Off to the Official Residence early, to fetch back some stuff that still needs to be handed off to the rocket society; that's not happening in the next few days, so the stuff will have to stay in the garage at the Interim Digs. Said stuff includes a hugely heavy bar of 304 stainless, and a medium-sized tank of argon. Oof.
Then back down there. Pack up some boxes, and haul them off to storage. The off to Home Depot for a new laundry tub, as the old one was looking highly disreputable even before the extended bout of painting and attendant paintbrush cleaning.
They have two of the suitable sort of laundry tub. They're inextricably wedged together. At least one is missing its legs (if there's a set of legs between them, it's wedged between them). One appears to have been returned after having been monkeyed with. There's a bundle that includes stuff I don't need (like a new faucet) for more than twice the price, but the only two units are in open boxes and it looks like things are missing. Foo.
Off to Lowe's! They have... well, basically the same thing. Nothing in purchasable condition. Now what?
How about HD Supply? Wander around the warehouse; eventually find the category. They have several of the basic model in stock, all a bit dirty, some complete with legs and whatnot. Score! Bonus: the price is a bit lower than the other places, and the quality is better.
By now it's gotten to be 1100, and I'm supposed to be meeting Helpful Neighbor at noon for a Very Busy Afternoon, so nip into the Carl's Jr. across the street for an excessive burger, then back to the Official Residence. Get the sink assembled, though just sitting on the patio, before the Helpful Neighbor and his confederate show up.
Then it's off to Home Depot for a truckload of red mulch (which ends up being 33 bags @ 2 cubic feet each). The inventory wrangler warns us that what we see is what they've got. Back to the house, and... well, I get busy swapping in the new laundry tub; the other two set about spreading mulch in the front yard. When it's all used up, plus the 7 bags I'd bought earlier, the front yard isn't completely covered, and there's still the back yard to be done.
Back to Home Depot, and buy their last 15 bags of that brand (being the cheap stuff). Try Lowe's next? Yep, they have just-about-the-same red mulch for just a little more. Get 16 bags of that, plus one 8-foot prefab lattice-top fence panel. Back to the house....
OK, that covers the front yard, and will make a token start on the back (in the back, the guys are just scattering the bags around the area to be covered, not opening them yet). Set about installing the new fence panel: rip out the old, rotten one, jam the new one in (with much futzing around, sawing, etc.), and call it good, except for the minor detail that we didn't get fasteners, so that'll have to be left for tomorrow. It's a tight enough fit that, absent an unexpected wind storm, it should be fine until then.
Then one last (for the day) trip to Lowe's, for what ends up being 46 bags of mulch, which end up scattered (unopened) around the back yard. We'll need more. Tomorrow.
So that's 110 bags of mulch and one fence panel purchased, loaded, and unloaded. Makes for a considerable workout for the upper body and the credit card. (Yes, I was doing my share of the loading and unloading, just not the spreading, which is what I'm paying the other guys to do.)
By this time it's 1630, and that burger at 1100 isn't feeling so excessive after all. I'm sore, out of breath, and ravenous. Back to the Interim Digs in some haste, to nuke a plate of last night's leftovers.
Tomorrow promises a long day with a lumpy schedule, but not so much manual labor on my part.
And now I'd better check on the laundry - yes, this is laundry day, too, and I didn't get started on that until after dinner.
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