It is still early April and yet the weather here on our hilltop has turned summer-like. The weather forecast says it will be 80 degrees, but if the hilltop holds true to form, that means it will likely be in the mid-80s at least. My annual AC checkup was last week and the system is raring to go, as are the Big Ass fans on the ceiling, which are already slowly turning as though to warm up for the warm up. The patio in the morning sun and the deck as the sun gets over the yardarm at midday, both look inviting rather than sitting in the living room. I roamed the back hillside yesterday and replanted an old dragon fruit cactus that has been in a medium terracotta pot on the corner of the northwest wildflower garden for the past 13 years. For some reason, that pot has been allowed to languish for far too long in its scruffiness with the cactus spreading out laterally like an old convict trying to sneak out of prison. When I went to lift the pot, I realized that the dragon had made its way through the drain hole in the pot with a thick tap root the went God-knows how far into the rocky soil. The great thing about succulents that get unruly is that you can be as brutal about cutting them back as you want and still replant the stems to create a refreshed and tidy looking new plant. That’s what I did with that old convict and now he looks like a young juvenile delinquent thinking up new schemes and places to go.
This is one of those days when I have absolutely nothing on the agenda. Kim has a haircut booked to look her best for our guests arriving next week, so I am literally at loose ends since the big play area rehab doesn’t start for a few days. I have done all the demo I can do and am now awaiting the delivery of the fresh pressure-treated edging wood and the three bags of decomposed and stabilized granite that will get shoveled onto the surface we are trying to level. I’ve drawn all the schematics of the job and done the linear footage and volumetric fill math to estimate the materials we need. What’s harder to estimate is the labor time for the job. I know I have Handy Brad, Omar and his cousin for Saturday and Sunday, but what I don’t know is how to estimate the degree to which Handy Brad’s precision will slow the progress of the work. As we all know and acknowledge by now, Handy Brad is the exacting craftsman to my “get-it-done” hard-charger. If it was just Handy Brad I would have less resources on my side to speed things up, but with two guys idling by the side of the road, there is only so much Handy Brad can do to keep progress from being made for the sake of perfection. But that is all still in the future (the DG has now arrived and sits idling by the side of the road…literally) and today is just another day of contemplation on that project.
With a warm, sunny, cloudless day, there must be something I can do to keep myself busy. I think I will use the morning to deconstruct the fairy village on the east side of the garage. I have a wonderful layered granite boulder on that side that has a little cave crevice that I built a fairy village into. Like the play area, it seemed like a good idea at the time, but is a bit too kitschy and now is tattered by the elements, so I think I should take it down and scrub off the rock to make way for some other, more natural, purpose. I’m thinking that some sort of hanging flower arrangement might be nice and a good change of pace, but there are perhaps 100 miniature gnomes to be evicted from the premises before anything else can get done.
The gnomes are no more, except those few scaling the northern face of the boulder under reprieve from Kim. I’ve ordered the hanging baskets and several versions of attachment paraphernalia. I never know what Will or won’t work when it comes to attaching things to granite. It is, after all, the second hardest rock after diamond and I have many a broken drill bit to prove that it tends to beat me back more often then succumb to my whims for adornment. I have two more days to kill before the play area crew arrives for the weekend work party and I really do need to leave that area be least I incite Handy Brad’s wrath. A mumbling Handy Brad is no fun to be around during a day of work.
So, today I will focus on getting cash for the crew and washing the truck while Amazon finds its way to my door with my new flower boxes lined with coco mats. I will try to amuse myself with that project and perhaps take advantage of this fine weather to take a long overdue motorcycle ride in the sunshine.
Today the sun is indeed shining brighter in most of the world as our fearless and feckless leader, Donald Trump, did what I and many others knew he would…he backed down from his trade war (except with China). Naturally he is claiming credit for out-negotiating the world, when we all know that he got scared into retreat by both the stock market fall and especially the cracks that started to appear in the Treasury bond market, which was starting to push rates up. Even Trump knows not to screw around too much with bond markets. He’s probably still scratching his head over the calculus of falling bond prices leading to rising yields.
As my friend Sam texted me, Well,….. he’s done it again. He’s taken credit for solving a massive problem that he himself created in the first place! But it doesn’t even begin to address the three underlying problems which will outlive this disastrous chapter:
The good reputation, trust and credibility of the United States around the world that has evaporated, (Our allies now see us as adversaries; not friends).
The chaos that has been created by Trump in the last 78 days has caused extreme market volatility, and has therefore led to indecision and frozen all new manufacturing plans in the United States.
At least a quarter of all products imported into the United States come from China. So, costs on all of these products will skyrocket.
And this doesn’t even take into account the thousands of other government inefficiencies, the severe damage, and the cruelty Trump and his minions have inflicted upon us all,— both red and blue, as American citizens!!!
Right on, Sam!
And as for China? China has done more good and less harm for the U.S. economy over the last 50 years and now Trump is pushing them to war and we will all be hurt again by that. This is how wars begin in the modern era. The real enemy is oligarchy and that starts with Russia, but as we know, Trump is too big a fan of oligarchy to go against Putin. Russia has NEVER done anything to help other countries and people. China has done lots and has lots of friends…and even more after seeing how irrational America can be.
I read today that Bernie Sandrrs is handing over the progressive anti-oligarchy torch to AOC and that talk of her candidacy in 2028 is gaining momentum. Now there is a summer fun thought that can hold me over for a few days.