A minute here, a minute there

Today was a "catch up" day for me. My To Do List always has a few small items on it, ones I thought of in passing and hastily scribbled down. The scribbling has taken over the list and it was time to renew it. That means, for me, it's time to do those small jobs that aren't critical, but they bother me being undone. 

Early this morning I tossed a load of laundry in the washer and sat down to handle my mother's correspondences. Deuce and I walked two envelopes down to the mailbox and Cousin Dave came out to chat. 

Home again, the laundry went in the dryer and I lit a match. The burn ring had collected some wooden debris, pallets and such, and was an eyesore. It's gone now and I can report the old well still works great. 

Housework gets neglected in the summer months, so I put some things away in the pantry and straightened up the shelves. A thorough vacuuming job followed since Deuce is shedding at the moment. Then the clothes in the dryer were hung, folded, and put in the closet. Little chores were finished and crossed off the list. I felt like I walked in circles, and I did, but I dutifully stuck to the items in the order they were written. 

A quick call from a girlfriend netted me some old candles. I'll use them to make fire-starter this winter. The Lord of the Manor was working in the shed, and when I checked on him, he put me to work. FedEx saved me when they delivered a roll of woven ground cover from Grower's Solutions. 

I started dinner prep and then went to the computer to do some quick promos. That led to blogging at Deuce's Day and Between the Keys. Dinner went into the oven, and I watered the garden while it baked. 

After dinner, it was time to write a new list, which led to blogging here at The Hideaway.

Some days I wonder why I'm tired at the end of the day. Maybe tomorrow I'll sit in my garden and listen to the bees. More likely, I'll start working on the new list. 

The Lady of the Hideaway

Holly Tree Manor, The Hideaway, rural living, country lifestyle, To Do List, retirement, gardening, homesteading, blogging, a writer's life

Plans are rarely static

The old saying is, "the more things change, the more they stay the same." It's often true, but sometimes the more things change, the more they change. Take my retirement calculation, for example. 

On the surface, I have 57 total work days, or 11 weeks, until my retirement date. I don't work Mondays, so do the subtraction and we have 46 days. Now let's figure in the new twist. They want to throw me a retirement party on Sunday, May 22. 

You know that after the party, I will not go back into the office. 

So do the subtraction and we have 39 days, less one Friday when a friend is coming into town for one day and I'm spending it with her. So we're left with 38 working days. 

Thirty-eight working days. 

Thirty-eight days I'm not looking forward to.

Thirty-eight bittersweet days. 

I'm excited and sad, contented and regretful, all at the same time. For such a long time, I thought all I'd feel is relief. There is some of that - I'm sure I'll be relieved when I walk out of that party. And my conscience will be clear. I've done the very best I know how to do. 

But maybe the most surprising thing is how worried I am about spending 24/7 with the Man of the Manor. Yes, me and the spousal unit have some different ideas on what MY retirement should look like. I'm sure it will work out. If he annoys me, I can call Deuce and take off for the woods where the man can't follow us. That may seem like a cold thing to do to a disabled person, but it's not if he drives me to it. 

I'm a fan of making lists. I may not follow them with strict adherence, but a list is part of my thinking process. It's putting my thoughts and ideas down so I don't forget them. There is value in that. Does it matter that items on Monday's list don't happen until Thursday? Probably not. The Monday critical items will likely be done first and what falls to the wayside are just notions. I can deal with that. 

So I think I'm off to make a list of ideas for the Summer of '22. Maybe I'll jot down a few things and then engage the spousal unit and see if he has any different ones. We can then "discuss" them. It should make for an interesting afternoon.

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor (The Hideaway)

'Tis spring!

Spring is a busy season at Holly Tree Manor. The outside work ramps up and the inside of the house suffers from a lack of attention. Thankfully, we're both old enough to know a couple of dog fur dust bunnies won't harm us but tall grass harbors critters that may. This past week I talked with the cousin as he was removing a little, relatively harmless, hognose snake he found "sleeping" under his pickup. The theory is the little guy was drawn there by the residual heat off the engine. It's definitely time to watch where I put my feet when Deuce and I are in the woods. 

Last weekend, I got the mulching done around the patio and along the front porch. There is a bit more to do after I replace a rose bush that died over the winter. That will happen sometime later today. 

The plan for the new patio grilling/canning/storage area has been finalized, at least in my mind. With lumber prices being what they are, we're purchasing pre-made cabinets and countertops for a fraction of the cost of building them. It's unreal. 

Yesterday, I made a sweep around the yard and picked up those sticks large enough to damage the John Deers 370 and tossed them on the brush pile. I got the front yard mowed and decided the back could wait a day. I wanted to get soil into the food-safe five-gallon buckets in preparation for getting the pepper plants outside. After filling the buckets, we made a fast trip to the garden center for another bag of Black Kow, some peat moss, and vermiculite. Burpee's sent me an email saying my strawberries should ship soon and I need to have soil ready for them. 

One of my biggest concerns this year is digging a drainage swale in the backyard. Our property is about one-third the way up the side of a mountain and we get a lot of water flowing through during hard rains. The earth isn't static and something above has changed enough that we have a developing problem. There's no way to prevent the water from draining through so we can only attempt to manage it. Thank heavens for the John Deere 1023. 

The list of things to do goes on, seemingly into infinity. Crossing one thing off the list adds two more. It's good to stay busy but it's also good to stop and enjoy what has been accomplished. I'm sure that will happen in a few weeks when the air warms to the point that I don't need to be active to keep warm. 

Until then, spring has sprung and I'll enjoy ticking items off my to-do list and marveling at the many shades of green. 

And adding things to the list. I just noticed it's time to tie the peonies. 

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor