Today’s Daily Stoic writing prompt: Do I have a backup option in mind for all things?

So this one flows right in to the rest of the update today.

The pallet of supplies for landscaping arrived today (minus the mulch, which was apparently on backorder.) Dave was eager to get at it, so after work we laid out the landscaping fabric and the edging stones (which I calculated more or less exactly–literally, we had no leftovers), then planted the Nootka cypress (which involved quite a large hole and a lot of digging in our rather hard, clay soil.) We were then going to plant the juniper at the foot of the driveway, but the soil there was so hard we couldn’t budge it. So we decided not to plant it there. What then?

Well, it turns out the backup option was to use it as part of the new flowerbed. And it looks like that’s going to be the perfect solution, and it looks like it was planned that way from the beginning. Got that in, got five hostas in, watered everything and filled in the bed with the garden soil, and it looks wonderful. We’ll just be awaiting for the rocks to arrive on Thursday and are planning to pick up some mulch as well, at least to get an initial layer down.

The manul/Pallas’ cat is now complete! It’s stretched out and almost finished; it just it needs its plastic protective cover. Fun manul facts: The manul is the mascot of the Moscow Zoo, and there is a really nifty silver 2 rouble coin featuring one.

I also picked up my blue 1940s American Duchess shoes today (that was indeed the package with the rather stiff duty charges). They are gorgeous and fit like a dream.

CWH book meeting today (more great progress), COVID cases under 700, and the fact that we’re getting this front yard project finally completed–all in all, a pretty damned decent day.