Woke up at 8:30 A.M. Grabbed breakfast, showered, then headed for church. I decided to go to the 9:15 service and try out a 10:45 Sunday School. Last week's class was OK, but there just wasn't enough interaction. I was eager to get back to the class that I used to attend last summer. But after the service was over, I was disappointed to find a sign on the door that said that the class was not meeting today. GRR!!!
I now had time on my hands! I headed home and loafed around for an hour before Sean and I headed to Mom and Dad's house for the cook-out. We had quite a crew there...Crazy, Jenna, Casey, Boogs, Ma, Pa, Jobu, Kristin, Baby, myself, Aunt Debbie, and Sean. It was good times. Hamburgers, brats, hotdogs, potato salad, chips, a huge cookie, and sweet tea. That's the American July 4th I'm talking about!
Sean and I left there around 2-ish, then made a quick stop at my brother's house to pick up a lamp, then a quick stop at Boogs' house to drop off a battery, then came back home. I went out back and started to work a bit. I raked up some of the rocks from underneath my deck. Frankly, they serve no purpose there, and it's the same type I have in my front yard, so I figured I would do a little stealing from the backyard! I'm ready to be completely done with the rock project in the front yard. Actually, I'm ready to be done with the front yard altogether! Gettin' close.
My raking didn't last long, though. I opted to wash some items in my garage instead. So I power-washed Erica's Little Tikes workbench, the fountain Dad bought at a garage sale last week, the buckets from last week's sump pump project, my sandals from that project, and a trash can I had just picked up from Kirk's house. I had quite a bit to clean! I then started to work on the ranch's mower. And that's what I did for about an hour or so. The self-propel function wasn't working, and I had determined that the pulley spins free of the crankshaft. That's the problem. So I took it all apart, and sure enough, a screw that needed to be turned all the way in to catch the crankshaft was definitely out. So I fixed that, put it back together, and it went forward like a charm. I power-washed it and will hopefully return it back to the ranch tomorrow.
I then started work on the water fountain. Basically, it needed painted. I tried some old cans I had picked up from Mom and Dad's house from YEARS ago. I had to change the sprayer nozzle on them, but they worked fine after that. But it wasn't enough. So I made a quick run to Wal-Mart, dropping off the battery and Little Tikes workbench at Boogs' house on the way. I picked up a gallon of milk, some WD-40, and three cans of spray paint. I came back home and started my Bob Ross technique. A couple of houses, a stream, a couple waterfalls, and a windmill. It turned out looking pretty good! I coated it with lacquer, then set it up with an old pump from Mom and Dad's house. But I had a problem...no water was coming out. I pulled it apart and tried the pump out by itself. It ran PERFECT!
Hmm...
So I took a wire and stuck it up the hole in the fountain. Nothing but dirt came out. Aha! So I used another thicker wire to clean out the mud and dirt from inside the hole, then put the fountain back together. It worked perfectly. So I now have a rather nice-looking fountain outside my house. It's crazy. It looked worthless just a few hours ago. And now it looks decent. What a little elbow grease and a few bucks can do.
I was going to call it a day. I took a shower...and then came out to a monsoon!!! It was a pop-up thunderstorm, but it was angry!!! It was seriously some of the hardest rain I've ever seen. It took me a bit by surprise, so I rushed outside to throw an extension on my downspout to get it away from the house. I then hopped in my truck and drove it up the driveway in order to get a free car wash for my bed! I hopped up in the bed and used my bare feet to start pushing out all of the mud and manure! It was kind of fun! I had nothing but my Adidas shorts on. I actually stayed out there in the rain for quite awhile, raking all of the dirt from the street that I had dropped out there this past week. The rain was coming down in full force, so I was just raking it into the steady river going down the street. A free curb cleaning! It was perfect. It finally subsided about 15 minutes later, so I came back in for another shower!
Sean and I headed downtown for fireworks tonight, and I actually had a GREAT time. It was a blast. We had an awesome country cover band, drops of rain the entire time, and a FANTASTIC fireworks show. I just had fun. I don't know why I find it so hard to find, but I just reveled in it all. I had just a perfect time.
Came back around 11:00 P.M. Stayed up for a bit more, washed my food dehydrator, made a list of things to do this week, and finally went to bed at 12:45 A.M.
Alarm is set for 8:30 A.M. I'm hoping to have another productive day tomorrow!!!
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