Trees -> Very Sore

[shannon_a]

So, on Tuesday or Wednesday the city stealth-delivered us some trees. We'd signed up with a city program about a year ago to get some free trees placed on the strip alongside the sidewalk and just 365 days later (or whatever; I know it was before our garage work began in earnest) trees magically appeared, fully planted and surrounded by mulch. Kimberly and I were both shocked that they managed to do it without us noticing.

Now, that strip has been filled with weeds for years. I'm actually not entirely pleased that the city dumped mulch down (around the trees) atop some of the weeds, as that won't stop them from growing back. I just hope that they cleared out the weeds right where they buried the trees.

But, it was clear  that more needed to be done. So, Thursday, after work and before gaming I cleared weeds to another 3 or 4 feet out from each tree. I spent about an hour, and although it was hard work, the wet soil (from a few days of rain) helped to make it easier to pull the weeds, root and all. And after that I cleaned up and got ready for Thursday gaming, thinking little more of it.

And today I am hellaciously sore. The soreness on my back and in my shoulders has mostly cleared by now. My thighs, however, are still very, very sore. I actually don't know the last time I was so sore.

(And, I was kinda surprised it was my thighs that hurt so much, as I've got pretty well developed muscles there from biking, but I guess I was using them in different ways.)

Hopefully it'll be better tomorrow. And hopefully I'll be able to continue wrestling with that front strip over the winter to give our new trees a fighting chance. I've got some Preen which should keep new weeds from germinating, which I plan to put down after I'm done with this initial weeding and before the next rain.