Edging

The weather was a little cooler today, which made the day seem SO much better than yesterday. I actually was outside for a while and enjoyed it!

Got up, had breakfast, read my news, and discovered and installed this program called Gaim. It is basically an open-source version of AIM--basically, same functionality and no ads! I got my current computer (my laptop) last September, and never bothered to install AIM on it. First off, I hardly ever signed on anymore as it was. I also did not like constantly being bombarded with ads while online. I always had a sneaky suspicion that AIM was installing Adware on my computer anyway. I don't know if this is true, but I had the feeling anyway.

Well, since I've gotten into blogging, I've been much more interested in what other people, such as college and home friends are doing, and wanted to install AIM again. I StumbledUpon this site a while back called 100 Downloads, which contains a list of over 100 applications, all completely free, no strings attached. I found a download for Gaim, installed it, and I love it. It's great to read everyone's buddy info again. Though that was the main reason I installed it, I wouldn't mind chatting, especially since it is summer, and hey, do I have anything else better to do?

So, after installing and playing around with that, I went outside to finally clean up the front yard. I mowed the lawn, and was about to die after that. It really didn't feel any cooler than yesterday. After mowing, I weed-whacked. Half-way through that, I had to go inside and sit for a while. I came back out, finished weed-whacking, and it finally started to feel a little cooler.

Then onto the big job... edging. For those who don't know anything about lawn care, edging is where you cut away the grass that ends up growing over the edges of sidewalks and driveways. It creates a nice, clean look to the lawn, and it needed desperately done at our house. You need a special tool, called and edger to do this. I don't have one, so I borrowed my dad's. I discovered that our sidewalks are a lot bigger than I realized, after cutting away four inches of grass and dirt on either side. I also discovered that we have curbs too! After cutting away all of the grass in front and on top of the curb. The lawn looks great now. It no longer looks like we live in an old cat lady's house.

Came in hot, dirty, hungry, and exhausted, so I showered, and then made pork chops on the grill again. This time with another one of those McCormick rubs, only this one said it was for pork (although, I'm sure you can put it on any meat), and it had a different flavor. It was delicious, it was spicy and sweet at the same time. At first I thought the pork turned out dry, but when Meg and I went to split the third piece, we discovered it was really juicy. We figured out that this one had been wrapped in foil to keep it warm, and that this helped to seal the juices. Next time, I'll just cover the meat and let it sit for a while before eating it (I heard somewhere that your supposed to do this anyway). I also grilled up some peppers to go along. I wanted to make more, but 2 of the 3 peppers we had left were moldy inside. Gross! Anyway dinner was great, and will definitely become part of our normal dinner menu.

Meg and I had planned on grocery shopping, but were both really tired, and almost didn't go. Then we realized that there was NOTHING left to eat in the house, so we ended up going out of necessity. I'm glad we did though, because now it is over with, and Wal-Mart on a Friday night is WAY less crowded then Wal-Mart on a Saturday morning.

BTW: Since I am now 'online' again, I'll share my screen-name: drfinale (same as my blog name)