up and take a picture of it before I wrote about it. Well, today was the day for that.
Pawleys 13 foot cotton rope hammock with pillow
The hammock I got was the Pawleys 13 foot cotton rope hammock with pillow. It was just the one I was looking for. There were a few more expensive hammocks, but they weren’t as large. This one is 60″x84″. That’s pretty big. I also like the rope because it’s really comfortable.
When I took this hammock out of the box, it looked kind of short. I really thought it was too small. I went out to the “hammock spot” and hooked everything up. The middle of the hammock was about 2 1/2 feet off the ground. I was very excited to try it out, so I got into position and kind of jumped on it. Well, I think I should have gone more slowly, because I landed on the ground. The hammock stretched out a good amount. I had to get up and adjust the chains; actually, I had to remove the chains. I just hooked the hammock directly to the hooks on the trees. After that, everything was cool. After the initial stretch out, it hasn’t stretched any further, even with both of us laying on it.
Is it tough to get off a hammock once you are on one? Well, not physically, but mentally it is. Once I had it all set up properly, I lay down on it, just to see how it felt. A half hour later I had to pull myself up before I fell asleep. I’m tellin’ ya, it’s a sweet feeling just laying there listening to the birds chirp.
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Wednesday, April 8th, 2009
Many of you don’t know this, but part of why I keep writing in the blog is to document many of the things that I am interested in. Just in the past month alone, I have probably looked back to see what I was thinking last March and April about ten times. I wanted to see what the weather was like, what the trees looked like and my general attitude on things. Strangely enough, it seems as though I have a fairly cyclical attitude, meaning, if I get bummed out during a cold March, I probably felt that way last year too. That’s why I try to put a little of myself into what I write here.
Today’s weather report said it was supposed to be cold and rainy. Besides a freak (light) snowfall this morning, it has shaped up to be a rather nice day. It’s not too cold and the sun has been popping in and out all day long.
This morning, I started doing a bit of walking around with the camera. Many things have buds and I would guess that if we had a few nice warm days, a fair amount of plants would spring to life. You just wait, because I have a lot going on.
One thing I did grab a photo of this morning was a Weihenstephaner Gold (Bailey’s Gold) plant. I really like these little flowers. They slowly spread, are easily splittable and are hard to kill. That’s my type of plant.
Now, I know that I already posted a photo of Bailey’s Gold last year, but that was in June. If I am going to document what it looks like in early April, I am going to need to post another photo. Enjoy.
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Friday, January 23rd, 2009
Internet Population Passes One Billion; Top 15 Countries
The number of people on the Internet surpassed one billion in December, according to comScore. The actual number is probably higher than that (Internet World Stats counted nearly 1.5 billion Web surfers worldwide as of June 30, 2008). In any case, only between 15 and 22 percent of the world’s population is on the Internet. We have a long way to go.
Climate Change Killing America’s Trees at Ever Faster Rates
Trees in western North America are dying at faster and faster rates, and climate change is likely to blame. The mounting deaths could fundamentally transform Western forests because tree reproduction hasn’t increased to offset losses, according to a new study published Thursday in Science.
More Spaceflight Needed To Drive Evolution
There is fierce debate over the direction humanity should take when exploring the solar system. Plans for human exploration of the solar system and beyond often polarize opinions among the public and scientific communities.
Want to Live Longer? Cut the Pollution
Nobody pretends that polluted air isn’t terrible for your health. Clean up the skies over any dirty city and the people who live there will all but certainly become healthier. That, at least, has been popular wisdom, but until now, no one had ever put it to the statistical test. Now someone has and the results are striking.
Mars and Mercury Formed From Planetary Scraps
Mars and Mercury were formed from the scraps of Earth and Venus, according to a radical new theory of rocky planet formation. The model could explain some characteristics of Mars and Mercury that have long puzzled scientists, said Brad Hansen, an astronomer at the University of California, Los Angeles.
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Friday, August 15th, 2008
In my last post, I said that people need to start writing more. I said that our readers don’t care what we write about, just that we write. I even threatened to take my camera out with me this morning.
Well, guess what. I did just that. Since I had to go to the mailbox this morning to put some outgoing mail in it, I decided to enjoy a little walking tour with the good ol’ camera in hand. I know this feels like a Seinfeld episode (about nothing) but this is what I do.
After I put the mail in the mailbox, I headed back down the driveway. I looked at the ground and noticed all sorts of acorns laying there all spread out. Every day this happens. There is a big Red Oak at the end of the driveway that makes a huge mess. I think the squirrels are $%^& with me. I need to call a tree service to come prune a few trees, this being one of them. I hate having this messy tree for everyone to see. Maybe when it’s getting pruned, I’ll take some before and after shots.
Anyway, when I looked down at the driveway, I noticed some ants running around. I took a bunch of pictures of them, but they were too fast and the pictures came out blurry. They would’ve been really cool because they were close up. While I was down on the driveway, I decided to take a picture of an acorn so you know what I am talking about.
Red Oak acorn
There are hundreds of these things. Every time I mow the lawn, I take out the blower to blow off the driveway. Within a few days, they are back. After taking the picture, I had to get up and run because a car was coming. That’s all they need to see…G laying down on the driveway taking more pictures.
Last night, I also mentioned that I was taking down some small trees in the woods along the driveway. My goal is to make it a bit lighter in there with some breaks of sun. I have to be careful not to take down too much, because I really like the trees. The last thing I want is full sun. I have already made a dent. I would say I am taking down anything smaller than 6″. Here are some photos of that.
Woods along driveway
Woods along driveway
Woods along driveway
As you can see, there is some filtered sunlight coming through. I probably have about 10-15 more trees to remove.
A few days ago, I discovered a faster and quieter way of doing this. Well, one way is quieter, but not faster. I am using a hand saw for some of them. Basically, I take the tree down and then cut the top leafy part off of it. I drag the stalk up and place it in the pile you see in the last photo. I drag the top of the tree down into the brush pile in the woods. I always need a good brush pile. You would be amazed at how fast a big brush pile collapses over time.
The faster way is to do what I described above, but with a chainsaw. I used to cut the wood into firewood right there, but that was noisy. I will do that all in one shot when I am done taking down the trees.
Here is a beautiful picture of one of the stumps.
Birch tree stump
At the bottom of the driveway, I noticed a new flower growing in the spot I just mulched. It was mixed in with all the others. It just bloomed so I thought that deserved some recognition.
New white flower
After I took a picture of that flower, I walked across the front lawn to get some shots of a nice pink flower up there. I did that and then I took a shot of the Highbush Cranberry that we have growing. There are a few of these bushes and the berries are getting very red.
Pink flower
Highbush Cranberry
You see how nice that was? It was a big blog post about nothing and I think I got away with it. Well, we’ll see what people write about it to see if I really got away with it.
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Tuesday, April 8th, 2008
I went outside yesterday to take a few photos of some buds on some trees. I grabbed a few good ones of our Thundercloud Purple Leaf Plum and the Bradford Pear.
I have to say, this blog has been very handy for me to look at when I start wondering when things are going to bloom. Every Spring I think the same thing…when is this going to grow, when is that going to bud? I asked those questions last year, so I thought ahead. Last year, I began documenting (with photos), right here on this blog, when things start changing. Now, all I have to do is look at the archives on my blog to find out. Pretty cool…
Anyway, here are the photos I took yesterday:
This photo is our Thundercloud Purple Leaf Plum. That’s a pretty cool tree, but the Japanese Beetles LOVE it. Beware. I hope to get some nice growth on it this year.
This is the Bradford Pear that we have in the front yard. It grows kind of slow, from what I have seen.
I will be taking more photos as the season goes on.
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Tuesday, December 11th, 2007
I took some pretty cool photos this morning of all the ice on the trees. I heard that the midwest got hit hard. We didn’t get hit nearly as hard. Things are icy, but it is actually really nice outside. It is warming up fast, so you can hear all the ice falling from the trees out in the woods. It’s a really neat sound and very beautiful.
I was walking around outside this morning with my coffee. Just what I always wanted. About halfway through my little walk, I realized what I was doing…
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Saturday, November 10th, 2007
I have to say, my days have been pretty full and this blog has been helping. I really enjoy doing things in life and writing about them. Perhaps I should’ve been an author. Nah…the minute someone expects something from me, I don’t want to do it anymore. Half of the fun of writing here is the surprise for my readers.
Now, today’s project was fun. Actually, it was today’s half project. The first half of the day was spent writing the “Funniest” post. Did you know that I put that into Microsoft Word to spell check it and it was five pages? FIVE PAGES!!! Who does that? At least I had a good time writing it. At one point, I had to stop typing because I was laughing. I think it was the “Craig biting into the egg sandwich” part. C’mon, that was funny.
I thought it was a good day to put up that deer fencing I bought at Lowes yesterday. The weather was nice and brisk. I had the plastic fencing and posts all ready to go. I pulled out my not-so-great staple gun and proceeded to staple the fencing to the beams below the porch (behind the arborvitae). My staple gun has a little problem that it developed during my screening of the porch. It only likes to spit a staple out every fifteenth try. It gets rather frustrating. I got most of the back part done when I went into the basement and oiled the gun. I went back out to give it another shot. WOW, it didn’t work any better. Determined, I went back into the basement and took the staple gun apart on top of the dryer. After fiddling with it for about ten minutes, I realized that I could not put it back together. I am not sure if it was because there were too many parts or if it was me. You know when you take something complicated apart…everything is fine until that one little part pops out of where it is supposed to be? Then, while reaching for that part, something else pops out? That’s what happened. I slid the staple gun off the dryer and into the garbage. I wasn’t going to play that game. The damn thing didn’t work anyway. It’s a shame because it was fairly new…I mean it was a few years old, but hardly used. Whelp, there’s another trip to Lowes.
Yesterday, during my checkout, the nice cashier gave me a $10 off coupon, good for my next purchase. I decided to use it today on some very exciting things.
First, I picked up a new Stanley SharpShooter “AntiJam” staple gun. It was only $15 and change. I really looked for a better one, but they don’t exist. It works fine. I also got the recommended staples to go with it. Maybe that was my problem? I don’t know.
Next, I got a nice little drill bit set. I am so sick and tired of messing with the dead bits I have. I keep hoping that somehow they will heal themselves while sitting in the basement and become sharp again. It’s like that old Larry Miller milk joke…when he says, “Hmmm, maybe I’ll just put this back in the fridge and it will be fresh tomorrow.” Anyway, the set I picked up is a 16 piece DeWalt Pilot Point drill bit set. They are nice and shiny and I like DeWalt. DeWalt has yet to let me down and I know the company offers quality items. Thank you DeWalt. Also, they are shiny.
Lastly, I picked up some new accessories for my Dremel. That Dremel kicks ass. I have used it a few times already in some tight situations. I give it high marks. Since the cutting disks wear out kind of fast, I got some more of them. I also picked up some finishing abrasive buffs. I am going to use them for the tile in the bathroom. Some of the tiles need to be cleaned. These two attachments use a fancy Dremel EZ Lock piece for a faster accessory change. It’s pretty cool.
What about the deer fencing? Ok, here goes…
Well, what do you think? Now, I can rest a bit easier knowing that my prized arborvitae will be eaten, but not without a fight.
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Saturday, November 10th, 2007
Oh yeah. Here it is…the moment you have all been waiting for…the funniest thing that ever happened in my life – #1.
What happened to number 3 and 2? Well, as you can clearly see, I have had a little trouble with motivation. I thought I would jump to number one and then follow up with the others later. Trust me, they are almost as funny.
You know the times when you just laugh and laugh? If it’s during dinner, you usually blow milk out of your nose. Yeah, I remember those times. They don’t roll around that often anymore, but when they do, they feel really good. If you get a stomach ache, even better.
Craig owns a tree service. He has probably run it for fifteen years. One of the main problems he has is finding good employees. Things are smoothing out now, but locating good workers has always been a tough hunt.
Early on, it was even harder. Sometimes a customer would call up and want a job done. Craig, being eager to please and equally as eager to make money, sometimes had some tough choices to make. Should he hire a full time professional, or…err…just get the job done. That’s where Rob and I came into play. Can you guess which choice we were? Yeah, we would bust on the scene and clean house.
Oh, how many times we have heard, “I will never work the two of you together again in my life.” Even that statement made me chuckle because I knew I would be standing in his driveway at 7AM the next morning, smelling the diesel burn, while his truck warmed up. In a few minutes Craig would walk out of the house and ask, “Where’s Robert?” I would say, “I don’t know.” “He’s in bed, that’s where he is. Let’s go get him,” Craig would say. I always knew Rob was awake and just running late, but I liked to make waves. For some twisted reason, I always got a kick out of watching Robert get yelled at by Craig. Craig was always yelling and Rob was always trying to explain his way out of it. I really wish you could meet these two guys.
This particular morning was a very nice one. It was summertime and it was a perfect day to work…warm enough in the morning, but cool enough not to sweat all that much. We had a small job to do in Westchester before lunch and then another one across from one of Westchester’s many reservoirs after.
There we were, sitting in Rob’s driveway, honking the horn. “This guy, I swear,” Craig said. “What’s up with Robert, anyway?” I was sitting there thinking to myself, “Why do you call him Robert?” A few moments passed and Rob flew out of the basement door and ran towards the truck. Craig couldn’t stay mad at Rob for too long. I’m not sure anyone can. I hopped out of the truck to give Rob the middle seat. He never complained because he knew how much I liked to sit near the window. Craig put the truck in reverse and we started heading toward Sunoco, down in town, for breakfast.
Craig always bought. He probably still does today. That’s just the way he rolls. I could win the lotto and Craig would still grab the check. This always happened, except for one time when Craig, Laura and I were in Vermont. Craig informed me that I was paying for dinner while he was in the middle of ordering another main course. He and Laura were drunk. She was trying to cut her pork chop, when it flung on the floor (carpet). Craig leaned over and picked it up. He put it on his plate and proceeded to eat it. That is another story for another time.
As usual, Rob and I were standing at the counter ordering our bacon, egg and cheese sandwiches. This guy at Sunoco always made the best sandwiches. This, of course, was before the time when the guy handed Rob and sandwich and informed him that the eggs were “a little gooey.” Rob didn’t like that very much and never ordered another sandwich from that gas station again. This morning was different. We ordered our sandwiches while Craig filled the tanks of the truck and chipper with fuel. What’s wrong with this picture…we order breakfast that Craig will pay for while he works…
Anyway, we hopped in the truck and started to eat. We slowly made a left turn out of the parking lot and headed down the road towards town. Craig always said he didn’t want a sandwich, but continuously asked Rob for a bite of his. This was during the era of “Mustache Craig” and one of the other reasons I liked to sit near the window. Rob would hand Craig his sandwich and I would watch Craig take a big, wet bite out of it and hand it back to Rob. I always watched Rob look at the sandwich…inspecting it to see if there were any mustache hairs in it. Poor Rob’s stomach is easily turned and I’m sure this would’ve been it for him.
I don’t remember the first job all that much. We probably did our thing and got in a fight. That was typical. Craig would scold us in the truck and express the importance of not yelling at any passing cars or people while there was a huge sign with his business name and phone number on the side of it. I guess he was right. We would go eat lunch at some deli and take a nap for a few minutes. The hardest thing was always trying to get up from laying on the ground under some apple tree on the deli’s property. I always dreaded what job was next.
I used to hate the days with two jobs. I wanted to go to one, get it done and leave. I wanted to go home, take a cool shower and then walk out in the road a few minutes later in my nice, clean jeans and no shirt. Craig would usually stumble out of his house a little while later and we would discuss current events. Rob? I am not sure we would see Rob again until the next morning.
We pulled straight in the driveway of the customer’s house, stopped and put the truck in reverse. We backed out to park on the side of the road.
I remember the job well. The house was big and beautiful…typical Northern Westchester. It was white with some stone work. The driveway was a straight incline, aimed directly at the house. There was a large oak tree in the front yard and across the street was a reservoir. Along the road was a row of tall pines. That was our job…to remove some of the pine trees. I am not sure why. Perhaps they were too tall? Blocking the view? Who knows… Yet, we were there to get the job done.
We worked for a few hours until the hard part of the job was completed. I really think we worked well during that portion of the day. There were no incidents. Craig would cut the brush from the tree while Rob and I would drag each branch to feed it to the chipper. It was grunt work…that was part of the problem with finding good employees.
When the big stuff was done, it was always time to clean up. This is what separates the men from the boys. Some companies come to your house, make a mess and leave it there. Real companies leave your place the way they found it, or better. We were a real company.
There were usually some tools we would use to clean up a property…rakes, a big barrel for sticks and a backpack blower. You know the kind of backpack blower I am talking about…it straps to your back and you hold the tube in your right hand and walk around like a tornado. They are pretty fun to operate.
Rob and I would usually race to get to the backpack blower. Whoever got to it first was the lucky one because they could just walk around blowing things off, while acting like some sort of a supervisor. The unlucky one would get stuck raking and filling that awful barrel with sticks and leaves. The heavy barrel had to be emptied in the back of the truck multiple times, which really sucked.
This particular day, I made it to the backpack blower first. Yes, I was the lucky one. Rob grudgingly grabbed the rake and barrel. We worked for about fifteen minutes. There wasn’t all too much to rake up, because the trees were right off the road. This put Rob in a good mood. I just walked around the whole time, happy as a woodpecker, blowing off the driveway and road. We were both eyeing one another, looking for a cue that our clean-up job was good enough.
One of the most annoying things about tree work is wood dust on your clothes and skin. The dust would get on you and make you very uncomfortable. It would make you itch and scratch. The wood dust, mixed with a good dose of body odor, wasn’t much fun. Rob and I, while working with Craig, had a long standing tradition of using the backpack blower to blow the dust off one another at the end of each job. Now, you have to remember that this backpack blower is very strong. If it is pointed at your face, it could make your skin ripple. This day was no different than any other, so I began to blow off Rob’s clothes and hair with the blower.
Rob must’ve gotten drunk the night before, because he did something very odd. Right at the point when I was pretty much done cleaning him off, he bent over and looked right at me. He opened his mouth and told me to point the blower at his face, so the air would fill up his mouth and make his cheeks really big. I guess he wanted to act like a dog, hanging his face out the car window, while driving at 120 MPH. I didn’t really understand why he wanted me to do this, but who was I to argue with Rob, who was just trying to have a little fun at the end of a hard day’s work? The real question was why Rob would trust me to do this. Did he really think I was going to simply point the blower at his face and then walk away without doing anything else? To this day, I wonder what gave Rob the impression that I wouldn’t mess with him. Poor Rob.
I had a little stirring in my stomach as I raised the end of the blower tube up to Rob’s face. I just couldn’t believe that it was actually Rob’s idea for me to do what I was about to do. In neighboring towns, you couldn’t pay someone to let you do what I was doing.
I lowered the throttle and began to lift the tube to Rob’s face. He looked so eager. He thought he was a genius. He had such passion in his soul. His cheeks have never been as big as they were about to be. His eyes were wide. He was just thrilled. I raised the tube and pointed it right at Rob’s mouth. His cheeks immediately filled with air and expanded like a hot air balloon. YEAH, he was doing it…ROB WAS DOING IT!!! He was flying high, higher than he has ever flown. I raised the throttle to full speed and the force of air got much stronger. It was like a rush of water being forced out of a fire hose. If you put your finger right next to the stream of air, you would feel nothing. If you moved your finger a quarter of an inch towards the air flow, your finger would flip backwards. The end of the tube was about a foot away from Rob’s mouth. I am sure there has never been more air in anyone’s mouth in this part of the state. Rob’s cheeks were huge and his hair was blowing around like he just jumped out of an airplane at 30,000 feet.
Then I spit. Right in the air flow.
Yes, you read correctly. Maybe it was Rob’s nice parents who raised him to look at all the good in the world…to trust others. Why Rob didn’t think I was going to do this is probably best left for the great thinkers of our time.
Thwap…right to the back of poor Rob’s throat. We had been drinking sports drink throughout the entire day, so there was some good ammo.
I think I started giggling even before I let the beast out of my mouth. My knees were shaking from all the joy I was about to experience.
At the moment of impact, Rob’s head snapped upward and his eyes bulged at least a half inch larger than normal. His whole world came crashing down around him. I can only imagine the thoughts shooting around in Rob’s head at that moment…”What just happened? Where’s Craig? Who am I?” The molecules in Rob’s head were bouncing around in overdrive. Our eyes met and Rob’s look of question turned to horror as the whole idea of what just happened began to gel. A look of betrayal quickly took the place of horror.
I couldn’t believe I hit the target. The chances of this adventure actually being executed this perfectly in someone’s lifetime are statistically nonexistent. My lips began to quiver as every muscle in my body lost its strength. My legs slightly gave out as I burst into the heartiest laughter I have ever experienced. Rob began to run.
He followed his instincts. Earlier in the day, he noticed a hose attached to a spicket on the side of the house. He ran towards it with me in tow. I was laughing so hard, I couldn’t turn the throttle on the blower down. There I was, chasing Rob up the driveway with the backpack blower on full blast. The tube of the blower was whipping around like a garden hose turned to full with no one holding the end of it. It was like one of the snakes on Medusa’s head having a spasm. Tears were rolling down my cheeks. I almost didn’t make it.
I wanted to see what Rob was going to do with the water. How he kept from swallowing the whole run up the driveway, I don’t know. Rob grabbed the hose and turned it on. The angels were on Rob’s side that day because water started flowing out of the hose. Can you imagine if the hose didn’t work? Rob shoved the end of the hose into his mouth for a few minutes until there was nothing more he could do. I stood there laughing; now with the blower on idle. I turned it off and hovered over him, looking at a mere shell of what once was a strong and vibrant friend. His face was all wet and dripping with water. He was completely beaten down. Who knew that such a promising day could end like this? We walked back down to the truck.
The good thing about Rob is that he never stays mad for very long. We probably made up within minutes and things probably returned to normal. I am not sure if he is aware of the gift he gave me that day…the gift of experiencing the absolute, number one, funniest thing that ever happened in my short stay on this planet.
Now that the job was complete, we walked over to Craig and asked him if he needed us to work the next day. Craig replied, “I will never work the two of you together again in my life.”
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