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August 09, 2006
The Day Ahead
There is a lonely little orange cone sitting at the end of our sidewalk. I know it's there not only because I can see it, but because I put it there around 6:30. Just as soon as I got dressed. It's to tell the guy delivering roughly 5 yards of shredded bark mulch where it goes.
I'm not sure when he'll get here. The woman at the nursery was pretty vague, though she did say she'd put us (me) at the top of the list for deliveries today.
I'm not sure why I'm assuming it's a man who'll make the delivery. One of the reasons I like this nursery is that the staff is mostly female. There are some badass women running the front end loader when you go to purchase bark or compost or topsoil. So one of them could bring our bark.
I keep saying "me" because Dave's not available to help today. I get to spread approximately five yards of shredded bark mulch by myself. After shoveling it into a wheelbarrow and dumping it in the right places, of course.
I hope it's lighter than compost. Though I suppose I could always put less in the wheelbarrow and make more trips. Instead of my standard operating procedure, which is to load the fucker up as much as I can and struggle through the yard with it. And then wonder why I feel like one of the Flying Spaghetti Monster's noodly appendages.
So anyway, there's this little orange cone sitting at the end of our sidewalk, and I got up at 6:30 to put it there. I didn't put it out last night because the weather was stormy and I thought it might blow away, plus I didn't want anyone to steal it. I mean, this cone is cute. It's exactly the sort of thing you want sitting on your desk, acting as a paperweight/pencil holder. So I got up early to make sure the delivery person knows where the bark goes. Every so often, I check out the window to be sure it's still there.
I also check every time I hear a car door slam or any vehicle at all drive past. Including motorcycles. I am way, way to uptight about this whole bark mulch thing.
A sample of my uptightness: I actually woke up at 5:30 and couldn't go back to sleep, though I insisted on staying in bed until my alarm went off, just on principle. I'm so nervous about missing the delivery person that my internal clock apparently decided to be absolutely sure I would be awake.
See, the thing is, I'm not just worried about missing the delivery. I'm also worried because the bark mulch is getting dumped in the street. It's a parking space, so it's not like I'm obstructing traffic, but I need to get it out of the street ASAP. And that's my other worry. I won't get to take a break until it's gone. Well, I'll allow myself to pee. and to drink water, but otherwise, No Breaks.
Oh man. The street sweeper's just gone by, cleaning up all the compost that fell out of the truck and/or wheelbarrow when Dave & I were mulching the beds this weekend. The neighbors are going to be annoyed when I mess everything up again with bark mulch. Though they should appreciate the fact that it's for a good cause. At least they don't have to look at our urban jungle any more.
I'm overthinking all of this, aren't I? I'm worrying way too much about way too many things. (Welcome to my life.) I wish the damn truck would get here so I can quit fretting and start shoveling.
Posted by sally at August 9, 2006 07:18 AM
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