Where Has The Summer Gone?

And why wasn't I there for it? Oh wait, I was. Looking back, I've been busy doing everything and not so much for my own fun.

Swimming? Once. With my friend. We'd made plans, but the local options wound up costing $10 a time or $75 a month. Neither of us chose to afford more than one hour in a pool.

Crex? Once, again, with my friend and her son who complained most of the time because he didn't have his new glasses yet so couldn't appreciate anything beyond his cell phone. He didn't see the doe crossing the road, the trumpeter swans in the dozens on the lake, the osprey nest, the sandhill cranes being dive bombed by blackbirds. I didn't enter the photo contest, back this year after several when it was not held, as I don't have new pictures worth entering and can't remember now which ones got entered in previous years.

Photos? Well, I did get out for a bit one foggy morning, but much of what I wanted to shoot was under construction. Crex wasn't that photogenic the day we went, and the rest of what I shot was mostly what was blooming in the garden. There was lots of work still to do there, despite last year's slaving, though this older body took a few extra mornings off from the job.

See family? With Steve's back in the condition it's in, despite everything, they pretty much have to come to us or make plans to meet with just me. Everybody's been seen once now, except one visit planned for today but postponed for - hopefully - tomorrow. But once just isn't enough, especially when it's in the middle of a crowd, with all kinds of other things and people grabbing your attention away from each other.

Teaching jewelry making? Once, with my friend, but limited time, so things remain unfinished.

The bead store where I've passed on some things learned in AZ by teaching classes to their staff hasn't panned out yet because the woman who OK's and participates in that has had her own "stuff" for much of the summer. I still shop there for stuff I don't get in AZ, but I'm waiting for a go/no go on the class.

Shopping? Not enough, and too much spent. Gas prices dropped as summer passed, especially in this immediate area, so my reluctance to go places eased somewhat.  I did manage to keep fed because of course. I got a haircut and necessary oil change, but as long as I was going to be driving around there are places I'd rather have gone.

If I've lost the summer, Steve has even more so. He'd planned on walleye fishing on Lake Mille Lacs, but they cancelled walleye season for a bit, and now his back won't let him. He hasn't even gone fishing along his favorite riverbank from his folding chair since the first brief time. Most of his time is spent in his lift chair, waking or sleeping, reading, eating, watching TV. These days he uses a cane inside the house and is getting discouraged about growing old. Not just older. Old. Walking in the yard requires another person's steadying hand in addition to his cane.

Bonfires? There's been little rain, but it keeps falling often enough to keep the firewood pretty wet. Weekends have had regular rain, or at least threats of it, so we can't make good plans to have people up here for a bonfire. It finally stayed dry for a couple days, so we had two in a row. The first night, with a surprise visit from an old friend of Steve's, it was cold and most of the wood was still damp, but  they had a great time, even roasted a few brats. Last night we had other friends up for the first time this summer and Paul had lots of dry wood for a good fire with a great bed of coals. Since we'd shopped for food for several people who had a rainy Saturday cancel, we cooked all the brats so they wouldn't go to waste, and we'll work our way through what's left in the next several days. S'mores were managed, along with plain marshmallows for Steve, his favorite version. Two nights of great conversations, but not what his back appreciated, especially his walks across the uneven ground in the back yard. A trip for today had to be postponed.

I spent my morning instead out cutting down trees. These are not the ones which can be cut back with loppers. I dragged out the saw. New muscles are busy reminding me that they found that a very bad idea. Not doubt the trees would agree, but they're mostly scattered across the yard where tomorrow's job will be hauling them over to a major pile where they can sit for further attention from Paul, sorting, cutting, relocating into the various sizes of firewood and twigs for further bonfires, probably next year once they've aged. Right now they are no longer growing up through the honeysuckle hedge, nor are a bunch of tiny trees and some massive vines, enough to make me feel I accomplished something. The stumps got treated, so gone = gone as far as they are concerned. There were box elders, even a sizeable maple weed tree. In the process lots of thick old dead branches of honeysuckle were removed, along with some live branches that were way out of place due to lack of regular pruning. Now another garden area is getting some sunshine again, badly needed.

I can see what's been accomplished in the yard. But in those needed rest breaks, I sit in a chair, looking around and spying things remaining to be done that likely won't. The paper birch trees along the driveway are dying back, dropping dead twigs all over the place, messing up the flowers and littering the driveway. If large enough, the undercarriages of the cars catch them and drag them out into the street, if we're lucky. If not, they travel further. There are places where small trees unnoticed last year have gained more hold and are emerging from the middles of sections of flowers. The river birch on the other side of the driveway have branches which are drooping so low the cars push them aside as they pass. So do we. Plants that need moving aren't yet. Grass that needs removing hasn't been yet. But some flowers that have spread way out in the lawn but needing about 18" of height to bloom have been dug up with enough roots and bulb to be replanted in the flower bed, while others have been left in the lawn for Paul to mow around in hopes they'll produce seeds before winter and he'll actually remember to harvest those and spread those in the flower beds.

I've found the wheelbarrow handy for moving cuttings and clippings to the mulch pile or brush piles in the back yard, but it had to sit in front for over a week. It got heavy. I'd worked to the point of exhaustion, a regular failing of mine. A couple mornings later, the pile inside had compacted and I added more. Then there were the lily of the valley with seed stems I cleared from a large area where they'd invaded, something that we really don't need spread through any more of the yard. It doesn't listen to us. So the full barrow sat a few more days while we tried to figure out where all those seeds could be dumped without finding a home. The local critters won't even eat them. They're very hard so stepping on them does no damage either. They sat  in the barrow a few more days, compacting a bit more. It rained. Compacted more. Rained again. Other stuff got added. (Sensing a pattern here?) 

I started moving it and found it too heavy for my level of ambition, so it sat some more. When my need to relocate it matched my energy level to do so, I managed  about 20 feet before deciding I needed a better idea. It was time to unload the wheelbarrow and haul it's load away in sections. We have a very large plastic pail with rope handles, so it got filled, dragged about 50 feet before the rope handle pulled out. So, time to bend over and drag it by curling my fingers under the lip. Whew! But done. Back to the wheelbarrow. I hauled it another 20 feet before deciding it needed another sectioning off, same method. By the time the last third needed to be moved, I finally decided to tilt it so the water ran out of the bottom. I could do it  now without dumping everything out, just the water. The yard needed that rich deep brown "tea" more than the mulch pile, or my muscles moving it, did. That eliminated about 3 gallons! And the rest was easy peasy. All is in the big mulch pile out back including the wheelbarrow, and at this point I don't care any more if lily of the valley grows in it. I already found two back by one of the brush piles last night when I was tending the bonfire after Paul had finished cooking duties, so it's too late to prevent them. We'll see how they survive regular (aka monthly) mowing beck there.

There's all the indoor chores as well. I'm now handwashing the small dishes for the three of us, taking out trash and recyclables, and running the cans curbside per their schedules. There's floor sweeping, laundry in the basement which is my one "opportunity" to exercise those stair climbing muscles long dormant. I somehow seem to be the only person in the house who can actually see the dirt in the bathroom and who'll do something about it. I think I almost (!) have Steve trained not to leave piles of clothing next to the bed on his side and partially blocking my entry into the closet we share, but of course when I think it's ingrained, I trip on the next pile. At least I haven't stubbed my toe on the corner of the bed or dresser like Steve has. 

Right now I'm finally getting  some energy back. It's bedtime. My back has found that one spot that complains, attributable to all that lifting, pushing, pulling of the trees and branches I had to relocate this morning. Much of that was sheer laziness, testing to see if I'd sawed through enough that the rest could be snapped off so I could quit sawing. The rest of their relocation into a single huge pile for Paul to ignore or not will happen in the morning. But when I was rummaging in the box of food for whatever I'd wind up having for supper, I lifted one small box off what turned out to be a package of Hershey's kisses. I knew I'd bought that a few weeks ago! But where....? So after the Mac & cheese and a couple dried apricots, there was a handful of kisses. 

Chocolate can go a long way towards curing what ails you! That's a very good thing, since packing to head south starts again all too soon. I'll need more chocolate, I'm sure!