So instead of a weekend away from home (and the kids), I’ve spent most of my time doing work around the house and the yard (yes, I’m a guy who knows how to have a good time).
I had to replace the ancient light fixture in my “office” this morning (er, um, yesterday morning–I have no idea why I’m still up this late). It’s one of those small brass fixtures, with a pull cord, that dangles from the ceiling by both electrical wires, and one of the wires broke last night as I was turning the light off just before going to bed. I learned an important lesson–don’t use an all-metal tool, such as the Leatherman I was using, when working with live electrical wiring. It didn’t seem worth resetting all the clocks in my house just to wire in a new light fixture, but the jolt I got when my pinky finger accidentally touched one of the wires while I tightened the screw on the other wire left me wishing for just that.
I also made some repairs to the sprinkler system in the front yard, but I’ve still got a lot left to do. The work I did today was necessary in order for me to pour a new sidewalk where this pathway once existed. I had to remove a sprinkler head and several other fittings and joints and replaced it with one long pipe that runs under where the sidewalk will go. When I get back to the rest of the system, I’ll have to dig that pipe up again, cut and thread it, then install a new sprinkler head and continue the line out to the front of the yard. I also replaced the old, pitiful plywood boxes that protected the sprinkler valves with new plastic ones.
My mom has been thinning down some of the plants in her flower garden, and she gave me several iris and daisy plants. I planted the irises in the front yard to replace the ones that got dug up last year, and the daisies went in the back yard. I’ve never really been big on landscaping and plants in my yard, but this year I’ve slowly been working on getting it looking good.