The Best Day of the Year

 

Welcome to the best day of the year---until tomorrow, that is. 

I like the message above, although I will dispute it just a tad. 

As a lover of the past, I do enjoy reflecting on each new day after it has passed, even if it is nonsense. 

Sometimes good.  Sometimes not so good.

Take yesterday, for example. 

I'll be remembering April 3, 2023, on two planes---inside the house and outside the house. 

Inside, stuff happening was neither great nor inspiring. 

We worked on taxes.  Need I say more?

Well, I do have more to say. 

After giving Bill the figure on how much we paid for property taxes last year, I wondered out loud how much the homeowners' insurance would be this year. 

I estimated that we'll pay around $300 more this year for property taxes and I was figuring that the insurance cost would go up also. 

Since property taxes and homeowners' insurance is my responsibility in the bill-paying department, I cringe at each new increase. 

Well, lo and behold, like magic, about half an hour after my wondering out loud, what appeared in the mailbox?

Not Bill's passport, which we have been awaiting for two months, but the newest insurance quote. 

Of course, the bottom line is much more than last year. 

As victims of not having enough insurance in our younger years when our house burned down, we're pretty keen on staying up to date. 

So, we made arrangements to talk to the agent next week to make sure we have adequate coverage for these inflationary times. 

Speaking of the times, another inside story of woe:  I learned by searching on the Internet that a gallon of fence paint does cost twice as much or maybe three times as much as I was paying a couple of years ago. 

AND, Internet sites confirmed that the cheapest place to get that gallon of paint is at the local North 40. 

When I went to the store and drove my shopping cart over to the paint department last week to stock up, I drove away quickly with just one gallon.

Somehow, $22 a bucket was just a bit too hard on my eyes and my wallet. 

Hence, I did the checking yesterday and found out that North 40's supply is gonna be the cheapest barn paint I'll find. 

"Why?"  I kept wondering, so I looked that up too.  Here's what Google told me:  Demand for raw materials in the paint industry soared over the pandemic as quarantined consumers took to DIY projects and home improvement. 

But supply couldn't keep up as global trade networks broke down amid the Covid surge.

This is not at all great news for me. As one who repaints most of our board fences nearly every year, I felt depressed. 

This morning, I gave Bill another $22 and asked him to get me another bucket of paint.  Guess I'll do the painting in well distributed installments this year. 

The final not-so-good indoor stuff for yesterday came when we sat down to watch the college men's National Championship basketball game. 

BORING!  

Bill and I agreed that it was a good one for napping.  About the only good side to it was that UConn defeated Gonzaga. Who knows how much further the ZAGS may have gone had UConn not stood in the way. 

As far as outside reflections for yesterday, I'm pretty pleased. It took time, but on a beautiful day I was able to clean out most of the dead leaves from our largest flower bed. 

Some are still hard to get at because of all the pesky, jungle-like shrub stems, but for cosmetic purposes the bed looks a lot better. 

I also mulched another huge amount of leaves in the yard. I can't believe how much extra spring work Mother Nature left us when she sent all that snow to the ground before the leaves hit. 

Still, it's getting done, and each day of working outside helps the general appearance of the yard.

Plus, bulb plants are starting to make their initial appearance.  

On a sour note of "nonsense," I'd like to eradicate the creepy, destructive varmints that do a number on all parts of the yard over the winter, leaving their network of dead grass trails and heavy mounds of dirt. 

Now that I've wasted a moment or two on yesterday with its ups and downs, I'm ready to take on the hopes and invitations of this day. 

With luck and more work, there'll be some nonsense to report about this "best day of the year." 

Happy Tuesday.