Yesterday was another beautiful, sunny day, pulled right out of spring. I grabbed a claw hammer, pulled out saw horses, and lifted a deck plank atop them. As I worked out each nail from the board, the math overwhelmed me. Instead of more enterprising endeavors, I could spend DAYS doing this one thing!

And while my labor would provide me a bounty of great boards, these riches also had planks that had undergone rot and the sheer stress of my crowbar. As I also had treated wood interspersed amongst the untreated—I get the impression the deck was built in 3-4 phases over the years, whatever I built would have limited application.

And lastly...there is my companion that rides with me through life: "To What End."

I made a fire that any redneck would be proud of, hot enough where chunks of concrete were shooting out of an old tornado shelter!

While I fed the fire, I did what I could to fill in the couple of holes where the groundhogs set up camps. I also dug up the last 4x4 which was next to the house, that while only a foot above ground, it was 30 inches into very dry dirt. During my archaeological dig, I uncovered a Diet Coke can from 1994.

I actually remember this 1994 Diet Coke commercial when I was 16:

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