Heck of a Day

With the weather being so poor, you really have to seize the moment when the sun finally shines. Unfortunately, just such a day fell on market day, but you have to take what you can get. It has been raining non-stop for the past month, and it makes taking care of the yard, chopping firewood, and working on the barn a bit of a chore. Not impossible, but kind of a bummer in the rain.

Yesterday, we finally woke up to a beautiful day, though it was market day, which meant that we had to be in Hanover after lunch. Anything that needed to be done on the home front needed to done in the AM. I had no time to lose. R had to be at work, but could hold down the fort for a few hours while I jumped into the work around the house.

First thing was the wood. I changed my plan and am hoping to move five loads per day rather than ten (not enough time). I also spent about 45 minutes splitting in order to get year two stacked, but that can wait until the Fall if need be. The main thing is to move the un-split wood before our next truck load arrives, which should be some time this Summer.

After the wood, it was time to do some yard work. I broke out the weed whacker and cleared the weeds in several areas. The place was the greatest need is paths where I need to travel, namely around the wood pile and garden, but also behind the barn, where I’ll need to do more soffit work, and in the back so I can get to the garden compost pile. I also had to cut down some serious invasive plants in the garden, one of which actually called for the use of the chainsaw. This was good, because it gave me a chance to run the saw dry, which is recommended for long term storage, i.e., over 60 days.

I then mowed the grass on the back hill, which is my least favorite part of cutting the grass because it entails pushing the mower up a hill. I tend to neglect it, and it becomes a disaster at some point, but nothing our Toro can’t handle.

I had to keep my eye on the clock because we had to be in the big city by 2:00, and that meant stopping the yard work by 11:30, making the kids lunch, cleaning up the kitchen, then loading the car up and heading out by 1:00. Then we spent the next four and half hours at the market.

Boy, there sure is a lot going on in this world that we’ve created, but that’s the price you pay when you’re trying to inherit the earth.

Until the next time, thanks for reading, and thanks to Lonnie Bradley for the pic.