My knees told me a couple of times that yesterday was, indeed, the first full breath of spring. The downside to the first full breath of spring comes in the form of an achy body, which is suddenly called upon to perform at a level about 400 percent beyond the norm. That's what mine did yesterday, begrudgingly so at times.
My first clue that the bottle of Advil might get some use came when I saw something blue behind the border trees between us and the Meserve's. Actually, my horses spotted it first. I watched for a while and then shouted out, "I'll bet that's Stan out there fixing fence." It took a couple of shouts, but within seconds Stan emerged from behind those beautiful spruces he and Geneva planted nearly 60 years ago.
As we stood next to my garden surveying damage and talking about the beautiful day, my knees started a conversation of their own, letting me know of their suffering. Standing in one spot for any extended period of time always turns almost excruciating for me. Must be old age; I started noticing the phenomenon a few years ago while running into folks at the county fair.
Of course, every conversation in these friendly settings extends beyond what your knees can take. So, like kids hanging with Mom at the grocery store as she visits with everyone she knows, those impatient joints begin their protest, constantly reminding you that they're miserable and it's time to move on.
It's hard when you're in the midst of a good conversation with an old friend to suddenly cut it off, using the excuse that your knees are aching beyond belief, so you grin and keep on talking, in spite of constant, irritating reminders that the suffering joints have had enough.
I did okay with Stan, cuz it was morning, and I hadn't worked afoot for very long. The knees forgave me, quit their whining, and I went on with the day, working like an ant getting ready for winter. Only, this was an old lady getting ready for spring. The day involved lots of raking, as predicted, several million more dog logs and billions of dead leaves.
The project of cleaning the lawn did remind me a bit of the image I used incorrectly in Lessons with Love of Lucy (the "I Love Lucy Show" of the good ol' days) at the assembly line losing ground with cream pies. Even through a proofreader's correction, I changed it back to pies, when it should have been chocolates. Anyway, it wasn't yummy chocolates or scrumptious cream pies yesterday.
I couldn't keep up with dog log awakenings. Seems every time I hauled off a wheel barrow load of leaves and logs, I'd come back to a new area where the snow had melted and whole new series of log decks emerged. As I look outside this morning, I can see even more from overnight. Some might even be fresh, but they'll be in the path of my rake today.
Yesterday's projects also involved hauling off garbage and hauling off "precious" items boxed up for years that we moved from the old place to the Lovestead and stacked inside the storage shed. My dump run included a whole lot of rolled up goat wire, a dead coffee pot, several water-soaked English workbooks, a heap of metal bands used for cedar shavings bales and Bill's bank statements.
Now, I had to get permission to haul off those boxes of bank statements from banks that no longer exist here in Sandpoint, but finally he relented. Bill was concerned that thieves will break into the Transfer Station, where ya have to show your '08 trash sticker, during the night and dive into those dumpsters full of assorted dead items in garbage bags, kitty litter, rotted food and goat wire, searching for his bank statements from West One bank.
And, then he'll have an identity theft problem. I assured him that since West One (once Idaho First National) has long been replaced by U.S. Bank, he's probably okay. Besides, back in the days when he was keeping those bank statements, I'm sure they revealed a not-so-enticing account balance for a potential thief. Surely other folks' bank statements would look much more alluring than the banty-sized nest-egg we had back in the West One era.
Anyway, the statements went along with all the other garbage collection from the storage shed. The trip to the transfer station allowed me some sitting time and the dogs their customary free hand-out from the friendly station greeter.
I also moved a lot of stuff, like cross country skis and garden tools, to other areas for temporary storage. I made lots of trips to the greenhouse to make sure its 80-degree temperature didn't dry out the plants too much. During the day at least half a dozen cucumbers popped up.
One time I went inside to take a break, and just as I shut the door, the dogs started barking. They were greeting, in their doggie way, my friend Edna and her two granddaughters who had biked over from their place about a mile away. After visiting with Edna and the girls for a minute, I heard those knees once more complaining, with good reason. This time I suggested we go sit on the brick border around the dog kennel.
The knees shut up while Edna and I did some catching up and one granddaughter played "Catch the Coffee Can" with Kiwi and Kea. Yesterday brought out the best of everyone, and it was good to do some visiting in between projects. Amazing what a true spring day will do for people's moods and for their desire to make the most of every lovely moment.
We're blessed to have yet another gorgeous day today. Weather folks are predicting the '70s. It's possible that if we make one more assault on that storage shed, we'll have most of the tedious stuff transferred somewhere else in preparation for its full takedown and the construction of our new building in a couple of weeks.
If anyone has a use for several hundred square feet of vinyl, it's yours for the taking----after we get the shed emptied, of course. We might even throw in some painted, used cedar paneling for lagnappe. I learned that we can sell the metal framing for 3 cents a pound to Pacific Hide and Steel, so we'll probably go that route.
One more thing on that truly lovely day. I had a chance to brush up both horses and give them an opportunity to try some footing somewhere other than their mucky barnyard. Both showed their appreciation by behaving better than usual. I think they were feeling that same sense of rejuvenation and zest for life that was pretty contagious around here yesterday.
Thank you, God, for some much appreciated good weather.
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