The Day

Today was going to be THE DAY.

The day in which I conquered the world. Or at least my backyard.

Normally I am NOT a morning person. Never have been and never will be a willing one I’m afraid. It’s a shame. I love being up early in the morning once I’m up, but that whole getting out of bed thing… yeah it’s difficult. But I’ll admit its much easier now since I have someone who brings me coffee in bed every morning.

Today however as soon as The Mister leaned in and said, “Exciting day!!!” I jumped up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. Is it sad that yard work would have me so pepped? I leaped out of bed (ok, I actually sat up, had some coffee, stretched, gave and received some kisses, and sorta rolled out – same difference), looked out of the window and saw… mist. Drizzly mist. Grey, drizzly mist.

No matter, breakfast came first and I was hoping it would clear up by the time I actually was ready for work. GOOD Saturday-morning type breakfast – egg, bacon, toast (real butter thank you) and coffee. Ran a couple of quickie errands with The Mister after eating. Spent 20 minutes looking for the set of keys that unlocks the garage. Found keys. During key hunt I realized how grotesque the house was. Still misty outside. Ok, change of plans.

I knew it would probably clear up later, I didn’t feel like getting THAT dirty and reminded myself that my house is my first duty, yard work and gardening is “playtime”. So rather than spend my time dozing back to bed (which is my usually morning response) I decided to actually USE the time and did some housework. Nothing major, really just a lick & and a promise. The big spring cleaning will be in a few weeks, after Crazy Daisy has been put outside permanently. There is no point to things like floor scrubbing at the moment. But it felt so good to get things in order and shockingly, took far less time than I thought it would. Good job! AND I found out one of the chickens had laid her first spring (post-molt) egg this morning! Gifts from the chicken gods!

Still messy outside! Run errands – dropped some oranges off at the “Food for people, not possums” basket at the farmer’s market, got some odds & ends from a hardware store and meandered home. Gave two extra eggplants to a friend. Gave two more to my dad. Watch The Mister work on the new fence. Went back out to the feedstore for some hay. Back home and eat a little. Sky is starting to clear, FINALLY.

NOW… time to work!

The bulk of my list this weekend has to do with what I’ve been calling: “De-cracker the backyard”. You might have to live in the south to understand what a cracker yard looks like. Basically messy, unkempt, and junky. So here’s what I did…

·Cleaned the chicken coop. This has been desperately needed for a long, long time and had been on my list already, but I felt extra motivated by this morning’s egg. Raked out all the nasty stuff in the run, and replaced it with fresh hay. Thoroughly cleaned out the feeder and water jug. Sprayed down the bottom of the coop. Raked the entire area around the coop and pushed all into a pile that might or might not be a new compost attempt. Picked up a bunch of junk that’s been lying around in the area.
·Took down the chickenwire fence around the garden, weedeated the entire garden border, put fence back up neatly.
·Tore down and pulled up dead frozen banana trees. Debating on whether I want new ones. Banana trees are nasty and promote roaches. But they grown well here and it’s FOOD. Will think about it.
·Planted the cherry tomato plant that I wanted in the pot and not in the main garden.
·Began dumping out the old potted failed blueberry experiment but stopped when I realized I might have a better idea for that particular dirt (it’s very a very specific kind). More on that later if it works.
·Started to weedeat the area for the blackberries and the whacker decided it had had enough for the day. Will have to wait til The Mister can figure out what I was doing wrong when I reloaded it.
·Helped a little (very little) off and on with the fencing project.
·5:00 – DONE.
·Not quite – fixed our stopped-up bath drain. We’ll see how long it lasts, we’ve been having problems with our bath drains and this was the latest in a series of experiments. If this doesn’t work for long we’ll have to break down and get a plumber.
·Then… shower, din-din, and some writing.

Today was all about labor and I’m feeling it, sore and tired all over. Tomorrow will be about joy and relaxation and Sabbath. I shall plant some seeds!