When did I start liking yard work?

I know I hated it as a child, I think maybe because of all the yelling involved.

But since moving in here, I have really taken to raking around random piles of dirt, weeds and rocks, digging holes and playing in the mud. One time I removed a 10 foot poplar tree with hand tools, saws and shovels, over a few weeks while I was unemployed. I do everything the hard way for maximum exercise. There is a large element of play involved. Usually I’m just mucking about but eventually (weeks later) something gets done. I’ve been known to piece together rocks into cobblestone paths and then move them someplace else a week later. I also use it to get out frustrations. I really enjoy hurling the digging bar at the ground.

I’ve always had a bad habit of staying home sick, and then doing yard work even though I really was sick. It seems to cure colds for me.   Sometimes I called in sick when I was not, because it was a good day for yard work.

A week or so ago I was feeling very sorry for myself, because if I have surgery, and if I lose my lymph nodes, who knows what I’ll be able to do with my arms. I might never be able to do yard work again, I cried to my boyfriend. I was feeling sick and unable to do much at all that day.

So as soon as I started to feel a bit better, there I was in the back yard, there were the weeds and dirt piles in my way, and I thought “well this might be the best day I have for quite some time, and if I can’t do it now, when can I?”

(This is how I’ve talked myself into a few things lately. I don’t know where it is coming from…)

So I decided to just try a little bit… which of course led to me mucking about in the mud and wearing myself out with shovels, rakes and the digging bar, three days in a row, one of which was the day of chemo. I guess those anti-side effects drugs give me some energy.

Today I worked at home in the morning and then went in and basically stuffed envelopes all afternoon, so no yard work today. Tomorrow… well I hope the exercise helps rather than makes the crash harder.