I asked Juergen my neighbour, who’s also a handyman, if he could get a trailer full of mulch for me, and he delivered it last week.  Today I finished shoveling the last of it into the wheelbarrow and distributing it throughout the yard.  I need an awful lot more as this yard is pretty neglected.

However after a winter of sedentary fun on the couch, shoveling and pushing, bending and hand-distributing a lot of the mulch has made this old body say uncle.  I can’t fully open my right hand and I noticed back muscles I’d forgotten about.

But that’s why I keep this property; I need the exercise.  Juergen is so funny as he’s about five years older than me and when I said I was half dead he said “I don’t doubt it.  This is a big yard for a girl your age.”  Isn’t that adorable?

I’ve tried everything to get myself to exercise over the winter and not a thing worked.  I thought maybe if I brought the exercise bike upstairs it would help but it didn’t.  I have a rebounder I won’t use.  I won’t do any on-line weight training or yoga.  I therefore have to count on my yard to give me a work-out.

And here’s a new fun thing that burns a handful of calories, tap dance.  I had my first class last week and it was so much fun the 50 minutes flew by.  There are eight of us in the class, all in a similar age group, IE old.

You have no idea how complicated tap is.  I think Sharon said she’s taking level one for the third time as there are only five classes in total.  Someone else said they’d tried level two but it was way too hard.  So doesn’t all of that sound like an insanely fun challenge?

Apparently my grand niece, River, is also taking tap dance, and she’s eight years old.  So I told them to bring her tap shoes when they come at Easter and the two of us can tap ourselves into a stupor.

Denis was over last week and I mentioned I needed a piece of plywood as the instructor had said you can dent your floors from the taps.  He kindly asked if I wanted him to help me and I said sure, so we headed to Rona where I got a three foot by three foot square piece so now I can practice.

Now here’s something odd: I find it very hard to practice either my singing or tap dancing with Nicky in the basement.  He really and truly could give a rat’s ass what I do upstairs, but for some reason I have inhibitions that prevent me from properly belting out tunes or seriously stepping.

The good news is he’s gone to Vancouver and won’t return until Sunday so I have a few days in which to give it my all.  The sad thing is I’ve now probably crippled myself so badly from the mulch distribution that any attempt at dance might be too painful.

But nothing can stop the voice, as this week I’m practicing Who’s Bed Have your Boots been Under?  Oh my, what a great tune!