Van Eeden: Day off?

We were excited to realize that this past weekend had one extra day off for D. The 4th of July snuck up on us in a good way. A friend, Lindsay, from Ft. Myers also surprised us with a quick visit on Saturday. It was fun to talk with her, grab some frozen yogurt at a place that just opened around the corner and show off our baby. A loved the extra attention. I don't think she was put down all afternoon.

Initially, we had planned to go shopping on the 4th at the outlet mall. I am on the hunt for some comfortable black sandals, and D could use some new tennis shoes. So you'd think that would have been the plan I was rooting for when we woke up Monday morning. Nope. Instead of spending an easy morning trying on shoes, we agreed to dig a big hole. Huh?

A few weeks ago D voiced again our desire to plant a shade tree instead of a palm in the front yard. Shading our bedroom window would greatly improve the efficiency of the west side of the house. He also saw a deal for getting $100 worth of gift cards for $80, a Father's Day special at our local nursery. Well, we had already cashed in on the gift cards and paid someone to remove our palm. (Palms look like easy trees, but they do murder on chainsaws and are VERY heavy.) All that was left was to dig a big hole, go buy the oak tree we wanted and then plant it. Or so we thought... D may need to stop listening to my mid-project suggestions because I interjected that we should remove an innocent-looking blob of cement from the yard while we were at it. We could back-fill the hole from the cement with dirt from the tree hole. It turns out that the blob was much larger than we could handle alone. D remembered that his work has a portable engine lift, so we were able to get the cement out, but not without hours of intensive work. So much for a relaxing holiday. Alas, we did end the day with a beautiful tree planted and another project on the "do it later" list finished. Sunburned and exhausted, we fell asleep easily that night even a midst the firework-enthusiasts at work in our neighborhood.