Worked like a dog

Where the hell do they come up with these expressions?  If you spent time with my two dogs, you'd know that they don't work all that much.  Chase a squirrel. Run circles around the yard.  Challenge the occasional cat (and lose).  My two champions spend a good portion of the day enjoying my carpet (Claire is currently stretched out under my feet).  

But. like RC, I spent a good part of my weekend working around the house/yard and my back is complaining.  First off, we held a garage sale at work to collect funds for the Epilepsy Foundation.  We do lots of fundraisers and my group wanted to have a company garage sale.  Has been pretty successful in the past, but the rule is not to have them every year.  This year we only cleared $808 but it tool up most of the day.  I don't think we will repeat it next year as it seems to be more trouble that we yield.  I donated several items including a Singer sewing machine cabinet that fetched a nice $135 on a highest bid.  I kicked in three TVs and an old camcorder, but none of that sold.  So, I brought everything back home.  We've  done a few garage sales at the house and, IMHO, they are more of a PITA than you will gain in money.  Don't do them to make money, but only to get rid of things.   

Got up early Saturday to take the TVs and camcorder to the local thrift store.  I donated everything just to get rid of it.  Good sets, everything works, just older technology.  Sad part is I spent some good coin on the camcorder back in the day to record our son..  Now, you can get a cell phone that records better pictures for almost nothing.  Anyway, was nice to finally get rid of this junk.  Was kind of cathartic. 

Spent the rest of the day cleaning up the back yard.  I've been on a mission to clean up the leaves/catkins and rebuild one bed.   I built up one bed with flowers last year only to lose them to the cold temps.  This year, I am actually putting down edging bricks to outline the bed (never done that before).  Been buying the bricks 20 at a time from the local box store.  These are heavy stones and weigh down the truck when I load them up.  Started with 20 to see how I liked the look.  Was nice but only a single row did not look well, so back for anther 20.  That hit the spot, but it did not cover the whole bed, so back for another 30.  That covered the length of the bed but I still lacked enough for a double stack.  Went back on Saturday and got 16 (guesstimate) and it turned out to be exactly one brick over what I needed.  The engineer in me was just giddy with planning.  Of course, when I started, the bed was closer to the garage, but the bushes made it stick out too much (not in a straight line) so Saturday, I tore out the entire row and realigned it with a plumb line (I know, being a/r).   Finally laid in the bricks and filled in the beds.  Added a pallet of vinca to give some color and it looks nice.  Momma is much happier.  Of course, my back is still sore from the bending/lifting/raking, but that is the price you pay for getting old. 

Cleaned up the garage on Sunday and through out a bunch of old crap and clearing off my work bench.  The dogs loved spending the day outside in the yard with me although they were more interested in laying out in the sun.  Finally finished up the day with grilling some links I had marinated in some Shiner Bock.  I'm making progress on the yard, but is it slow.   The nice part of having junior in college is that we are no longer tied to the scout/soccer/baseball schedule and we have time for ourselves.