So, I’ve spent over a week trying to take care of the various little things that need to be done around here.

I decided that it was time to give up on my old propane grill, in spite of all I’ve done to try to keep it working. So, yesterday, I went and bought a new one. Nothing expensive. I can’t see the point. I see just as many expensive grills rusting on the side of the road as cheap ones. Of course, I didn’t get the cheapest one, which I’m fairly certain exists only to be so pathetic next to the better ones that it bolsters the price of those behemoths and encourages shoppers to spend more.

It took a few minutes to assemble. However, it took a lot of effort to extract it from the box. It was in 50 or so pieces, very thoughtfully packed together, but completely entangled in cardboard, plastic, bubble wrap, and polystyrene. And I was particularly impressed by the fact that I could not get the packing material to fit in the box after I took the pieces of the grill out.

Magic.

Now, would anybody like a used propane grill that is mostly made of rust?

Prior to that, I spent a couple of days dealing with twigs and branches. Normally, winter knocks a few branches from the trees. This spring, however, features the entire ground covered with twigs. And if I thought raking leaves was annoying, raking twigs turns out to be worse.

I also have started to think my basement flooded because the weeper at my foundation drains into the sewer line. That, of course, is not enough to cause it. But I think one of these trees may have grown roots down to the weeper, invaded that, then followed it to the sewer pipe. So, I cut down the trees close to the house.

Several years ago, I bought a used electric chain saw. Apart from the fact that the chain keeps falling off, it does its job.

Days before that, I had to deal with the garbage pile that resulted from the flooded basement. That had been sitting there too long. First, I sorted it. Then I burned what I could. Damp cardboard burns well when you splash charcoal lighter fluid on it. And it is reminiscent of my childhood. It makes me think back to when I was a kid and we used charcoal in a wreck of a hibachi.

I have no time for that, now. I’m too busy doing something else.

That can be the motto of the age, actually. Modern convenience and modern technology facilitates the ability to be busy doing nothing. I can’t tell you how many hours I have spent messing around trying to set up computers or similar devices to get them to do what I could actually use paper to do in a small percentage of the amount of time wasted.

Anyway, charcoal has another disadvantage, now. It’s way more expensive than propane.

But to get back to what I was saying. I originally thought I would need to get a dumpster to haul away all the garbage from the submarine basement. But I decided to take the carpet to the dump myself. The carpet all fit in the back of the van, which I lined with a plastic sheet. The smell was overpowering, though. If you are familiar with a wet rag that has been balled up and left to ferment, you know the smell. So, I drove the 20 miles to the dump with the windows open and freezing.

It cost almost nothing to leave that stuff at the dump. I was in good company. There was already a pile of sports trophies and old shoes on the ground. I thought the shoes were bowling shoes but they were actually dress shoes that looked like they were made in the 1950s. They were in very good condition. Well, I covered everything with wet carpet.

The guy on one side of me was dumping stuff from a bathroom renovation. I pointed out the trophies to him, because there were about 200 trophies. He, however, seemed to be pretty humourless.

The guy on the other side of me was wearing aviator sunglasses a was dumping about ten thousand full mason jars of jam and other preserves. Very soon, the air started to smell a bit better than the wet carpet. I said nothing to him.

There were also several big trucks full of branches there.

I didn’t see any rusted out propane grills.