Notes From The Pegboard: the first week back in the shop

I don't want anyone to get the idea that Life in It-Lee is all sitting around sipping vino, eating massive piles of pasta, and gawking at the outside world passin by. This first week back has left me sick in bed for most of Saturday resting and drinking water after more physical days that I had conjured up upon my return.

The place was a MESS! A quick walk with broom and vacuum and the shop was neat again, tools sorted floors cleaned, trashes out.

The Garage was another story. With roofers fixing the cracking beams with grinder and trough this winter, the place was not only packed into a small corner of itself, but covered in as much silt and dust from the roof repair. Needless to say NOT a one man job.

I busied myself with things I could do alone, tagging all the warrantied wheels on the hybrids was no small task. All the wheels were on the wrong bikes and a domino effect of searching ensued that had the garage floor covered by midday.

Building new bikes and organizing the shop took the rest of the week. As well as an early Wednesday ride into town for a cappuccino proper, past some amazingly detailed new graffiti on the bike underpass.

Igor returned Friday from Ireland scouting for a new tour this year and lent his mighty hands and back to the efforts of a full days work. With the help of muscles and a power washer, and some old roof racks to double as storage shelves, we have the majority of the mess at least back to "normal".

NOTHING on the floors this year, and thanks to the week I spent at the end of last season all the "like items are together" as Mom used to say. Everything is labeled and ready to be destroyed this season and I cant wait.

Friday after work Bea put together a little aperitif for us all that might become a tradition.

I woke on Saturday with a head cold in full swing! A TON of rest, a load of water, and some good reading was in order. Managed to spread out some art work I wanted to do for a while now too.

The rest of my chocolates did not make it through the night, nor did the left over emergen-c's I brought for just this sort of occasion. Sunday I managed to muster the strength to prune all the trees on the property telling the neighbor Ivo "un giorno adesso, non a tutti il giorni tutti le staggione!" (in my shitty Italian: One day now, not every day all summer long!) I hacked all the branches that will pose a problem for tall vans and allergy sufferers alike and mapped some things I would like to do to the area just as you enter the farm, some landscaping taken from Cousins example of native plants and low water use.