Last weekend, we left on a shopping run, and returned ~45 minutes later. Along the roadside by our property was a roadkill deer that was not there when we left. It wasn’t a stiffie yet. We looked up the local laws for removal, and found out that in this particular location, it’s the state’s responsibility, and there is no charge to us.
At least it wasn’t up to us to drag it into the woods, or pay the town $75 to haul it off. Where we used to live, people would hit them, then drag them onto our property because the cost of removal would not then be theirs.
By today, this one had gone well past the rigor mortis, and bloaty/stinky stages, to well picked over by the vultures, crows, and raccoons. It still stinks a bit, but it’s mostly scattered bones. This was a large doe, which would have been tricky to lift over the guard rail, and drop down the hill into the woods, anyway. I’m glad the critters took care of it for us; the state would not have. Nature takes its course.
Moving along to other things, I have a dozen volunteer basil plants in my herb garden. It’s an annual here, so I bought a six-pack of seedlings, and planted them. They’re nearly a foot tall now. What’s just starting to come up are the volunteers. They must have self-sown from last year’s crop after I stopped pinching off the flower heads. Hey, I’ll take them. Marinara is so much better made with fresh basil (and oregano, which we also have) than using dried herbs. Pesto, Caprese salad, and Margherita pizza also can’t be made with the dried version.
I got most of the powerwashing done today. The worst of it was our upper level patio. It went from black to its original light tan. I still need to do the bottom of the steps down to the pool, and a few places around the pool level patio, but those aren’t so bad, and aren’t nearly as much of the square footage as the upper patio. The main level patio could use it, too, but it’s a much lower priority.
Powerwashing is my job. I really love this Ryobi 3300 psi model with the Honda engine. The only thing that could have made it better is push button start instead of pull start. I wasn’t about to pay an extra $200 for that feature, though, so I’ll deal with the arm workout. My main complaint is that its gas tank only holds a quart, so if it’s a big job, it might quit on you when it runs out of gas. It did on me. No biggie. Turn off the fuel valve, then the kill switch before you refill the tank. Small problems, big returns.
I also poisoned all the weeds that were starting to grow between the pavers on our various walkways, along with some poison ivy. I did that a few weeks ago, but the poison ivy is popping up in new places, and the weeds between the pavers are different from the ones I killed a month ago. Most of it was killed the first time, but sometimes, it takes another go-around.
And, I did pool vacuuming, herb gardening weeding, and a few other things. All in a good day’s work, right?
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