Today was a much better day, although I almost ended up back in the ED.

Apr 16, 2025, 8:27 PM

My fellow travelers may remember my post from yesterday where it was a calamity of events, punctuated with being put in my place by Uncle Obed®, that had me ready to eat worms.

Well, dear reader, today went much better.

Things are turning around with my persnickety customer. I avoided all traffic incidents. And progress with the sandbox is moving along very well.

Today I finished up the second level of landscape timbers. All my cuts fit perfectly into place, with only minimal misalignment (entropy being the natural state of landscape timbers). In particular, I had a real warped bastard — more bowlegged than the redhead after a night with YeahBudddy — that initially I was just going to screw down and move on, even with the lips on the edges all cockeyed. Instead, I measured where it started to bow, cut it, and that took care of the problem. Fit like a Jimmy hat. Next, I almost passed on leveling out some of the ground where it was mounded, figuring leveling with a shovel and elbow grease would be murder on my aged body. But, I felt like this was my only shot and I didn't want to regret it later when I lost a few inches of depth in the sand. I figured out a good system, and the work actually felt pretty good. I may be paying for it tomorrow, but whatever. And, I did a good job of digging down the mounds. It also gave me some soil, mixed in with grass, that I can use to repair some erosion and hopefully get some grass back where it's currently as bald as late 2000s pr0nstar before hair became fashionable again (and fellas I'm here for it). I also made the sound decision to bust out the contractor-grade stapler to help with anchoring the landscaping fabric. Previous attempts to use landscaping fabric were exceedingly frustrating, given it slips more than a finger down the snizz of Yeahbuddy's redhead after checkin' his snaps. Using that, and some bricks I had lying around, I was able to do a fine job getting it into place. I ran out before I was finished, but it's waiting for me at Lowe's tomorrow. I'm not looking forward to lugging 50 bags of sand across the yard, especially if I come up short with what I need and regret not getting more, but I think I should be finished up tomorrow.

Now, for the intentionally buried lede.

I think Jimmy has posted here before about an unfortunate incident with a beef wellington, in which the second bite after laboring over that magnificent SOB became squarely lodged in my throat, and stubbornly refused to leave. This lead to a near overnight stay in the ED on a Friday night waiting for it move. It was...embarrassing.

Well tonight I cooked a new meal, a yaki steak buddha bowl with brussel sprouts and broc. It was divine. And yet, once again, the second bite stuck. The sweat tea I tried to wash it down with came right back up, and this time I thought I was cooked. It was hard to breathe (last time, I could breath fine), and panic set in. After what seemed like an eternity, but was probably only seconds, I finally got a breath in and went to work on trying to get it up. Fortunately the Beefsteak® was towards the top of my throat, rather than getting real deep down in the middle like last time. After a solid five minutes of trying to yack, it happened, and the pressure popped it out.

I thought I scared the munchkin, but turns out he just miffed that I was too loud with my choking.

I went and laid down on the floor, processing the trauma. I'm not sure if you've ever choked on beefsteak's tip before, but hfs, it's legit triggering. Now my eyes look like a racoon because I pop blood vessels as I gag, and my throat is on fire...but all in all, I'm considering today a win.

Now excuse me while I go fetch some delcious Tilamook french vanilla to sooth my soreness.