This weekend, I realized that the time for playing games was over. If I wanted to get my yard done before I leave in a month, I was going to have to enlist the help of power tools. Enter the Honda rototiller, above. I rented one of these bad boys from Home Depot this morning. Now, mind you, both men working at the tool rental counter looked at me like I had three eyes, and treated me like I was a foolish girl who didn't know what she was doing (and maybe they weren't too far off), but they helped me load the beast into my truck (borrowed from dad), and off I went to dig up the rest of my yard.
When I got home, I realized one small miscalculation in my plan: I was not able to get the thing off of the back of the truck. Fortunately, the neighbor boys were around and willing to help. They were also very interested in the rototiller, and followed me into the backyard to give the thing a test drive. Now, I got it started up, and gave it a go - definitely harder than you would think. It's gas powered, and once you hit the clutch, it wants to move forward. However, to make it really dig into (and up) the ground, you've got to keep it in check and slow it down. I found the best m.o. was to allow it to go forward a bit, then pull it back over the area just covered. The neighbor boys' m.o., however was to "just go apesh*t on it!!!" So they left me to it, and surprisingly I got the back yard done in about an hour or so. It was tough work; my shoulders, biceps and triceps were wore out afterward. I couldn't finish the front yard, so instead raked up as much of the back yard as possible before calling it a day. I had to call the boys back over to help me load it up again, and the one guy liked the thing so much he finished off the front yard for me!! So I am happy to say that my yard is ready to be treated for chinch bugs and re-sodding! And I proved the guys at Home Depot wrong, too :) I've included some pics of the finished product...that is, the dirt in my yard!
So today's workout was a good cap on the week (and I'll be paying for it over the next few days, I'm sure). I managed to eat pretty well, save for a few splurges on Friday (it was my sister's last night in town, I had to meet her and her friends at Cheesecake Factory for dessert! I've got a salad made up in the fridge right now, plus I baked off a new dinner recipe, Eggs in Purgatory, which I plan to pack for either lunch or dinner this week. And I was very good about exercising this week, getting up every morning and hitting the pavement or the Total Gym. All this hard work is definitely paying off, though!
Alright, bedtime is here, I promise to post more later this week!
Nice!
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