Welcome Back from Memorial Weekend

I hope everyone had a nice long weekend. Peggy and I were quite productive. We started by cleaning up our dry river bed in the back. Well, actually we started but we still need to finish cleaning up the dead parts of the yucca plants

After cleaning up the some of these plants, we started on the front walkway. This walkway goes from the front step that turned towards the driveway and meandered down to the front sidewalk. (Click on picture to see a large version) We put this walkway in some years ago and was ready for some basic maintenance. This was just a matter of removing the old pea gravel that was full of weeds and grasses, reset the decorative brick that went through the center of the walkway and reapply new pea gravel.

We also took the time to power spray the house and mend one of the gates to the back yard.

Additionally, we decided to do a little painting and repair on the back door. This was one of those double doors where one is latched on the top and bottom and the other is used as the basic entrance.

On a fun note. I had the opportunity to get my kayak our for the first time. Peggy bought me this kayak at Christmas and I finally got it licensed and out on Big Walnut Creek. I check

Image via Wikipedia

on Google Earth and determined I went approximately 4 miles. Being this was the first time I have ever been in a kayak, I started out heading upstream for a while and just playing about near where I was parked. That way, when I take a dive, I would be able to get a dry towel. This was expected but I am very please to say I did not dump once. After a while, I got comfortable and headed upstream for just over a mile. Only once did I get a bit concerned. I was in a "fast water" situation when I hit a rock. Now, this rock was big and I saw it coming for quite a distance and yet, I hit it! All went well but that taught me a good lesson.

Now, you may have noticed I did not say I did not get wet. Actually, I can now understand why they developed the "spray skirt". This is a waterproof boot that goes around the waist and attaches to the opening on the kayak. Why did I get wet? Well, every time I took my paddle out of the water, it ran down the paddle and in my lap. I have these rubber things on the paddles that keeps most of the water from coming all the way down and in the kayak but even with that, I got wet.

Once I returned home, I got on line and ordered the same spray skirt that Gander Mountain wanted $69.00 for, but I only payed $40.95 with no shipping and tax and this was from the manufacturer.

Well, back to work. It is now Tuesday and we need to "reboot" our minds into "business as usual". So, have a productive day and I will post again.