Slight Detour: Puttin' In the Purty; Cleanin' Out the Dirty

I washed some upstairs windows yesterday.

I thought Annie might want to be able see out her bedroom window while working remotely today.

Plus, I don't mind a clear view whenever I look out the window while on my computer in the next room over.

It's amazing how much better the world looks when winter residue is wiped away from windows.

Kinda like having cataracts removed.

Last evening I bagged up three horse blankets which have been draped over fences.

They were SO dirty when I removed them that it was best to let the rain and the wind remove at least some of the dirt that had collected over the winter.

Enough had disappeared after a few days that I could actually tolerate putting each into a big green garbage bag.

Today they'll go to Co-Op to be picked up by a lady who cleans horses blankets.

She's done one of mine so far, and it looked almost brand new.

The horses have had their blankets off for about ten days, and the mud in their barnyard provides some great material for any of them to win any "dirty horse" contest.

Lily with her white hair would probably take the prize each time she rolls in the mud.

Yesterday one entire side of her was covered with a new thick coat of squishy mud. She was a sight for sore eyes, to say the least.

I'm also noticing that it's time now to bite the bullet and do some serious brushing to remove excess winter hair from each horse.

It takes time to work myself up to that task because I'm no fan of eating or breathing horse hair and then having to brush myself off when it's all over.

If we get two or three days of dry weather, the brushing will happen, and horses will be much happier and easier to look at.

Last night I took the Subaru to the carwash. It was time as the entire lower portion of the car was coated with ridges of cement-like mud, while the front end was decorated with splatters.

Halfway through using the spray, I realized that I had put the knob on "rinse" rather than "soap," so I just continued to rinse, knowing the seconds were ticking away.

As I figured, the car looked 90 percent better when I drove out than it had when I drove in.

This morning I noticed that I missed a few spots with the sprayer so my gloves managed to erase those patches.

And, so, along with painting more and more fence boards, the general clean-up duties should make for a more esthetic experience around here.

Plus, pretty flowers can do wonders.

I finally broke down the other day and bought my first batch of spring posies from The Flower Farm and have transplanted most of them into pots to liven up the deck area.

What a difference the bright colors make, especially as the lawn continues to turn new shades of green each day.

That signals the start of mowing, which is okay with me, the lawnmower queen.

I'm ready for some mowing time.

Lots to do outside and lots to enjoy when the cleaning and the prettying up is done.

Finally, remembering today our dad Harold Tibbs who would have been 108 years old today.