I get home after work tonight with the intent to mow the front yard. About halfway home, I realize I left my MP3 player at work, so I'd be mowing au-naturale (not meaning nude, but with only natural sounds...no Dave Matthews ringing in my ears). Bummed, I drive up and go inside.
I ate dinner (Ritz crackers and slices of cheese...yeah, real adult-like, eh?) then put on my mowing clothes. I had to go get gas for the mower, so I did that. I realize how amazingly / stupidly hot it is outside, even at 7:00 PM, so I'm bummed even more. I mow the front yard and weed eat the edges. Now I have a bunch of grass shaving all over the driveway and sidewalk. I turn on the sprinkler and start watering the dying grass I call my front yard. I start sweeping the front walkway with the dumb little house broom (the only broom we owned), and that took like 5 minutes because the darn thing isn't made to sweep concrete or grass shavings.
Sidenote: I hate mowing and weed eating, but absolutely LOVE a freshly mowed / trimmed lawn with a clean swept sidewalk.
So I'm sweating to death, no music or podcast or sermon to listen to, and I'm hating the thought of spending the next 45 minutes sweeping with the dumb broom. All the while LOVING the freshly mowed lawn and the sprinkler going over it. In a fit of manly determinism, I open the front door, and tell Allison that I'm going to Walmart to pick up a REAL broom. She looked at me like I was crazy and said "Ok, but get a cheap one." I'm fine with this, as even a cheap outdoor broom is better than the broom I was using.
So I get in the car, sweated-through shirt / shorts and all, and head to Wal*Mart. I'm horribly nasty looking (pit, chest, and back sweat stains on the shirt...I'm looking lovely), but rationalize that I'll only have to go into the Lawn & Garden section of Walmart, so it won't be too bad. Well, they didn't have any brooms (none!) in L&G, so I stroll to the opposite side of the store to look in the housewares section. Nothing. So I walk all the way back to L&G where I parked and headed to Home Depot.
I walk in, and a worker confronts me within 30 seconds of entering. He points me to the broom section, and I pick one up... a pretty one with a foamy handle cover and nice green bristles!
I get home and take my first big push...and fell in love with this thing! I swept the entire driveway and sidewalk in 5 minutes, leaving hardly any grass shavings behind! What would have taken me 45 minutes took me 5. Now that, in my book, is money well spent!
Having picked up all the grass and dreamily wanting to mow more just so I can sweep more, I walked inside, still sweating from the work even though the sun went down 20 minutes ago (gotta love summer in the Ozarks, when you can sweat at midnight). I look in the fridge, expecting to just get some icy cold water to refresh myself. But lo and behold, LEMONADE! And not just ANY lemonade, but a half gallon of Chick-fi-la Lemonade that the Miller's left at our house a week or so ago. Nothing ever tasted so darn good!
Then off to a shower, and then to the computer to blog about my wonderful evening!
Man, I really am weird.
1 Comments
Published by John Nelson
on June 30, 2005 at 8:41 PM.
I ate dinner (Ritz crackers and slices of cheese...yeah, real adult-like, eh?) then put on my mowing clothes. I had to go get gas for the mower, so I did that. I realize how amazingly / stupidly hot it is outside, even at 7:00 PM, so I'm bummed even more. I mow the front yard and weed eat the edges. Now I have a bunch of grass shaving all over the driveway and sidewalk. I turn on the sprinkler and start watering the dying grass I call my front yard. I start sweeping the front walkway with the dumb little house broom (the only broom we owned), and that took like 5 minutes because the darn thing isn't made to sweep concrete or grass shavings.
Sidenote: I hate mowing and weed eating, but absolutely LOVE a freshly mowed / trimmed lawn with a clean swept sidewalk.
So I'm sweating to death, no music or podcast or sermon to listen to, and I'm hating the thought of spending the next 45 minutes sweeping with the dumb broom. All the while LOVING the freshly mowed lawn and the sprinkler going over it. In a fit of manly determinism, I open the front door, and tell Allison that I'm going to Walmart to pick up a REAL broom. She looked at me like I was crazy and said "Ok, but get a cheap one." I'm fine with this, as even a cheap outdoor broom is better than the broom I was using.
So I get in the car, sweated-through shirt / shorts and all, and head to Wal*Mart. I'm horribly nasty looking (pit, chest, and back sweat stains on the shirt...I'm looking lovely), but rationalize that I'll only have to go into the Lawn & Garden section of Walmart, so it won't be too bad. Well, they didn't have any brooms (none!) in L&G, so I stroll to the opposite side of the store to look in the housewares section. Nothing. So I walk all the way back to L&G where I parked and headed to Home Depot.
I walk in, and a worker confronts me within 30 seconds of entering. He points me to the broom section, and I pick one up... a pretty one with a foamy handle cover and nice green bristles!
I get home and take my first big push...and fell in love with this thing! I swept the entire driveway and sidewalk in 5 minutes, leaving hardly any grass shavings behind! What would have taken me 45 minutes took me 5. Now that, in my book, is money well spent!
Having picked up all the grass and dreamily wanting to mow more just so I can sweep more, I walked inside, still sweating from the work even though the sun went down 20 minutes ago (gotta love summer in the Ozarks, when you can sweat at midnight). I look in the fridge, expecting to just get some icy cold water to refresh myself. But lo and behold, LEMONADE! And not just ANY lemonade, but a half gallon of Chick-fi-la Lemonade that the Miller's left at our house a week or so ago. Nothing ever tasted so darn good!
Then off to a shower, and then to the computer to blog about my wonderful evening!
Man, I really am weird.
Finding simple pleasures in life is always good.
Nothing like buying a broom to make a man feel a little bit more like a man.