My friend is returning tomorrow and her "surprise" is not quite done. However, I am not sure I have it in me to finish. Ten hours of labor in the stinking heat, 30 bags of mulch, two bags of pulled weeds.

Her curb appeal has greatly increased, but I have fallen short of appropriately mulching her fern garden. It needs about 10 more bags. I have been toying with the idea of trying to take care of it tomorrow, but working in the evenings is really the only way I can accomplish my goal. Working in the front yard was ever so much easier than in the back yard. Perhaps I could get the Lowe's guy to fill up my car again and have her children haul the mulch back to her fern garden. After four trips there, Boris and I are good friends.

Still, I would give most anything to be there when she pulls up to her house. Will she understand the gift I was trying to give her? Or will she harangue me about working in the heat? I certainly have sweated on this project more than I have in decades. The funny thing is that all I was so focused on what I was doing I didn't really notice the heat other than as a reminder to keep swilling down more Orange Gatorade.

I did mow today. Really, who would believe that I would find 94 degrees cool enough to mow? My, I just cannot explain the utter satisfaction that washes over me as I gaze upon a freshly clipped and edged yard. With the back beds properly mulched, the birds swarming over the feeders, the fountain trickling, the Rose of Sharon trees blooming, being in the back yard is so soothing. Now that the heat wave is dissipating, perhaps I will be able to enjoy it more...