Today started off as most Saturdays do, but earlier. We were meeting Amanda’s co-workers Alison and Trish for breakfast at Salt Works II over on Wrightsville Avenue at 10:00 and Amanda wanted to make sure we weren’t late.

We weren’t late. In fact, we were so not late that we had time to go to Lowe’s so Amanda could buy even more plants and flowers while I picked up a post and a forty pound bag of cement. Even that early there was a really long line in the garden center so we checked out at a regular register.

We were still so not late that we were the first ones to Salt Works and we even had time to wait for a table. The place is seat yourself and the only four-top was next to the smoking section, which we, especially Amanda, couldn’t abide. The manager kept checking on us and letting us know they’d clean the first available four-seater as soon as they could, which was nice.

While there I read the front page of the newspaper, and the main article was about how the government is considering upping the property tax a full seven percent. That’s ridiculous! And right on the heels of re-evaluating homes so people were already paying more taxes. Well, not more taxes, but more money in taxes.

After we ate Amanda and I went to Wal-Mart, mainly to pick things up for tomorrow, when we’re cooking out on our new grill with her parents. After that we went home and I lathered on some sunscreen since I knew I’d be outside the rest of the day. The first order of the day was to move the smaller, plastic shed from the back right (facing) of the backyard to the from left. It wasn’t nearly as hard as I thought it would be, but it was still not something I’d like to do on a regular basis.

It was tied down very securely, first off. Brian Gibson, the previous owner of this house, had wanted to make sure as best he could that it wouldn’t get tossed about by a hurricane, and he did a good job of that. I eventually got fed up with his knots and cut the rope. I hate cutting rope, but I was making absolutely no progress. Then Michael and I got behind the thing and pushed, which caused somewhere in the neighborhood of 15,000 roaches to scatter. I got some Raid and sprayed the area down, which helped a bit.

We were able to get the shed moved enough to discover that it was set on some paving stones or some such, and we discovered that the more we pushed the more one corner or the other would dig into the dirt. So then I went and borrowed a dolly from Bonnie and Dave Narron. Amanda’s idea- I’d thought of it but dismissed the idea thinking a dolly would be too small to help, but it really did make the job easier. No easy, mind you, but easier. I started out on the dolly with Amanda and Michael pushing, but we switched to letting Amanda do the dolly while Michael and I pushed, pausing now and then when a roach would crawl out from under the shed and climb up towards where we were pushing. They really were some brazen roaches.

The shed ended up on uneven ground, but we decided we liked where the paving stones were and want to turn it into a little shade area with a bench. I packed some dirt under part of the shed to help even it out (thought it’s not perfect) and scraped out the area in front of the doors to make sure it would open properly.

We did some more work outside then eventually went inside to wash up to go out to Blue Water with our small group friends. That had gotten us to thinking about the assignment we had all discussed this week, which was to think of something we know we need to work on and have our spouse keep us accountable to it. Amanda and I discussed that and we chose a mutual thing to work on. A few weeks ago, when we had bought The Case for Christ, we’d bought another book at the same time with the goal of reading it and discussing it. It’s a couple’s study sort of thing, and each night of it is very short. We decided to make sure we started using that book starting tomorrow, since the readings are set by days and the first one is on a Sunday.

Michael and I played a little of the Halo 3 Beta then Amanda and I left for Blue Water. As far as overall atmosphere, Blue Water is probably my favorite restaurant. It’s right on the Intracoastal Waterway and just feels classy. The downside to it is that the menu isn’t very large, and most of it is fish, which I don’t like. The parking lot was packed when Amanda and I got there and it took us a while to find a place to park. We ended up going under a nearby bridge. When we got there we ran right into Adam Koch, who told us that our seats had just been called.

We were there probably two hours, just talking and eating and all getting to know each other better. Well, most of us- I don’t think Rob and Kristen are back yet. But we had a really nice time with Adam, Meagan, Elliot and Melissa.

We got home around 9:30 and Amanda and I both were beat. Michael had gone out with his friend Chris for a little bit and got home right after we did.

Zach Dotsey
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