7-21-08
I vegged most of the day, took a nap, worked some on a writing project I am doing on contract for a friend/client, washed my hair, went to Friendly’s and had some chicken noodle soup and a side salad, worked on a newsletter I do for a friend who has a lawncare business.  I am excited about doing my own lawn.  I had fun yesterday using my hedge trimmers,  rrrrrroooooom, rrrrrrooooom!  And I liked how it looked today.  And instead of thinking of sheesh now I have to clean up the yard clippings, I think of how much good exercise it will be for me.  I even have fun vacumming now with my new Magic Blue vac!  I am vacumming every few days, it takes maybe 20 minutes to do the whole house!  But my furniture is easy to move around to vac under.

I just sent the mag in to the printer, and it will be delivered Friday.  I have emailed my crew and the wheels are in motion!

I picked up my new Toro 20065 lawnmower Saturday, and also the Homelite UT44120 22″ Electric Hedge Trimmer (the larger one of the two I looked at).  Actually I bought both hedge trimmers and meditated on which to open, and I’ll return the smaller one today.

I tried it out on the back eleagnus bushes surrounding the back porch and it works great.  It says the cut capacity is 1/2 ” and that’s about right.  Some of the branches were the size of my finger, which is just more than 1/2 inch, but I could cut them pretty easily if I had a sweeping motion going.  I tried cutting the top several ways, so I don’t have to do it from a ladder.

I have some good ladders though.  Today I want to top the ficus hedge along the driveway, and will need a ladder for this first cut.  And I might want ahead of time to prune out the bigger stalks, since they are probably more like 1″ around…

I forgot that trimming the bushes means yard trash, and our Waste Pickup guys have all these rules about how big to cut branches, etc. and they have to be in refuse cans.  I learned that when Francis across the street told me the reason the trash truck always bypassed my ever growing pile of branches the past 6 months was that they were not cut to size.   So today I will go buy a big 50 gallon bin on wheels maybe, and toss the branches in there.  He and I cut up my pile and it took a hour and it filled his 4 trash bins plus more left siding alongside stacked nicely.  They picked it right up.  He’s a real worker, always tending to his yard.

I will set up my lawn mower today, Francis said he will help me.  It’s just like his.  It will be good to do my own yard.  Between the mowing and the hedge trimming, these arms will strengthen right up.  I am trying to keep to a nightly routine working my arms out with my little 8 lb weights.  I can tell each month if I’ve been keeping at it by how easy or hard it is for me to lift my two 5 gallon water bottles when I get them refilled each month.  Sometimes I can grab by both handles and get them inside at one time.  Other times one feels a little heavy to carry by the handle so I carry it like a baby and it’s not heavy at all.  Directly related to how many hours at the keyboard and steering wheel compared to how many hours working out and using my arms.

A friend emailed me:
“I almost feel like I need to start out basic and breathing and meditation… not spend alot of time on it as most people know about it but you never know when a new comer might not even understand meditation and how important it is… not only for relaxing the mind and body and releasing stress but also to connect and communicate with our guides and spirits….   “

I replied: “Yes you are right. I find that most people are insecure about the way they meditate anyway, even those who have done it for years.  And I always mention that, so no one feels stupid for having attended meditations for years and still aren’t sure what they are supposed to be thinking about while their eyes are closed, and after the guided part is over and they are in the silence.  Meditation is like sex, everyone talks about it but few actually experience it as often as they say they do.

I like the old “breathe in for 4 slow counts, hold for 4 slow counts, release for 4 slow counts, hold for 4 slow counts.”  That way I am not getting caught up in my mind keeping track of the counts.  If I’m busy counting a complex sequence, I’m not meditating.  Keep me posted.”