Managing the Estate

I have about 5 more days of summer "vacation" before I start a grueling 10 hr/week schedule for the writing consultant job. So, I've been tackling the other half of our yard - the half that I never show on the blog because it looks like a backwoods Arkansas trailer park. And I can say that because I have, in fact, lived in a backwoods Arkansas trailer park.

The somewhat acceptable half of the yard:

The other half:

Every morning for at least 2 hours, I work on this before realizing that I'm on summer vacation. At that point, I throw down the shovel, take a shower, and read for the rest of the day. Every morning I run numbers through my mind, as in, "How much money am I willing to pay to hire a landscaping service to come over and do this right now?"

I've decided to view yard work as my personal Biggest Loser challenge. I'll use it as an intense daily workout. My muscles are so sore that I have to hold my water bottle with both hands. Even then, it shakes pretty badly. So. Out. Of. Shape.

I swear, it's like Downton Abbey over here. Nonstop work on the estate. Minus the full staff, of course.

The gardener? That's me. The cook? That's me. The livestock handler? Well, that's me, too.

Lucy's all about that bass. No treble.

I hit a wall with my reading, too. I started Moby Dick, all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, and now I'm slogging through the Indian Ocean, somewhere around page 250, with another 200 to go. Lost. All. Reading. Momentum.

My arms and fingers hurt too bad to keep typing. Until tomorrow, peeps.