Seasonal Chores

These late summer days make me lazy. Now that I don't have to gear up to go back to school, lethargy sets deep into my bones, and it takes a lot of effort to get moving.

But there are always jobs to be done, and this is the time of the year for some annual tasks.

With the season winding down, and the summer visitors gone, it's time to steam clean the carpets while the weather is still warm enough to have the house open to dry them out. So Tuesday I helped move some of the furniture and Tom was hard at it in the family room and other traffic areas throughout the house.

It occurred to me that with my bad back, and my hand still healing, I wasn't much help anymore. What do we do when we both can't manage? I guess we'd better be saving up for when we have to hire these jobs done for us.

This is kind of a slow time for gardening. The garden is tired, and so are we. There are still a few beans, cucumbers and zucchini to pick, as well as tomatoes. And there are still lots of flowers for picking for the house.

The best way to make a neglected garden look good is to edge the lawn. With the rain we had recently the lawn is growing again and the edges needed attention. Tom scissored and I came along behind on hands and knees picking up grass and weeding. That was this morning. Now I'm stiff and sore!

September 11th observations remind us that it is time to renew our emergency kit. And it was timely that as we were working on the lawn this morning, I had the radio on and we heard the emergency system test for earthquake and tsunamis. So after we finished that task, we took stock.

We keep our emergency kit in the shed.

It contains sleeping bags, water, some canned food, first aid supplies, things suggested on a list we got from the Internet.

After taking stock, we made a list of things needing replacing and went shopping. We added this nifty hand crank generated radio/light/cell phone charger. Now we just have to figure out how to work it! With those jobs crossed off the list, I think it's time for another trekking day. I'll have to think of where I want to go.