Scape that Land

Picture it, summer turns from sweltering to low-mid 20's C. So with a bevy of projects circling overhead, I decide I'd best put another one to bed, or at least take a dose of de-crastination to combat my occasional bout of procrastination (Proj12) and make some baby steps toward knocking off the bigger landscaping projects I've commited myself to doing (P3).

Just to recap, on the landscaping front, I have some backyard stuff to take care of - making a larger stone patio, a small pond and stream thing to creat a bit of ambient noise. Also, there's an underlying element to Project 3 which is to gradually eliminate as much grass as possible. In my front yard, I needed a walkway improvement increment over some work done last year, as well as a n across-the-lawn walkway to avoid the silly walk straight out, down the sidewalk 3 metres and back up the driveway thing. Especially in the winter it's annoying.

So, I have made some progress. The patio is almost twice as big, the cross-lawn thoroughfare is in place and holding up well.

Well, yesterday with the cooler, rainless weather, I finally thought - well, don't need to do the whole water feature quite yet, but at least increment the thing. The first stage is to dig a cross garden channel to hold the pipe through which the pump will send water into a shallow basin on top of a berm. That needs to cut through the existing garden, starting from the depth of the pond, and going to the shallowest level that will still get me under the garden edging and a stone retaining wall to support the berm behind the garden.

I did well at advancing that, but was pretty wiped. I dug the hole, and trench, removing copious bulbs along the way for later replanting. Then I cut a piece of ABS 3" pipe to go under the foundation of the soon-to-exist retaining wall. I bought 4 bags of 1/2" gravel, and the first 20 blocks. I compacted some earth around the pipe (stuffed with old gravel bags)and then leveled it and added the stone. I levelled that and then put down some stone dust. I did a trial placement of the first course of blocks. They're pretty good - need some more stone dust to further level them at the one end. Plus, need some levelling in the other axis.

So today, I need some stone dust, and more blocks - probably 20-25 of them.

The Wacky Story
In the spirit of some interesting exercises I've heard about in the past (e.g. the book without the letter 'e'), I was working on a micro-story of my own with another quirk. Actally, I was exploring this certain quirk, when I realized it was a similar project ot the e-less story. Anyway - chicken, egg, whatever.

Here's the story. You will note a bit of awkwardness perhaps. Actually, I thought it had a bit of a Ulysses feel to it. See what you think. If you don't notice the quirk right away, do this exercise. Either on a real keyboard, or on a ghost keyboard on your lap, type a copy of the story. I think it's a pretty cool effect.


We get dressed. Greg sat, reads. Afterward, a red car...Daves Stewart,Bette..."Greg, best scat!"

Stewart wears dreads, beads. Dave a weave, a faded TV act. Bette, a stewardess, sees Greg's cat. A sweet face Bette, dresses great. We ate seated, Daves a great beast! We were a sad crew.

Afterward, Dave was wasted, gassed. Stewart vexed Dave. We traded barbs. Sad bastard. Dave retreats, swears, fades, stews.

Bette dated Dave. Afterward tears, a bad case. A Cafe afterwards, Stewart, Dave... Greg?

I look up. Lynn, John limp in.

"You look jolly in pink, Lynn"
"No, I look... oh - loopy!"
"John - join in."
"Huh? Oh, Lynn umm, ok."
"You ok?
"I, uh.. No"


Ooo - a cliff hanger there! So, what do you think? Fascinating story huh? Got you on the edge of your seat. Hope you caught the quirk. Let me know what you think. Not the easiest thing to write - Have to emphasize my copyright on that story!

Wanted to share that after plugging away at it for a few months now and then. A very limiting rule set there.

Wrap
Well, on to my project 3 work. There's some shopping for additional blocks and stone dust, some lunch and then another day of back straining work.

Your immediate assignment for today is tougher than it might seem. Sit comfortably, close your eyes and count calmly and silently to two hundred. It should obviously take less than three minutes, but if you can't get all the way there, it might say something about your ability to take three minutes out of your day for relaxing. Can you make it all the way through right now without an interruption? How did it feel. Could you maintian focus, or did you lose count? Let me know - email address at the left sidebar.