Friday

It's Friday. I got up at 3AM and began my Spanish lessons. Because of daylight saving time, Nuria is 2 hours behind me, so it's 1AM in Costa Rica. She will be asleep for a few more hours. I worked on Spanish, watched some YouTube, and made Gallo Pinto for breakfast. Plus a banana. Plus an apple. 

The clock rolled around to 9AM and I decided to take a nap. I got up again at 12 noon, and I put on my clothes and I went out to the garage. I raised the door and I went inside. The lawn tractor was waiting for me and the grass was getting tall. I raised the tractor's hood and eyed the plastic fuel tank. There wasn't much gasoline in the tank, and for a few seconds I debated driving to a gas station and buying a little more gasoline. It's late in the grass growing season, and this might be the last time I mow the yard. I finally decided to gamble that I had enough gas to mow the yard, and if I didn't and the engine quit, I would be mowing the back yard by then, so I could buy additional gas at my leisure. 

I pushed the lawn tractor out of the garage. I sat down and inserted the key into the ignition. I plugged ear protection into my ears, checked that the tractor was in neutral with the blades disengaged, and turned the ignition key. The tractor roared to life. It's engine is a loud thing. I threw it into reverse and backed from the garage apron into the yard. Then I threw it into forward gear, set the blade height to level 4, a little higher than usual, and I let out the clutch. I tore off up the side of the yard and went around and around the front yard in ever tighter circles until the front yard was done. Then I mowed the side yard and finally the back yard. (In British English, a home's yard is called a garden. This confused me when Nuria talked about her sister's garden, because she really meant yard.)

After mowing the yard, I knew some work was needed with the string trimmer, but it could wait. String trimmer work is low priority. I came inside and got on the computer and soon I was Skyping with Nuria. We resumed my Spanish lessons. I had fallen to #2 but by 3PM I was #1 again. I'm not really competitive about these lessons but it would be nice to finish in the #1 spot for at least one week. Each week everyone is shuffled and there's no telling where I will end up. But at the moment, I'm in the #1 spot. It's hard to get there. It takes hours of study and practice every day. 

Now it's 3:30 PM. I might lie down and see if I can fall asleep for a couple of hours. I never sleep more than about four hours at night, so I get tired early. Or I might decide to eat a late lunch. Or maybe I'll skip lunch and eat an early dinner. So many decisions.

The weekend looms ahead of me. I have chores to put off. I mean, I have chores to do. No, I was right the first time—I have chores to put off.

To be a blogger, sometimes you have to write about nothing. Absolutely nothing. And that's what I did today. If something happens—like, if an asteroid hits my house—I can return and update my blog. Meanwhile, I think I'll grab a bite to eat, after all. 

May all of us have a nice weekend with lots of sunshine and not too many chores. Hasta luego, amigos.