Up early to scrape the last of the gravel up and pile it by the parking spaces. Realized that the back yard gets more sun than I remembered, especially early in the morning, which is not good when the temperature is expected to be near triple digits. Moved all the bricks that had been supporting the big pile of wood to where the gravel had been out back, thus freeing up another ten feet of driveway.
Drove north (did anyone ever say 'Go north, young man! (or woman!)'? Somehow I don't think so, or at least not seriously.), even though I always swear to avoid going up Rt. 58 and into Elyria or Lorain around midday. Stopped for lunch at Blue Sky Diner because a) it's delicious if terrible b) I was hungry and c) it meant I could get out of the car after stop and start traffic on a bright, sunny day where the temperature was expected to be near triple digits. The plan - and you know what they say about plans - was to stop by the Restore, then Goodwill/Sears (I had a gift card), then Lowes, then a used car dealership looking for, in total:
- one brake light bulb for my Landcruiser
- plastic sheeting, for to well cover the lumber
- a ceiling fan/light unit for one of the upstairs bedrooms
- a car with better gas mileage
- anything else that looks interesting/useful
Here is what I did get:
- two brake light bulbs for my Landcruiser
- plastic sheeting, for to well cover the lumber
- two green glasses (I love those for some reason) and a picture frame (Goodwill, in case you were wondering)
- two awesome wood windows with original hardware that I have no need for at the moment but were in too good condition to pass up
After sitting in the car for way longer than I wanted to during all this (you know what's weird? When your forearms sweat because they're in the sun while your hands are on the wheel. It's weird, trust me. And mildly unpleasant. And creepily like that scene on the Golden Gate Bridge in 'The Core' which is an awesome movie but I digress.) I saw a very threatening sky, and knowing that thunderstorms were expected this evening I scrapped the last two stops on the trip and returned home, for to well cover the lumber.
Oh, first I had to spend fifteen minutes in the parking lot at Sears trying to pull out the old burned-out brake light because I am a dumbass and never remember things like 'these type of lights are push and twist, and then they pop right out'.
Home, to lay a tarp over all the bricks (keeping ground moisture seeping into the low boards to a minimum) then move the roughly forty planks to their new home, cover them with the plastic sheeting, and clean up the various planks and beams scattered about the yard on which the boards had been drying. Here's my clever tip for the day that most people already know but too many of us forget - water does a spectacular job of transferring heat, part of the reason that we sweat, so if you're working outside, especially when doing something physical, douse - just, seriously, *douse* - yourself with some water, especially the top of your head, every so often. It'll keep you from having heat stroke and it'll keep you working steadily instead of crashing to a halt while you move old oak boards in a desperate attempt to get them stacked, covered, and weighted down before the impending torrents... impend? on us? I did so, barely, powering through on endorphins and the thought of an orange soda from the vending machine in the green room (the machine never gets restocked during the summer, because corporate America hates actors that's why). Success. Sweaty, dirty, tiring, success.
Does this sound like a rant? I hope not. I don't like ranty-blogs. I mean, I don't really like most 'here's my day' blogs anyway and this has turned into one of those as of late, so maybe some more self-loathing is in order.
Anyway, now I have my driveway back! And the lumber has been well checked, mostly dried, and safely stowed. And I've been watching TV for an hour and a half now before Hamlet. Good times. Good times.
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