On Saturday morning, Jenn and Jim had a few yards of bark delivered to their house while Kathy and I were in town. It was time for their spring cleanup and since it was such a beautiful day, they wanted to get right in it. When Kathy and I got back to the house we politely offered to help spread the bark thinking we would be refused since it’s a rest day for us.

“You don’t have to,” smiled Jenn, “Unless you want to eat.” Did I detect a tone of menace in her voice? “But it’s still a rest day for you because you’re not riding your bikes, right?”

Kathy and looked each other. Eating sounded good and we didn’t want to offend our hosts. So we helped spread the bark and made short work of it. They didn’t order enough so Jenn got on the phone to have four more yards delivered. Instead of waiting around, Kathy and I went for a walk along the river. When we got back there Jim and Jenn waiting next to the freshly delievered pile of bark.

“What took you so long? We’ve been waiting for like forever. Let’s finish this up so we can have dinner on time.” says Jim. “Hope you like soup and bread. I snagged a couple of cans of Cream of Celery from the Mobile Dented and Rusted Canned Goods Vanagon when it came though town last month. And we have plenty of bread from last week’s stop at the day-old bread shop.”

We got back to work and the day grew warmer. After several hours of work, Jenn generously provided us a glass of water, which we shared. Jim followed us around with a ruler, checking the depth of the bark and barking out orders like a submarine captain.

“Make your depth one and one-half inches!”

They both provided us a lot of guidance so we wouldn’t have to do any of the work over. Kathy is really into efficiency so she appreciated that.

We finished that load of bark, got cleaned up, and sat down to a hearty meal of a half bowl of soup and and small piece of bread. Kathy and I were very tired. Jenn offered to let us stay for another rest day. But earlier I’d heard her on the phone renting a mixer and ordering I don’t know how many 80-pound bags of cement for the patio they want to put in. I thanked her but said we really should get back on the road. Jim and Jenn were visibly disappointed that we were leaving. They must really like us a lot.