Henceforth I set a goal for myself to sit on my ass as much as possible :-)
Here We Go Again!
I thought after the grandkids were now over 20 years old things would slow down. Then my daughter decided to give birth to twins last October (2013). Here we go again. Babysitting while she works. Later on in a few years picking them up after and before school. School musicals, plays, sports, fundraisers etc. etc. etc. Don't get me wrong I'm thrilled about this, but I'm not as wild eyed and bushy tailed as I was twenty some years ago. Neither am I the video recording nut I was back then either.
I'm also older and wiser. Grandkids tend you blow off their grandparents beyond their teen years. Kind of makes you wonder why I was expecting a different outcome. Oh well.
It's Spring Again.. Dammit!
I don't like to let the rosaceae plants turn into trees by letting them grown more then six or seven feet. So every March it's out with the ladder. This takes hours because we have four of them. Then there's the scattering of the 7 foot snow pile that wouldn't melt till the end of April otherwise. This requires a pitchfork and shovel. My homemade fence had a few pieces fall off that I had to hammer and nail back together.
I also had to work with my arborvitae. I have about two dozen. Four of which suffered under the weight of this winter's heavy snows which bent them to the ground. This required me to drive 6 foot metal rods into the ground. Tie them to the stakes in order to try and straighten them back out again.
Shortly we can start all over again taking my dozen or so trays of plants, I bring in each winter, back out to the window boxes. That's after I re-stain and replace the bad wood. I also noticed the garage windows badly need repainting along with some grouting work that needs to be done on the bricks.
Some of the concrete took a beating out back by the garage. Looks like I have to do some work there too.
Don't get me wrong I enjoy Spring as much as the next guy. What I don't enjoy is every March through April these damned ants that seem to appear a different place every year. One year they came into my furnished carpeted basement floor. I found the crack they came up though in the furnace room and solved that problem. The next year it was in the basement window area. Last year it was the second floor bathroom. This year the little bastards came from somewhere to invade our kitchen counter. We tried all the home remedies since I despise chemical insecticides. Well that didn't work so I broke down and bought some 'Raid'. Apparently the little buggers thrive on the stuff. The end of April can't come soon enough!
Sitting On My Ass Is One Thing.. Death Is Not An Option
Over the past few months I've attended far too may funerals. I suppose at my age it comes with the territory. The son's father-in-law died a few weeks ago. Last week it was a former coworker who lost her only child who was only 28 years old Since I retired only a little over six years ago about ten coworkers have assumed room temperature. One went to the gym three times a week and never drank nor smoked. He worked hard cleaning the family's horse stables after work and died in his fifties.
As each of these passed it reminded me of what my late father-in-law once said. First you read the paper for engagements. Then marriages. After that the birth announcements and graduations. Eventually the obits. Eventually he said that he was one of the few left of the people he's known. Oh-Oh...
I've Also Been Busy..
Trying to repair and keep up with my aging computer, car, appliances, kitchen tile flooring, yellowing drop ceiling, crawling out onto my 3rd floor roof to paint the wooden overhangs, drooping spoutings (because of ice damage), getting my mower ready, draining the fuel and cleaning my snow blower's engine up for storage, washing the storm windows and so on and so on.
nice read, but it made me tired thinking about all that work, and guilty for not doing it.
ReplyDeleteYeah about that guilt.. If someone has enough money they have "people" who take care of stuff like this for them. Having money can rid people of this kind of guilt. For me, I found there's nothing like a good nap to postpone my feelings of guilt. Which kind of explains why I don't have "people" doesn't it?
DeleteI'm sure there are other reasons I don't get everything done on the 'honey-do list'. Maybe I'll come up with a few of them in a few days after I sleep on them :-)