Day 249:
Well Conor, after an extremely early Saturday morning you showed real grace in finding it in your heart to allow a much later start to Sunday. I almost fell out of bed when I woke up to realize it was almost 9:00am and still you slumbered! Easily the latest I've personally slept since before you were born and clearly I needed it, because I could have just as well rolled back over and drifted back to sleep another hour...
Still, the late start made for a busy day as I'd created such a list for myself that not getting after it would mean I'd be working out laborious chores throughout the week and after work. And I can tell you, Son, this is going to be a very busy week all on its own, so I didn't need anything more to do...
After a breakfast with you and Mommy it was off to Home Depot (a favorite store of mine) to get, among other things, my very own chainsaw! Now to some this may sound silly... There are those who would question anybody getting excited about a chainsaw... But for me, Boy'O, I'm a man who loves to work with his hands. I enjoy the work (whilst at my own leisure) and look forward to throwing my old deer skin gloves on and getting down to it. To that end, there's an old saying, Conor. "The right tools make any job easier." and if there's anything in this life that's absolutely true, it's that. Though still, there are many people who should NEVER operate such machinery, Son. A chainsaw is a dangerous, albeit effective, instrument. In the hands of the wrong man, well, let's just say bad things could happen. And believe me when I say this, Son - I know these men... You will too. In fact, I'm sure we'll have this conversation again someday, but I digress...
For me a chainsaw is a tool I appreciate and operate safely and efficiently... In this case, the plum tree in our front yard was so badly damaged by the summer storms in late June that it just had to be managed. Rather than take the tree down, and recognizing there's still a solid trunk which is doing quite well, I merely sculpted the tree and sealed the open cuts with a a tree wound repair. This makes the tree more attractive while also ensuring it remains healthy and to be sure, I had a good deal of fun doing it also!
Immediately following the tree work I grabbed the steel rake, a pair of shovels, threw on some good tunes, and got to work planting and mulching four fountain grasses in the easement between our house and the neighbors house. This work was merely cosmetic, more so than the work I'd done to the tree to insure its survival, but even still it was therapeutic for me, Son. Once again, throwing in a set of earbuds, cranking up some great tunes, and getting after some good hard vigorous work in the Summer's heat allows for a good sweat and a gratifying finish to a job well done.
Why am I explaining all of this? Because when you someday read this you'll remember; as backbreaking, challenging, or dangerous as some jobs can be, there's nothing quite like feeling you get when you achieve your goal with little more than determination combined with the sweat of your brow and the strength of your back. Hard work never killed anyone, Son...
That's all for tonight, Boy'O. I love you, Conor...
-Dad
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