Feb. 21: All weekend warrior-like

Do you ever start a project and wonder, after you’ve been at it a while, WHAT WAS I THINKING? Me too!

This morning it was sunny and beautiful outside—warm, even, for February—and I was determined to spend at least part of it outside. The front yard needed some cleanup so I put on my yardwork clothes and got my little speakers set up so Train could accompany me. Train is a very good yardwork accompanist, FYI.

About ten minutes in, I began to curse myself for attempting a project so physically demanding. It wears me out to sit in a meeting these days, and I was doing yardwork??? I’m not very smart, am I? So I ended up taking lots of breaks. Train is a very good break accompanist, FYI. It took me way longer than it should have, but I got the yard cleaned up and it looks a lot better. If you can’t tell the difference, please keep it to yourself. Also, you’re mean.

Even more newsworthy, though, is that Victor and I filled up the back of the minivan with Goodwill donations. This was another task long overdue, but we managed to get rid of tons of the crap that’s been piling up in our garage for months. We also filled up our monster-sized recycle bin, clearing up even more space. It was good. It was hard work, but it was good.

It’s been such a long time since we’ve been outside for more than a few minutes at a time, but the past several days have been beautiful and sunny here. Even though we were working, it was lovely to be out in the fresh air. I noticed a lot of the trees in the neighborhood have begun to bud, and there’s new growth on many of the things we planted last spring. About 20 crocuses have bloomed, the vinca is coming back shiny and colorful, and now that I’ve cleaned up dead leaves and other messiness, there’s little indication that winter was ever here. I love it. We’re not going to think about the plants that didn’t make it through the cold. Nope.

I had forgotten how the cat goes bat-shiat crazy when we’re out in the yard with her. I don’t know if she’s showing off, or happy that we’re out there with her, or maybe she’s like that all the time. It’s hilarious. She’ll spend five minutes stalking a leaf, and then suddenly tear across the yard and “hide” in the vinca, then climb halfway up the tree and tear off across the street. Goofy kitty.

I took a very long nap this afternoon and right now am feeling like a big slug. I waaaay overdid it today, but I still feel good about getting lots accomplished so I don’t mind so much. Tomorrow, when you hear my cursing all the way to Nova Scotia, you have my permission to ask if I still feel good about overdoing it today. You can probably guess what my answer will be.