Saturday, October 24, 2009

I Thought Fulltime RV Life Meant No Yardwork !!

One of the best parts of being a Fulltimer and living in our motorhome, is the fact that we don't have any yard work. When we had a yard, I liked to keep it neat and tidy. We didn't let it go too long without weeding, mulching, raking and so on. So, part of the allure of a fulltime lifestyle was that we could get rid of all the yard maintenance equipment and the reason for having it. So, why did we spend 5 hours today doing strenuous yard work?

Our church had need of several volunteers today to clear out brush and limbs from some recent tree trimming on the church property. Bruce and I volunteered to join the group. Since we are gone from our "home church" a good part of every year, we like to help in the areas in which we feel able when we are here.

This photo shows some of the brush that had been collected on the church lawn. I took the photo after about 1/2 of the debris had already been chipped up. Fortunately, we had a great day for this activity. It had rained heavily just yesterday. Here is the chipper/shredder that had been rented from Home Depot to get the job done. Bruce (in red shirt) is helping the operator, John, run some limbs through the machine. There was a chute that spewed the mulch out into the lake front property. This organic mulch will be great for the forest floor. Our church owns this property across the street from our building...so it was no problem.
We had about 7 or 8 people doing this tree limb work. I helped with that for about an hour and then went over to help with the weeding and clean-up in the area bordering our parking lot. That job was difficult, but we managed.
At 12:30, we all took a lunch break and enjoyed some pizzas and salad. It was great and tasted good....not good for my diet...but what are you going to do? This was not a time to be picky. We were all exhausted. This just shows that if we all work together, we can accomplish a lot.
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Bruce and I went home to take a shower after this work. I had just gotten out when the phone rang. It was Mackenzie, our oldest "Grand", asking if she and Zoey could come over and play for a while. Oh man! That was probably the last thing I really wanted since we were so tired. How can a Grandma refuse a sweet little voice on the phone? I couldn't. So I said, "Sure come on over." While Bruce napped in the chair, the girls and I played restaurant for a while. This is their favorite thing to play. Then we needed to do some crafts (of course). At 5:00 we called Mommy and Daddy and said....time to come and collect the girls, we're ready to call it a day.
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I'm sure we'll sleep well tonight. A little Tylenol can't hurt for those aching, sore muscles though. After all, we are a couple of "old folks".
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Until next time.....so long for now!

1 comment:

Rick said...

Well, I was out in the yard today too - mowing the lawns and getting rid of the leaves. Nice of you to say yes to your granddaughter too - they will always remember that.