I went to the garden to start the beds. Naturally, I got distracted. I usually only have a vague idea what I want to do when I head to the garden. Most times, I get distracted even from that vague idea. This time, I got distracted from my distraction, as well. Well, now I am ready for strawberries.

I’d just wanted to clean up a bit, when I remembered that I’d wanted to plant strawberries in these planters. So, I started working on that.

I filled the cart with planters whenever I went toward the hut, and with wood whenever I went the other way. The way there is still a bit of a parkour.

These planters are very heavy, so I definitely got my workout in that day.

The plan is to create a little barrier around the terrace area. Unsurprisingly, the ground wasn’t perfectly even, so it took some adjustment. The end result isn’t perfect but it will work for what I have planned.

Slowly, I made my way through cleaning up the wood lying around everywhere. The straight branches were added to a pile, don’t worry.

I walked a lot of steps that day. But the system worked. Wood one way, planters the other way.

I am piling the wood along the fence toward the vacated plot next to mine. All of those brambles are blackberries. I cut back all those blackberries last summer. I hope to keep them manageable this year. The naive side of me hopes the stacked wood will keep them in check. I know it won’t work. But, in any case, it will look a lot neater if I stack the wood along the fence line.

These planters were really grown in. They hadn’t been moved in a decade. I also didn’t want to hurt any of the many earth worms in their soil, so I was careful.

Originally, I’d planned stacking these into a strawberry tower. I’m glad I went with this instead.

Yes, absolutely, it would have been easier to get my tools from the garden house. My ability to ignore my own intelligence in favor of laziness never seizes to amaze me. And thinking my tiny weight would make a difference… One after the other, I forced the planters into submission–though I still didn’t decide to get my tools…

All the roof work last summer had given me some strength and muscle tone. I’d lost it all over winter. But there will be no shortage of manual labor this summer, so I’ll get back there soon enough.

After forcing the planters into submission, I took a little break. My spine needed it. The rubber boots made it feel a little awkward but still worth it. Before long, I was back at it, though.

I stacked more wood in the cart, dragged the cart from one side to the other, and unloaded it. Pepper explored the land, bathed in the sun, and frequently checked up on me while I worked hard.

With the manual labor and the sun out, I was even able to work in a shirt. Another first for the year. It snowed while I edited this episode, so seeing myself in a shirt outside feels surreal.

I forced more planters through the parkour. The wood in the way here is what I’d originally meant to clean away. Ah, well. You can see things sticking out of the ground everywhere, as well. I’m not making it easy for myself.

With the first side finished, I went to work on the second side. The ground there was surprisingly even, and I only had to set down the planters.

The plantable border to the terrace was coming together. I have a home for the strawberries now.

I didn’t do any of the things I planned to do, but that’s totally okay. I got a lot done and I think they were actually sensible things to do. So I’m okay with that.

The main thing I did was to move all the planters over where I want to plant strawberries and assuming I get more of them, some tulips. If not, there will just be some flower mixes in these and they’re kind of the outline plan of the terrace.

I’m very happy and also there’s sunshine and I’m not even wearing a sweater and I’m not cold and I’m so happy.

Pepper had had his fill of exploring, and my muscles were telling me to call it a day. As a final “Let me just quickly…,” I removed the worn, torn, moldy plastic table cloth from the table. And after a final look at what I’d accomplished, Pepper and I went home to recover from a day full of hard work and sunshine.

So long, and thanks for being here.