jeebus...


Where did the weekend go? Saturday turned into a whirlwind of chores, today was slaving outside, trying to clean up the grounds after the two days of steady high winds we had early last week. I spend four hours just on one side of the house cutting up fallen limbs, picking up twigs and raking leaves, seed pods from the Catawba trees and those damned spiky seed balls from the Sweet Gums that are on the property line. I also cleaned up a pile of dried out old sod that I peeled up from one of the garden beds I put in last fall, and used the soil to fill in the area on the Eastern side of the front porch and graded it away from the house for better drainage. I also broke down the irrigation system for the evergreens I put across the front of the property last year, they are doing just fine now and I didn't even use it this year, we had so much rain. The trees I put in last year are the Green Giant Thujas. They were about a foot tall when I planted them in May of 2008, most of them are almost as tall as I am now. At that rate, in two more years, no one will be able to see into the property from the street, which will go a long way to psychologically separating me from the traffic on the street and will be a wonderful wind break from the ever present Northwest Winter winds around here.
I'm going to spend most of tomorrow doing the same cleaning up on the other side of the house, although I'm technically supposed to be working from home. Ever since my office was closed and I got stuck over in my clients building, I'm forced to take their holidays off as well, but as long as I can spend some of my time on work related tasks during the day, I don't have to use a vacation day. Doesn't really make that much difference to me one way or the other, by the end of the year I'll have at least a week left over, maybe more, which I can carry over into next year. That means I'll have six weeks next year, maybe I'll take off a week every other month throughout the year. That's if I still have a job. I don't take anything for granted any more.

It's time to take down the screens and put up the storm windows and start getting this grim old pile ready for the coming cold weather. I just filled the oil tank, that should last us almost till Christmas if it doesn't get too cold too early. Gotta get some coal next week for the dining room stove, just in case. And a generator is on the list for this year, too. I might buy a permanently mounted gas fired one and tie it into my propane system. I just need one that's big enough to run the furnace, refrigerator and the well pump and a few lights. And the computer. Better safe than sorry these days. Twenty years ago, I'd look at having no power for a few days in the winter as an adventure, but no more. My tolerance for the cold has lessened greatly. Must be getting old...

Oh, I almost forgot... here's a little something I whipped up for Dogette last night while I was sitting up alone in the wee hours... I hope she remembers to keep the windows shut on Beh-bey island, you never know what might fly in...



Sleep well tonight, dear Dogette...


So, I'm going to go outside and have a smoke or two, wait for the Percocet to start working and then do something. Not sure what, but it seems a waste not to take advantage of not having to face an early Monday morning. Maybe I'll go for a midnight ride in the goth mobile or maybe grab a lantern and a sidearm and go for a trek through the woods. More than likely, I'll just veg out in front of the computer and listen to some music.

Have a wonderful evening, my fellow wanderers.



go ahead, make your day...