More Peace

Saturday morning, my neighbor and I, at her request, headed out in the Fit for garden supplies.   The Fit "fitted" it all - cow manure, dirt, boards, flowers - everything, even an 18 pack of ice cold beer.  The plan was to set up a new plot for raised bed gardening.

On Redbud, I have learned to cycle beers to "the holster" and "perform proper rotation".  That is, keep the beers going from the fridge to the freezer, keeping three to four in the freezer, drinking off the right, replacing to the left.  In the August heat, the queue was cranking.  It was go time.

While setting up the raised beds, we found we needed some extra cedar boards with dovetails.  I gave a shot with my table saw on cutting the dovetails.  It worked.  I used a jig that I purchased some years ago.  The jig was in the attic which is nailed shut since the staircase broke.  While cutting the boards, another neighbor dropped by for a couple cuts of his own.  This turned into a little hub of conversation as a couple other neighbors dropped by.

After the beds were set up, at the point of exhaustion, having eaten only two crackers all day on what I call my "starvation diet", my neighbor asked if we could do one more thing.  She was hoping we could cut down a medium sized ash tree between our yards.  We got it done!

I get a sense of happiness helping, exercising, laughing, being productive and drinking beer.  Saturday, the stars aligned. 

Finished with the work, I had a small bbq plate.  My energy returned.  What next?  My neighbor was whooped.  I got wind of a party down the street.  Knowing who was going to be there, I said giddily and devilishly "I'm going to go get in trouble."

... I have to stop the story there since I ran out of writing time ...