It all started with a dirty fish pond. We created an under gravel filter for it out of PVC pipe and weed barrier. I had to sew a wrap for the pipe filter out of the weed fabric. Once done, I stayed outside, watching the Mr slowly pour a bag of pea gravel down into the murky water, hoping that the fishes that I couldn't see were able to avoid falling rocks. After standing in the sun longer than I should have with no sunscreen or hat on, I finally put the tomatoes I bought weeks ago into the ground. The fence isn't around the new garden yet, since it's really only one bed at present. But with cages, it was moderately safe to put the tomatoes, tomatillos, and cucumbers in. Elsa most likely won't lie across them or eat them at this stage.
I wanted to hit the doorbuster sale at Michael's, to get mega packs of cheap canvases for even less money than usual. It's right across the street from the Massage Envy where my membership is, so I went ahead and froze the membership there while I'm unlikely to want to be worked on. (I expect with the port in, I won't want my shoulders or pecs massaged, and until the Biozorb coil dissolves in my breast, I won't want to lie face down on a massage table.) It could have been that easy, going to two businesses and then home. But no. I had to notice this morning that we were out of cat kibbles. And I knew it was a good idea to pick up more snails to eat algae in the pond. And as I prepared to leave the house, the Mr hit me with the death blow: "why don't you stop in and get some marigolds to go between the tomatoes?" That meant Lowe's without a chaperone.
All these stores, other than Massage Envy, were roughly in a row. I parked in front of the center one, and walked to the others on either side first. I went in circles at Lowe's, trying to find basic six packs of marigolds. I walked for half an hour, getting upset and tired and filling my cart as I went, before I asked a store employee, who told me they had been on sale last week and they sold out. In the meantime, I got rosemary, Anaheim and jalapeno peppers, lemon thyme, red white and "blue" petunias, and some new heavy duty tomato cages. At Michael's, I got three mega packs of medium sized canvases (8x12, 12x12, 11x14) for ten bucks each (go if you need them!), and a fresher tube of brown paint to replace the one that turned into putty. In between each store, I went back to my car to fill the trunk and to swap out shopping carts for the right ones for the different stores.
The trip to Petco was depressing. I got my cat food, and then stood around for 20 minutes waiting for the teenager ahead of me at the fish section to get everything she needed. I studied algae killers while I waited, but everything I saw warned not to let dogs or livestock consume any water treated with them. Eventually I got three new snails. Was considering getting another big goldfish or two, until I came around the corner and found that the tanks had been emptied, and the fish were in desperate shape. Some a-hole had poisoned the tanks for the feeder fish and the koi. There was a crystaline substance on the filters, and the water "stopped smelling like fish," according to the cashier I talked to. She said this wasn't the first time they had been sabotaged. People have poured soda in the betta cups, and they've done something like this to the goldfish before. They were all in two five-gallon buckets when I saw them, most of the big ones in the process of dying. I don't get people. Who on earth thinks that this is okay?
By the time I made it to the car for the final time, I had run myself completely out of spoons. Too much walking, too much lifting, too much bending over to dig, and way too much sun. I've been a worthless mess ever since sundown. I thought I'd be okay holding out my NSAID before the procedure on Tuesday, even though they told me I could keep taking it until tomorrow. I regret that. I had been feeling so much better after the surgery a month ago. Now I've run myself ragged, and I doubt I'll have much to offer the world tomorrow.
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