Yes and no. If you’re asking if I worked in the yard today, as I threatened to do yesterday, the answer is yes. If you’re asking if it was any fun, it’s a no.

It wasn’t the fact that it wasn’t fun that kept me from getting more done. In fact, I lasted maybe fifteen or twenty minutes before I couldn’t hold the weed trimmer any longer. It was the pain in my back, and mostly in my forearms, that made me quit before I could get anything else done. But at least I managed to get the path from the driveway to my front door trimmed back. Now a regular person could walk up to the door without having to bring along a machete.

It’s probably a good thing I quit when I did, because for the next couple of hours I couldn’t hold anything in either hand without shaking. It was bad enough that I decided it made more sense to drink water than that purple stuff I like. No use inviting more stains on the carpet or the recliner.

Whether I make it out into the yard again tomorrow depends on whether I can move my arms when I get up in the morning. Tonight they just feel heavy, and a little as if they belong to someone even older than I am. But the shaking has stopped, so I might have to come up with some other excuse not to do anything tomorrow.