April 14 – “A man and his … rake”

I am sore today.  Well, not as sore as I was yesterday after we did some yard work, but sore nonetheless.  It all started at WalMart, as has often been the case for anyone who lives in Galveston.  WalMart or Home Depot and sometimes Target pretty much hold the reins of any kind of outdoor business on the Island.  Unless of course you want to include Tom’s Thumb Nursery for really special plant kind of stuff that you don’t want to trust to one of the major chain box stores.  In our case all Chris needed was some potting soil.  Lots of potting soil.  Her plan was to put one of the final two trees the city gave us into a huge pot and let it grace the top of our deck.  If it grows, perhaps we will finally have some shade up there, and the site might actually be useful again.  It has been in the same little pot that it came in for almost a year now, and it is starting to bud out some leaves, so it is definitely still alive.  We are still waiting to see how fast persimmon trees grow.  Three others are planted on one side of the house.  The pecan tree they gave us is also still in a pot, but we won’t know until later on if it is still alive and well.  Pecan trees always get started later than everything else. 

Once the tree was repotted and relocated upstairs, I set to work trying to level out our side yard a bit. It was mangled into a sorry state by the excavator that tore down the house next door.  That was some hard work.  One man with a lonely garden rake against the ravages of the evil excavator.  Scraping sand.  Pulling weeds.  Dragging chunks of cement.  We even discovered some of those deadly grub worms in the mix.  Fortunately we had already planned to spread some anti-grub worm matter on the lawn.  Sounds like something Batman would pull out of his utility belt.  In this case it was Chris who had the utility belt.  She spread the stuff and even had time to spread a layer of Weed ‘n’ Feed.  All while I was toiling away with the rake.  Stroke after stroke.  Scrape after scrape.  Groan after groan. Pain after pain.  Hence my present state of affliction. 

Chris seemed to fare much better than I.  She actually went shoe shopping after getting cleaned up.  Not my idea of a relaxing afternoon, but she loved it.  At least she came home with some new sandals.  I have new shoes on my list as well.  Shouldn’t take too long for me, though.  Nike leather-toe cross-trainers size 10 and a half.  Only big decision for me is whether to go black or white this time.  Guess I’ll wait and see what’s on sale. 

Psalms 86:3-4 says, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I call to you all day long.  Bring joy to your servant, for to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.”

Father that joy of yours is such a precious commodity.  Thank you for it.  Amen.