One Track Mind

This could also be titled - Overdoing It!

I'm weeding Dad's garden beds this week.  To do this without overheating I'm getting up at dawn - literally - and heading down to their place. 

Yesterday I did all the garden beds that are not behind fencing.  That took about 2 1/2 hours.  The great fun was the saw briar/ jackson vine that I found growing there.  The nasty thorny vine was apparently growing throughout a very very large section of one bed.  After ripping out quite a bit, I realized that we were going to have to use another option for this vine because otherwise I was going to rip through a lot of landscape cloth and mulching.  So I will be teaching Dad what I learned from the nursery, when he gets home.

Anyways, I only stopped because I had to go deal with school officials.  My time would have been better spent working on the gardens.

Today I was determined to get at least halfway through the backyard.  So I kept going even when it got hot.  When I got wobbly, I downed lots of Propel and sat in the pool for a bit.  When the first batch of Propel made my stomach cramp I realized that I had waited too long to start drinking it.  So I made sure the container was refilled then I went back to it.  At about 11:30 I had to surrender at about a third of the way through.  I had to admit that I was being overly stubborn.  I have several more days to work on this but my one track mind wants it done and wants it done now.  So I keep pushing my body to do it.

BTW, these are very, very large garden beds.  On average each bed is at least 6 foot across and 40 feet long - at least.  Most are actually much bigger than that.  They have a very large lot, something like 2 acres. 

But my body has limits in heat and I hit them.  It took an hour in the pool to stop feeling quite so "wobbly".  And then I was just exhausted.  A 5 hour energy drink actually tasted good!  And only lasted about an hour.  All in all, it took about 5 hours and one batch of pain pills for me to start feeling human.  And my stomach still doesn't like the idea of food but it's taking it.

And the grand prize for not stopping earlier - my braid created a skunk stripe through the lovely sunburn on my back.  I originally thought I didn't burn because there was no red, but recent scratching has confirmed that I did indeed burn.  Oops.

So tomorrow, I will stop by 10.  I am going to set an alarm on my phone to make me pay attention to the time.  Two of the remaining beds are really, really bad but the rest aren't so bad because I laid them down and I put very heavy weed barriers down.  So they look bad but the weeds pull out very easily.  It's the garden beds that I didn't do that are going to be the hardest because the weeds will have gotten through to soil that is hard baked right now.

I will be wearing a full shirt and pants tomorrow.  Not the bathing suit and shorts.  Well, at least a shirt over the bathing suit, wet or not.  And I will have a full drink container of Propel next to me at all times.  If I empty it then it will be time to take a break and refill it.

But munchkin thought that this was grand.  He got to curl up on Grandpa's sofa and watch movies for a couple of hours.  Then he got to jump in the pool and play for a couple of hours.  And since he's got the dark italian skin tone he just got darker - no burning.  Sometimes I'm jealous.