Wednesday, September 23, 2020

Cleaning up, inside and out


After a dry, dusty summer, a Labor Day windstorm, ten days of thick smoke and ash, and an hours-long thunderstorm, things were looking pretty ragged around here. But we've starting to make noticeable headway. Inside I started with vacuuming up dust and cobwebs and wiping off dust and ash. Then I cleaned and rearranged our tiny laundry room to better accommodate a post-surgical puppy's comfort; I replaced her smallish crate with the two big dog beds from the living room to make a cushy den in which she can curl up or stretch out. I also tackled the 'homeschool closet,' removing and sorting years of workbooks, teachers manuals, homework papers, and peripheral detritus into piles to recycle, toss, donate, and offer to others. Doing that was harder emotionally than dropping off Brian at college, drawing a curtain as it did on my son's childhood, but it was time and now I'm fine. Next I'm going to deep-clean Brian's bathroom, which is also the guest bathroom if we have visitors. He picked up most of his clutter and was supposed to clean it before he left, but it's pretty gross.


Outside, Rick mowed the upper and middle pastures, cleaned up the broken prune limb and some too-low English walnut tree branches, and mowed around the fruit trees. I cleaned up the entry, trimming ground cover and sweeping all the concrete. Then I used the riding lawnmower to 'sweep' the arena and driveway of fallen maple leaves, and picked up a pick-up load of twigs and branches from all over to add to the burn pile. Those jobs will need to be repeated as more leaves fall and the wind blows down more twigs and branches, but with more rain in the forecast (which arrived this afternoon), I needed to "get while the getting was dry." The improved 'curb appeal,' even if temporary, is an instant mood elevator!




the harvest from the small pear tree in the pasture
The harvest from the grafted pear tree in our upper pasture; yummy!




After raking edges; before sweeping

In today's edition of "This is why we can't have nice things," this is the thanks I got for trying to make Poppy's life more comfortable:

She did that while I was outside getting a lesson with Stella (exciting progress; update coming on my horse blog!) and cleaning up branches. She did it a couple more times this afternoon while I was in the house. Poppy is clearly pent-up and bored, and wants to RUN and PLAY. She has left her incision alone, but it did seep for several days and has a little more swelling than I like to see, no doubt because we haven't been able to keep her from leaping on and off the bed, standing vertically to look out the window facing the neighbor's, doing zoomies around the furniture in the great room, and hunting mice in the tack room while we do chores (this morning she jumped up ON a saddle). I guess she needs to be on-leash inside as well as out! We're going to go to agility class tomorrow afternoon; the activity there will be downright sedate compared to what she's managed here.

Tomorrow Rick's sister flies in from Colorado. She's staying with my MIL but we will all be together on Sabbath. I'm just a touch nervous about being around someone who has flown on a commercial airline during a pandemic, so will be keeping my distance. I'm also a touch jealous; oh, how I wish it were safe to fly down to see MY parents!

That's it for now from a tidier . . .

10 comments:

wyomingheart said...

Looks fantastic! Poppy is definitely an energizer bunny! Have a great visit, and give the Rock Star a perrfic pat or two from the ridge!

A :-) said...

Everything looks great! I feel the same way about travel . . . I keep seeing pictures of people doing things like life is normal and it's bothersome and makes me doubt myself the measures I'm taking to avoid COVID. But my primary care doc recently affirmed everything I'm doing and said to keep it up, so - Onward :-) I hope Brian is getting settled in at school.

Mama Pea said...

First off, do you and Rick hire out? Boy, could we use you around here!

There are two things I won't (wouldn't) do right now. And that is travel on an airplane and eat in a restaurant. (Haha, not that either of those two things are anywhere near frequent occurrences in our lives!)

That ungrateful little Poppy! But with that much energy (don't know if I could handle a dog like her!), it must be very hard to explain to her that she just had major surgery. :o(

I, too, have been waiting for a report on Brian's first days at his place of higher learning!

Fran said...

Like A:-) said, I see what my friends are doing and feel a tad jealous that we are isolating at home, but sure that we are doing the right thing. At 73 and 77 and hubby with a compromised immune system, it would be fool hearty to do anything else. We will get carryout, but won't eat "in," even in the two/three sided tents erected everywhere near restaurants. My local spinning group (I am of median age in it) just posted that they were resuming masked, socially distanced indoor spinning at the Rec center and was heartened that I wasn't the only one who replied to the email that I wouldn't attend until there were no new cases here, a valid treatment, or vaccine developed. I would love to visit with my children and grandchildren, see my step mom and my step sibs, but it will wait. Good luck with the zoomie Poppy. I'll have to pop over to the other blog to see Stella info.

Mokihana said...

Wow... you guys have been working hard! The cleanup looks wonderful!

Kim said...

What!! Poppy had surgery??? What happened? Sure glad to hear the recovery is going well. Perhaps a walk around the yard would release some energy.

Michelle said...

Will do, wyomingheart. He was a little sore from something; complained when I picked him up. Can't find any marks, though, and he's not getting worse.

Adrienne, we'll just keep being safe together. :-) Brian is struggling a bit with 'social isolation,' some of it from pandemic protocols, some of it self-imposed because he doesn't feel like he fits in or that he wants to associate with most of the kids there.

Mama Pea, see above on Brian. As for hiring out, I don't think we do 10% of what you and Papa Pea do!!!

You have a few years on us, Fran, but Rick has cardiovascular disease and we both have elderly family and friends so why would we want to take undue risk? (I'll get to my horse blog post as soon as I can.)

Thanks, Mokihana; I knew you understand the conditions that necessitated it!

Kim, Poppy was spayed. She is healing nicely now, but it's still too soon for the kind of running and playing she desperately wants to do. Trust me, a walk around the yard doesn't cut it!!!

Sandra at Thistle Cove Farm said...

It is HARD to believe that boy is in college! He's probably been ready for years which have flown...although I guess some of those days have drug, eh? lol

Michelle said...

Sandra, raising a child makes all sci-fi 'time warp' scenarios sensical. Time crawls; time flies; time morphs; time lies.

M.K. said...

Oh, those last sentences! We feel the same way. We usually wear a mask around folks who have recently traveled (esp. on a plane), but I feel like I'm being rude. People understand. I haven't visited my mother since January. Want to see my kids and grandkids, sigh. It's excellent distraction to get outside and clean stuff up! It's been hard during pandemic--too easy to neglect indoor cleaning because nobody comes over! :) Your place looks so peaceful and tidy.