On Friday, we (Jim) managed to negotiate an entire truck load of free wood chips from the tree trimming folks in the neighborhood. We divided the labor: he dragged the wheelbarrow up a hill, dumped it, and spread the mulch with a rake. I filled the wheelbarrow.
I used a pitchfork to toss loads of wood and leaves into the wheelbarrow. It was eucalyptus mulch, mostly, so with every third pitchfork full, I would have to clean the sinuous twigs from the pitchfork. One, two, three, clean, four, five, six, clean, seven, eight, nine, clean. And then I would have just about a full wheelbarrow, depending on the wood : leaf ratio.
It was a kind of meditation, this one, two, three counting, that kept my mind off my blisters, splinters, and aching muscles. But as with all meditations, it was difficult to keep focused. The pitchfork snagged on a Del Taco cup that someone tossed in with the mulch, I tossed too far to the right and missed the wheelbarrow, the neighbors drove by and stared. But again, as with all meditation, it’s not that you establish a sense of bliss of bliss and relaxation right away, but that you try, and try, and try to focus.