Spring Is Finally Here

A beautiful weekend has just about come to a close. Yesteday the temps made it to the mid 60's and today it hit 72°! Now, if we can just avoid any relapses life will be good.

Saturday was spent for the most part doing clean-up work around the house and yard. I started out doing the dishes but it was just too nice outside to stay indoors so I grabbed the rake and made my first project cleaning up the dog pen. After a long winter it needed it. I also swept up the breezeway. All those hairy little paws bring in a fair amount of dirt this time of year. After that was completed I played some soccer with the critters cuz they'd been bugging me all day with the ball.

After playtime I grabbed my trusty rake again and headed out to do some raking in the front of the house. I decided I'd do the side yard and make the neighbors happy. So with the ipod hooked up and rocking to some James McMurtry I spent the next couple hours raking and triming back the grass that had grown over the edge of the cement. Once that task was complete I went and hooked up the hose and washed the dirt off the cement. Then I did the same thing to the patio.

The next task was to get the van parked in position to put the For Sale sign back in again and see if we can have any better luck this year with a reduced price.

By now it was almost 6pm so I decided I'd been putting it off long enough and took the cover off the bike and pushed it out of the garage before firing her up. While it was warming up I went and got my coat and helmet and then proceeded to take a cruise around town for awhile just to make sure I hadn't forgot how to ride it. Once I'd passed that test I brought her back home and parked her in the garage. My plan from here on out is to ride it to work as many days as I can, depending on temps and precipitation.

After the bike ride it was time for some supper so while Wanda worked on our taxes I went to Papa Murphy's and bought a pizza. After pigging out on that it was pretty much time to kick back. I stayed up until about 3:30am ripping albums and uploading.

This morning I got up about 9:30am and proceeded to make the standard Sunday morning breakfast. Eggs and bacon for the wife and pancakes for me and the dogs. Once breakfast was finished I grabbed the camera gear, a couple dogs (Bailey and Mercury) and headed up to the compound for the first time since the start of the year. There was still quite a bit of snow on the north side slopes in the woods but our site was snow free! I wandered around a bit checking things out and then decided to start the 2008 clean up project with some raking. I started with the yard area and after several hours and some tired arms got most of the leaves moved on down the hill. The wind kept messing with me....all of a sudden there'd be a gust that would send thousands of leaves rolling down the hill in the correct direction and then 5 minutes later another gust would come along and blow against my efforts.

To give my arms a break I got the dogs hooked up to leashes and we took a hike around parts of the campground. We made a stop at the lake and Bailey just walked right into the water right up to his chin and proceeded to lap away. Mercury on the other hand wanted nothing to do with getting wet and put his feet in just far enough to get a drink. After the break was over we headed back to camp, got out the spray paint and went looking for a dozen suitable trees that we could use for the fence project that wouldn't make a dent in the overall look of our forest spot. After awhile of wandering up and down hill I found enough trees and marked them to give myself a good start on at least the south side fence. I want to get some fast growing pine trees for the east side, along with the fence, so we can have a bit more privacy eventually. I need to do some research on that pretty soon here.

After marking the trees we took a break and ate some ritz crackers and washed it down with some cold well water. The dogs were kicked back at that point so I laid back on the deck with the sun shining on me and dozed off for a little bit. By the time the nap was over it was getting on to 5:00pm so I went around and locked things back up and turned off the power. Took one last look around and then headed down the road for home. We got back here about 6:30 and by the time dinner was over and I'd had a shower it was a bit past 8. The rest of the evening has been spent down here with the headphones on boppin' to Marshall Tucker Band.

Eyes are heavy now so it's time to call it a weekend and go get some sleep. I have a feeling I'm gonna be a bit stiff in the morning If now is any indication.........hope I didn't overdo it too much, not into pain.

Night.

TC