My plan for today was to drive 100 miles to our rental-house-to-be and do some work there. And to do a good hike* at a park that is on the way. The hike went great; but the work on the house took an unexpected turn.
8:00am to 12:30pm
-- got myself ready for the trip
-- drove the first 50 miles to my targeted park
-- had a nice 1.5 hour hike along a creek and up and down hilly terrain
-- treated myself to a chinese buffet lunch
12;30pm to 3:00pm
-- drove the last 50 miles
-- did an errand-bundle** stop at the town's DMV office to get our car tags renewed
-- and got out of DMV in less than a half-hour by going to that office(!)
-- then went to the rental-house-to-be and the surprises waiting there for me
3:00pm to 8:00pm
-- found a stink bug infestation (dozens of them) in the front room
-- found a lot of standing water on the basement floor from the recent super rain event
-- found the grass had grown to about 3-foot high since my last visit
-- first I took care of eradicating the stink bugs
-- then I mowed a small fenced backyard area with the gas-powered pushmower I had brought with me
-- and found that a pushmower was not going to be up to the job of mowing the meadow now grown on our one-acre property (and I would not have the stamina to do it anyway)
8:00pm until...
-- dinner and a movie... and crashed
* My Love Affair With Hiking:
http://retired-to-win.savingadvice.com/2013/12/23/my-love-af...
** The Frugal Game: Errand Bundling:
http://retired-to-win.savingadvice.com/2013/12/26/the-frugal...