New Tricks

It might not be possible to teach an old dog a new trick, but sometimes an old dog can teach a young one.  One of the chores I had planned for Helper Dude 2 (I'm assigning him the full Helper Dude title now) was breaking down and tying up literally years' worth of cardboard boxes that had accumulated on the deck by the kitchen door.  They were an eyesore and a fire danger.  No excuses, it just happened over time, and it was a daunting task for me.  I do pretty well if I keep up with a chore, but if it gets ahead of me, it keeps going south until it hits rock bottom, and that's where I was with the boxes.  Some people save rubber bands or bits of string.  I am incapable of throwing away baling twine; it comes in so handy for so many things.  I'd brought a bunch up from the barn.  "Okay, how do you want to do this?"  "Well, I usually laid out two pieces of twine, laid as many flattened boxes on as I could lift, and tied them up."  "Okay," and he tried.  "Um, could I show you an easier way?"  I don't like to tell a working man how to do his job, but it would have taken forever his way.  I have tried for years to learn how to make a "trucker's knot" without success, but have made a reasonable facsimile, and showed HD how to do it.  "Wow, that works!" and the old dog smiled.

HD had allotted so much time for my place and said, "Okay, what's next?"  He had just bought a new behemoth of a weed-eater and I think he wanted to show it off.  "Well, you could cut down a swath in the west field where Michael does his business."  I have been feeling so bad for poor Michael when he's had to lift his leg or squat in the midst of star thistle, exposing his tender private parts to a bed of thorns.  Ouch!  That done, HD moved on to other areas.  He explained that he puts in earbuds, gets in the rhythm, and just zones out when he's weed-eating.  I wasn't going to be the one to stop him.  He insisted he's coming back tomorrow to cut down this, that, and the other area.  This place has been looking so bad, but the weather has been against my using the mower.  New dog might have learned a new trick yesterday, but he would brook no argument on this score.

It was a very productive day.

Stay safe.  Be well.