Murphy's Law

I decided that before I got showered and dressed for the day, I'd use the shop vac to blow off the driveway. Bob had mowed yesterday morning, and there were still some stick/pollen/dirt piles from last week's hosing. Just a quick blow. No problem. Wearing just my purple nightgown, barefoot, hairy legs a-showin', I proceeded to hook up the four heavy-duty extension cords that help the shop vac reach the end of the driveway. Our driveway is sloped. I need to remember to ask Bob the grade. But, the shop vac loves to roll down to the end all on its own. So, it is quite a sight to see me wrestling the shop vac hose, cord, and blower-end hoses, while trying to keep the shop vac from running away. The plastic hose is flexible, but the extensions are hard plastic that give you a few more feet of blow power, but often come unhooked from the flexible hose.

The shop vac works wonderfully to remove dirt, dust, leaves, bits of sticks and stuff from the garage floor, front door, front step, and brick patio. The strength of the blower will unhook any leaf or week caught between the bricks. I love it. Better than sweeping. Better than wasting water hosing the drive. And our oak trees have been particulary dirty this year casting down bark, sticks, pollen strands, etc. We love the shade, but are amazed at the amount of tree bits the trees spit upon the drive, the cars, the walk, and even the birds add to the debris with their own contributions of affluence. Since I actually provide seed for the doves and sparrows, they thank me by showering us with their poop.

Halfway down the drive, letting the shop vac hit my legs as I stood between it and its desire to roll down to the street, the first pick up truck of men stopped to offer to weed the front rock walls which Bob terraced years ago. With a sweep of the hand, I knew what they were offering, even though I doubt they spoke English. I nodded no, and continued my shop vac wrestling.

Other pick ups with mowers sprouting in the back beds drove by, but my intense concentration on the shop vac and therefore lack of eye contact and skowl helped them speed on by. Mission accomplished, I started winding up the four extension cords for storage, when the top of the plastic blower hose pieces decided to make run for it. Rolling down the drive, faster and faster, they achieved the velocity of a tumbling space shuttle fuel tank, and rolled out into the middle of the street, pausing ever so little before continuing on into the neighbor's gutter. Remember the shortish nightgown I mentioned as my shop vac blowing attire? Try bending over to retrieve four foot tubes when barefoot, underdressed, and moving slow. It was tempting to fetch pants for this exercise, but not wanting to have the shop vac stolen nor the extension pieces stolen while fetching said pants, I just tiptoed across the street to retrieve the pieces and hoped all my neighbors were at work.

I am so thankful I put four bananas in the freezer yesterday. They were getting too ripe for anyone to want to eat, but they taste so good in a smoothie with just orange juice and a blender. wow. Great way to cool off, too. I don't normally eat four bananas in one day, but today, this first day of June, sweating from yard work, it tastes marvelous.

I wish I had thought to blender something like this for Bob after he mowed yesterday. We attended the DFW National Cemetery Ceremony for Memorial Day yesterday and our good friend, Suzanne, came with us. It was so hot there, but Bob brought the plastic white couch, and the umbrella, and we had a cooler of water bottles.

I could not for the life of me remembered whatall we did last year for Memorial Day, so Bob checked our blogs---and thankfully, our blogs have become online journals to jog memories. For Mother's Day last year, I had to confess the patriotic wedding dress joke I played on Bob. Ah, that was fun! And last year, we were travelling to see James and the granddaughter on Memorial Day. More fun. And even more fun to laugh at the good memories.