15 August 2012 - My Lazy Day

I woke up this morning and realized it is the middle of August. Kids will be back in school in two weeks. Since I haven't been clued in to the back-to-school or end-of-summer sales it hit me like a sucker punch. 

I haven't had a single lazy summer day. Although thanks to my brother, we were able to dig a hole through all the rocks and get a hammock pole set in concrete. So I do have a very inviting shady nook to laze about in, but I haven't had or perhaps haven't allowed myself that pleasure.

My company recently changed its fiscal year end to June 30. Since I'm in sales, that means April, May and June is like being in a pressure cooker and vacation in those months varies from strongly discouraged to downright prohibited. July begins a new  year of planning and gearing up for the week long national sales meeting. I feel as though I have been unable to slow down and catch a breath. 

Add in moving to a new house (hundreds of boxes still unpacked), a huge overgrown yard, drought conditions and yes, I am watering. Unconscionable, I know, but I do want to keep some things alive.  So I work my day job, then dive into yard work and organizing my new living space until I drop into bed. 

Coming up on a weekend I have big plans. Let's do something different, go see, go do, go hike. But then the weekend comes and it seems it is better spent with a chain saw, a hose or a can of paint. I only have myself to blame.  This is a really long rant just to say what the heck happened to summer?


So, after this rant, I realize--wait, I do have lazy days, but my conception of a lazy day is quite different than most people's. Wandering around the yard with a hose in my hand makes me happy.  Losing the shoes, rolling my pants up to my knees and wading in the lower pool to strain the leaves, floating insects and other debris makes me happy too. And they are soothing ways to spend down time. It's just that my down time, involves doing something.

I don't have the gene that lets me sit for too long. A quick break on the porch with a tall glass of iced tea is plenty enough to say, hey I did have a lazy day.  

So today, I had a lazy day. 

First, I went down to David's where Robin and I helped him chink a section of the log cabin. He thought he'd be able to mix a batch of grout, give it to us, then mix another batch for himself that he could use on the outside of where we were working. 

By the time he had the second batch made up, Robin and I were ready for it. We kept him busy mixing grout until he ran out.  

 
 










I'll bet you are thinking that chinking is in no way a lazy day. Well, you are right about that. 

It is what happened afterwards that turned into my wonderful lazy day. 

A couple of weeks ago,  David's pond turned green with algae. Between the warm water and hot weather, all the water coming down the irrigation ditch from Utah Lake was green. Pretty, but kind of odd. You couldn't see through it at all. 

Robin has been staying with David and she mentioned she saw a new kind of snail that was floating at the top of the pond, upside down eating algae.  

After we were through chinking, I moseyed on over to the pond to look for the snails. There were hundreds of them, and the pond didn't even have a hint of green--it was back to the normal gray mud color of Utah Lake. The snails were still munching away at the surface. It was great!  

For the next hour I crawled around the pond spending lots of time on my hands and knees watching the snails. Here you can see his little munchy mouth is wide open. The dark tiny spots near the bottom of his shell are remnants of the algae. Hope there is enough algae left to keep this population alive.  It was really interesting watching them move upside down under the water's surface. The snail's foot was using the surface tension of the water. The snail would stretch the foot out long and narrow,  then pull the shell forward. 

Occasionally several snails would meet up. They would twist around until they could push off each others' shells and separate. 

I was fascinated by this. So were the water striders. They would come and poke at the snails, perhaps wondering if they were edible. 

Now that is a perfect way to have a lazy day.


Are you perchance hearing Willie sing?



Well I might have gone fishin' I got to thinkin' it over
The road to the river is a mighty long way
Well it must be the reason and no rhyme or no reason
I'm takin' it easy it's my lazy day
____________________________________________


Two weeks later, I'm back at David's checking out the pond. Hardly any snails in sight and the green algae is starting to come back. There are still snails eating, but nothing like before. 

 Here are three snails--trying to get the best position to eat.