A Day Off to Work

I know how ironic this may seem, but we had a day off from our busy schedule that allowed me to actually work and get some things done around the house (note the empty hammock). These are things that have been weighing on my shoulders for some time, and the problem I have is they need to be done before winter fully sets in, i.e., the clock it ticking. The really short days and stretches of lousy weather don’t help.

Thus far I’ve been given a reprieve from the weather in that there hasn’t been a lot of snow. This seems fairly normal to me. We’ve had unusual situations like last year when we got a foot of snow before Halloween, which meant that raking and mowing the lawn were done for the year. This year, I have been looking out the window wondering if I’m ever going to have time to do that last mowing and raking, and believe me, it really bugs me. Each passing day feels like I’m really pushing my luck.

Of course, I could just leave it and deal with everything in the spring, which has its merits, especially since I really hate raking leaves, though I feel it’s better to tackle some of it before the snow comes. Either way, we had a day off from hockey and other activities, so I jumped in with both feet and got some stuff done. First order of business was to cut the firewood. We have about 5 cords of uncut log-length, and my goal is always to get year 2 split and drying. Fat chance, but at least if I had the blocks cut and in the splitting area, I could split over the winter. One the snow comes and freezes the pile into one solid block, that wood is not going to be moved until spring. At this point I should stop cutting and just move the stuff, but I wanted to cut as much as possible, and I also need to run the saw dry before storing it. I am not quite there, but hopefully by the end of this week.

I also managed to take care of our burn pile, which is important before the snow plow comes. In years past, I had a pile of wood that I wanted to burn, but then it would snow and the plow would push it to the far end of the yard. When the snow melted, I had to gather it all back into a pile and burn it. Not this year. N and I spent a couple of hours burning the pile, and now it’s done. It was fun hanging with him and burning whatever we could get our hands one.

I also managed to mow part of the lawn, just the side yard. If I can finish the back, I’ll leave the hill for spring. It’s all crab grass anyway, so it doesn’t need too much care. There are a ton of leaves that need to be raked, so we’ll see if I manage to get to that. The final thing is to put the hoses in storage. I needed on hose to manage the burn pile, but after that was done, I drained the hose and it’s ready to put in the basement. Then I had to make supper, but what else is new?

I still need to haul about 5 cords of wood and rake the hill, but even if the snow came at this point, it wouldn’t be the end of the world. Sure, I’d be disappointed that I didn’t get certain things done, but enough has been taken care of to get us through the winter. It just means a busier spring, right?

Until the next time, thanks for reading, and thanks to Jeff Kramer for the pic.