Weeding Is Good Exercise

Why do I say that? When I go jogging after a long hiatus, I get muscle aches in my thighs. Going down the stairs & squatting will be difficult. Weeding is a different thing all together. It's definitely not aerobic exercise so it can only be anaerobic aka resistance training. I spent 2 hours on Friday weeding the back lawn & was only successful clearing merely 1 by 1 metre of the lawn. Yup, the weeds are that saturated. The forecast of rain didn't disappoint for the weekend. I don't think it'll disappoint for the rest of next week as well. Still, I managed to put in 4.5 hours weeding the front lawn on Saturday. (It's way smaller than the back lawn so it feels more surmountable.) I continued even though it started drizzling, seeking shelter only when it started pouring. I considered skipping Soka meeting today to make the best use of the dry weather before it started raining again. But I shook myself out of that train of thought. Nothing should take precedence over faith. Not even the possibility of the landlord coming down on me for not working on the lawn. I'm glad I attended.

Today's topic was on 2nd SGI president Josei Todai's admonishment about the use of nuclear weapons. It wasn't becoz his homeland of Japan was bombed, leading to the end of WW2. But becoz he valued life tremendously. In fact, he & 1st SGI president Tsunesaburo Makiguchi protested against the emperor for wanting to invade other countries, leading to WW2. For that, they were thrown in jail, culminating in Mr Tsunesaburo's death in jail. Mr Josei was eventually released from jail but in a frail condition. Then we went on to discuss on the fundamental darkness that exists in everybody's life. The main teaching in Nichiren Buddhism is to work to challenge & overcome our evil tendencies. (So I always say Nichiren Buddhism is not a religion. We don't pray to a higher being to answer our prayers. We seek what is inside, mustering the will & strength to overcome our problems.) It releases me from whatever negative feelings I've been having over the recent events. I found peace once again.

Back to topic. I started off squatting but there's only so long I can squat. After I could no longer remain squatting, I knelt to do the weeding. When I could no longer kneel, I sat on the lawn. I don't ever sit on grass not becoz I think it's dirty but becoz I'm terribly fearful of creepy crawlies. The lawn is full of grubs, millipedes & centipedes. I will absolutely freak if they climb onto me. But I had to continue & sitting is the only option left. My knees are bruised & swollen from all that kneeling. It's so bad I can't even climb into bed. (That's how I've been getting in bed this way since young so I do it without conscious effort, only remembering when pain starts shooting from my knees.) My index fingers are both swollen & I can hardly bend them. Weeding really is hard work, especially when they've been allowed 4 months to establish their roots. I joked to hubs that by the time I'm done, I will be so experienced that I can advertise to do weeding on the weekends for people who need the extra hand for $20/hr. Lol.

I managed to put in another 3 hours of weeding for the front lawn when I got home from the meeting. All in all, 7.5 hours of weeding yet there're still plenty of weeds left. I can't even begin to think of the back lawn which is at least 4 times the size of the front lawn. This is not something I can complete within a week. It'll probably take be at least 2 months to get them all out by myself. I'm doing the 6.30 am shift tomorrow & probably won't be home till dark. But I'm off on Tuesday as there aren't any surgeries so I can put in the whole day if the weather stays dry. I made the decision to spread the Lawn Builder to the front lawn since most of the bigger weeds are out. I then watered the lawn with diluted Seasol to dissolve the granules. The subsequent rain helped me in that as well. The packaging states that I will start seeing results 2 days from application. So let's see if the lawn is indeed greener & healthier on Tuesday.

Jogging produces aching thighs. Weeding on the other hand, produces aching neck, shoulders, back, arms, thighs, calves & gluts. So I guess in that sense, weeding works more muscle groups than jogging.