Sometimes, you get behind plans. Sometimes, there are just too many plans and too little time. Sometimes, it takes all you have just to make the daily meals and do the laundry.
I've been lucky lately. Kind of caught up on some things. Still behind on others, but "catching up" is good.
On the good side:
1. Picking beans now. Yum!
2. Picking wild blackberries in the backyard. Yum!
3. Went loose with the hedge trimmer and lopper. Cleared out some big weeds and brambles that grabbed at me as I mowed the lawn before.
4. This will seem weird, but my electric mower has 2 batteries and they don't last long (bought cheap - always a mistake) and they are difficult to remove. So I tied a twine loop around them. Those came loose, so I used duct tape to hold the twine in place. Duct tape solves almost everything.
5. Was missing hearing old CDs because my connections are all messed up (GOT to pull out the rack and fix that). But then realized my portable multipurpose portable stereos can play them (DUH!). Been enjoying Simon & Garfunkle all night.
6. Gave the tomato plants a good soaking of foliar spray. If that is unfamiliar, it means adding nutrients to the plants on the leaves. It soaks in.
7. Had some newly-leaking hose connections. So I took every one apart and wrapped them with plumber's tape. Thin plasticy stuff that gets squeezed into the hose threads. Works great. No more leaks.
8. The cucumber and melon plants are beginning to climb the wire trellis.
9. I can expect a Tonkinese female kitten in mid September.
On the bad side:
A. The back yard is "bramble city". I HAVE to get the brush mower working again.
B. I need to redo my Will.
C. I need to get the car in for scheduled maintenance.
D. I REALLY need to mop all the floors and they are SO clutterred.
E. I REALLY need to completely redo the stereo/TV connections. I mean I still have a VCR attached!
F. I REALLY need to learn how to clip The Mews's claws.
G. I am very overdo for a dentist visit, an annual physical, and a haircut.
H. The kitchen ceiling fixture needs to be changed from attached-to-the-ceiling to "suspended". It never works in Summer because of the hot attic. Or maybe I need an attic fan. I'm not sure which is easier.
I. Weeds have taken over too much of the flowerbeds. Periwinkle, English Ivy and Poison Ivy mostly. Thanks to my neighbors... I might just dig up the best and cover the whole area with black plactic for a year.
J. The garden beds are probably infested with tomato-killing diseases. One plant is already entirely yellow. The solution is to surround the beds tightly in clear plastic for a year for over-heating the soil from trapped sunheat. It's called solarizing. I should have done it last year.
K. I have old furniture. Some much of which is junk. Time to get rid of a lot of stuff. I've been living like a broke college student for too long (my desires are simple). Not that I need "house beautiful" with rosewood tables and granite counters, but I could some better stuff.
L. Too many junk trees on the edges of the yard. One day, there is a spling. Next thing I notice it is 12' tall. And the neighbor's maple tree roots are making mowing the lawn like driving over railroad ties. I need to get them grinded out of my lawn.
Isn't there always more on the "To Do List" than you can do? I'm just going to hire a general contractor to come in and do everything on the list I'm making. 3 bids, of course.... I think my major D-I-Y days are over.
