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Old 05-12-2010, 11:17 AM   #21
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Location: Northern Illinois
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Originally Posted by mmcc View Post
Wow, that's a lot of yard work. As one who enjoys the results of landscaping, I'd be interested in what you are doing in those 40 hours.
Mowing 1+ acre of grass twice a week
Fertilizing & weed control lawn
Tree clearing, trimming and brush cutting about 4 acres of wooded area
Mulching 14 to 20 cubic yards for planting beds
Planting and watering several pots and hanging baskets
Maintaining sprinkling system
Maintaining / weed control along 100' of lake shoreline
Dock maintenance
re-sand and seal paver walkways
Trim bushes

Most of my time in 2009 and 2010 is spent doing a total renovation to include:

Rebuild upper level deck
Rebuild patio and stone stairways to upper level and lake
Install rock outcroppings
Build retaining walls
Re-route sprinkling system & rain barrel
Transplant and add new perennials and bushes
Clearing 50' x30' area for mulch storage, etc

I spend about 3 - 12 hour days and one or two nights a week putzing around doing this. I enjoy it and take my time so I don't really get as much done as I should.
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Old 05-12-2010, 11:39 AM   #22
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Originally Posted by Ronstar View Post
Mowing 1+ acre of grass twice a week
Fertilizing
Maintaining sprinkling system
I think I can identify part of the problem...
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Old 05-12-2010, 01:59 PM   #23
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ronstar View Post
Mowing 1+ acre of grass twice a week
Fertilizing & weed control lawn
Tree clearing, trimming and brush cutting about 4 acres of wooded area
Mulching 14 to 20 cubic yards for planting beds
Planting and watering several pots and hanging baskets
Maintaining sprinkling system
Maintaining / weed control along 100' of lake shoreline
Dock maintenance
re-sand and seal paver walkways
Trim bushes

Most of my time in 2009 and 2010 is spent doing a total renovation to include:

Rebuild upper level deck
Rebuild patio and stone stairways to upper level and lake
Install rock outcroppings
Build retaining walls
Re-route sprinkling system & rain barrel
Transplant and add new perennials and bushes
Clearing 50' x30' area for mulch storage, etc

I spend about 3 - 12 hour days and one or two nights a week putzing around doing this.
I can identify with too much on your list, although I can tell your landscaping clearly outshines mine. 20 yards of mulch for me too, although I vowed to reduce that cost this year by planting more ground cover (my sons, the mulchers, will love me more for it too). My dear tractor helps a bunch too. This reminds me before I started browsing investing forums I spent a lot of time over on the tractor forums, which can be quite fascinating....really, if anyone wants a change of venue .
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Old 05-12-2010, 02:10 PM   #24
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Location: Orem/Provo
Posts: 231
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Originally Posted by audreyh1 View Post
I tend to call my non-leisure (non-chore) activities "creative projects".

I actually still consider them leisure activities since they are done for my own personal pleasure - but I consider them "non-recreational". For me, recreational activities are for relaxing or just "having fun" with no end goal in mind (even if it's something you do very intensely).

My "creative projects" have some kind of "deliverable" - i.e. some finished product/result I can point to or publish or share with others somehow.

I don't count cooking in the above - even though it does result is a finished product that I can share. Unfortunately, with cooking, the finished product disappears!!!!

My current "creative projects":
  • Travelogue writing (on my blog).
  • Researching for the above.
  • Taking nature/landscape photographs.
  • Editing photographs and creating prints or publishing somehow.
  • My big pretty picture "coffee table book" - which is going very slowly!
  • A great deal of work involved with our new house. I just published my complete landscaping plan part of which is an elaborate butterfly garden for DH.

In the past I have done:
  • Several graphics arts/design projects using our nature photographs.
  • Produced several nature videos in DVD format.
  • Taken several courses/studied several texts.
Audrey
I love the projects you have done/are doing. They sound wonderfully rewarding. In fact, I kinow they are rewarding because I have done some of them myself. Do you mind sharing the URL of your blog?
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Old 05-12-2010, 02:42 PM   #25
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My non-leisure activities all focus on Italy these days:
1. Learning Italian so I can speak with hot Italian men in Italy.
2. Learning to paint in watercolors so I can paint pictures of Italy.
3. Going to the gym to get fitter so I can do a lot of walking in Italy
4. Cooking healthy meals so I can lose some weight before going to Italy and eating delicious Italian food.
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Old 05-20-2010, 01:45 AM   #26
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1. The main difference between those who talk about writing a book and those who actually write a book is that those who write a book, write a book. They aren't smarter, better organized, better writers, with better ideas; they simply get in and do the writing.
I find this is true about anything - Nike's "just do it" is spot on. Writing is a chore sometimes, but it is great to have been published. I haven't written any books, but several articles (technical type). It's the same with presentations - in front of lots of people - just do it. In the beginning you'll learn but after awhile, it comes easy - the key there is know your subject and your audience.

Thanks for the excellent advice!
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