March 31, 2012

To-Do List Revisited

So, I know that those of you who read my previous post are dying to know what I actually did or did not accomplish on Thursday. Let me fill you in.

Yes, I did make the bed. And fed myself breakfast. Off to a good start. :)

I then went straight to the greenhouse. First I watered all of the broccoli, kale, lettuce, spinach and chard that has been growing beautifully for several weeks now. Then I planted tomato, pepper and basil seeds as well as a few ground cherries and some miscellaneous herbs. At this point, I was feeling quite accomplished as it was only 11 a.m., but I was also feeling quite sore from the cramped greenhouse work. So, I went and laid down for 45 minutes and browsed through the latest edition of Mother Earth News.

Next, I hiked down to the spring to fetch the yogurt starter from the bucket of cold spring water that was hopefully serving as a refrigerator. I hadn't intended to leave the yogurt starter down there for as long as I did (just over a week), but I had sabotaged my own yogurt making schedule by leaving the soy milk languishing in the mini fridge at the office in Blacksburg and had to wait until I was back in town to fetch it. Upon close inspection, I decided that the starter had gone funky and was not to be trusted. So, I switched gears and chopped up one of our last two homegrown butternut squashes to put in the solar oven for dinner.

Having just finished lunch and already accomplished (besides yogurt making) my entire revised to-do list, I was feeling quite proud and eager to tackle "the big one" - weedeating the garden. Now I must go on a rant. Is it just me or do other people, especially other women, find it next to impossible to start any of those stupid "pull the rope" engines!! I consider myself a very competent woman and can weedeat with the best of them, but why must they make me feel like an idiot, wearing myself out yanking that stupid cord for 15 minutes in vain!! Joe usually stands back and watches me for the first couple of pulls, giving me a chance to do it on my own (which occasionally, miraculously, does happen), and then steps in and in one swift pull gets the thing roaring. However, I did not have Joe to step in for me this time as he was at school (but I did call him halfway through the process, in order to vent and catch my breath and get some emotional support). At long last, just when I was about to quit, the weedeater finally came to life. I was utterly exhausted, but I dug deep into my reserves and started mowing down the jungle around me. I had weedeated half of the garden when the other big weedeating hurdle reared its ugly head...out of string. This is another area where I often prove incompetent and usually rely on Joe to reload the stupid thing for me. I seriously contemplated calling it quits and taking this as a sign that it was indeed naptime, but I was so inspired by how good the mowed half of the garden looked that I decided to try reloading the string myself. Another frustrating 15 minutes later, I had string again and finished the garden. What a sense of satisfaction!

Definitely time for a much deserved break. After sitting on the porch steps and soaking in the glow of a freshly mown garden, I spent an hour or so relaxing, beading and watching a movie. I have actually had several paid beading gigs recently, and it is so nice to be able to relax, do something I enjoy, and feel like I'm being productive a the same time. Here's one of my more recent beading projects that I was pretty happy with. I sold the one in the photo, so I've got to find time to make another for myself.
Okay, so I know you're already super impressed with my day's accomplishments and pretty exhausted yourself at having read all of this, so I'll spare you the details and just say that in addition to all of the above I also did access and prune two of the four remaining unpruned fruit trees and transplanted half of the lettuce and spinach plants into the garden. And I did the dishes. Not too shabby, if I do say so myself. And throughout the whole day the baby was doing some serious gymnastics in there. I don't know if he/she was also feeling energetic and trying to lend some support or was maybe protesting my activity and trying to convince me to give it up. Given the fact that the gymnastics continued long after I was lying in bed, attempting to sleep, I'm thinking it was the former.

1 comment:

canningmama said...

Hey, having been there 4.275 myself, I'm impressed with what you got done! :)