I was listening to NPR in the car the other day (Saturday, I think it was), and heard Scott Simon interview Gary Player as part of the Masters golf coverage. Gary had won his first Masters 50 years ago in 1961 at the tender age of 25. I always liked him – hell, what’s not to like? He grew up in a fairly poor household in Johannesburg South Africa (his mother died when he was 8, and his father worked in the gold mines), and he invited Lee Elder (a black guy) to play in the South African PGA tournament in 1971 – a time when that wasn’t exactly looked upon fondly by the white folks there (or, presumably, Ronald Reagan). But, anyhow, the part that caught my attention was that Gary – 75 years old, if you do the math there – does 1,000 sit ups a day. That’s a lot of goddamn sit ups. Of course, I’d do that too, but, sadly, my back limits me to 10. Not every day, of course. But every few months when I decide I need to tighten things up a bit. Then I do a few and my back hurts and my tailbone hurts, and I say, “eh, fuck this.”

It’s been raining all night, I think. Too dark to see, but I’m interested to see just how high my little pond has gotten, and if it’s overrun the retaining wall I built for it (I suspect it has – but we’ll see when it gets a bit lighter out). I should have made it bigger, but was a bit constrained by the water line to the south (really, really, don’t want break that), and the leech field to the north. I couldn’t make it much deeper, because the clay likes to grab hold of the tractor tires, and getting stuck in a hole wold have been just too embarrassing (as it was, I had to shove myself up and out a few times with the loader).

Whether the rain will stop in time for opening day at the local baseball stadium (Alliance Bank Stadium, I think it’s called these days) is doubtful. Even if it does, it’ll be a damp, crappy day for it (which is quite typical for a baseball game in April in Syracuse). Better than going to work, of course, and if I could just win the lottery, I’d go. Well, no, actually I’d go shopping for a mini-excavator. And build a barn to put it and my tractor (and maybe a little bulldozer and a plow truck, and…) in. :kub:

Speaking of tractors, I’m sure you all want an update, so, yes, the bucket forks arrived yesterday, and they are very, very nice. The stabilizer bar didn’t come with them, but is supposed to arrive Thursday. I’ll keep you informed.

Oh well, time to nuke the rest of yesterday’s pot and get a fresh one going.