Sunday, April 13, 2008

Mulch, Putrescence, and other birthday fun!!

As most of you know, Saturday was my birthday. 34. woo-hoo!

As far as birthdays go, it was the best day I could have hoped for. The day started at Home Depot (always a good thing on a saturday morning!), where I got some mulch, and other yard stuff. The next 8 hours or so were a grand assortment of yardwork, playing, and partying, all with my 3 boys. The day was beautiful; warm, sunny, not a lot of bugs. First the boys helped me spread some mulch (or mulcher, as Kevin says). Then, we played soccer in the side yard. Mommy made a goal out of a wagon turned on its side, and we played goalie for a while. The boys took turns standing in front of the wagon, trying to block shots, while the rest of us tried to score. OK, so I got a little enthusiastic trying to score on my 4 year old son and hit him with the ball pretty hard once or twice, but he thought it was funny, so it was ok.

After soccer, we decided to plant seeds, so the boys scattered some Columbine and Purple Coneflower seeds in various places. Actually, they didn't really scatter, they kind of dumped the seeds.


Here's Columbine...


Here's Coneflower...

Then the real fun began when we sprayed "Deer Off" on some plants that have started getting nibbled. The active ingredients in Deer off are:

1) Putrescent Egg Solids (rotten eggs)
2) Capsaicin (basically hot pepper)
3) Garlic

Eggs, hot pepper, and garlic? Sounds like my typical Saturday morning special breakfast! Minus the putrescent part of course. At one point, a little breeze kicked up and blew some of the spray back in my direction. It smelled like sweet Tabasco mixed with some funk. bad funk. So, for the rest of the afternoon, the boys were running around yelling, "AHHHHHH, RUN! THE PUTRESCENCE IS COMING!!!!" Very funny stuff.
At the end of the afternoon, the boys ate ice pops, and I had a nice cold Smithwick's.
The day was capped off with one of my favorite meals, Rigatoni with sausage and meatballs, followed by chocolate cake with my wife and parents. Thanks honey and thanks family for a great birthday!! And thanks Mom & Dad for the Home Depot gift card! Thank you God for 34 years!!!

3 comments:

Bill said...

Funk? Is that like "Grand Funk Railroad" from the 70's?
And yes, D's b'day cake was deeelicious!
We're so proud of you and your family.
Happy Birthday!

The Crazy Bus said...

no, this link would be Grand Funk Railroad!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=0x6chChxzV0

The deer off funk was not grand at all!

Dad - didn't your hair look like the drummer's back in the 70's??

:)

Bill said...

Yea, mine might have been an inch shorter! I'll have to scan it in and post it. We'll let your readers decide. Ha!