April 21, 2009

It's Tuesday night and Spring is bursting out all over these meadows and hills. Everyone here has been cutting, splitting and stacking wood for next winter for the last month. Now the trees are budding out and wood cutting is over. Pete has over 10 cord put away. I remember how good that felt from the time many years ago when we heated our house with wood. I claimed two stumps with hollow centers which I have put in my yard. I plan to plant in them. I used up the mulch I had from last year as well as the sheep manure from my neighbor. I am expecting another load this week from the sheep farm across the road. Pete is making two more raised beds for my yard. That will bring me up to 4 beds and 8 tires for potatoes. I hung two more bird houses tonight. The Bluebird is already nesting in one of my last year's houses down in the Locust Grove.

It was lovely having last week off. I was able to jury rig the automatic leveling jacks up on the bus and move it up by the house where the hose will reach. I dragged the ladder up and hauled a bucket of rubber roof cleaner up topside. I scrubbed and rinsed it but as I did a layer of some kind of coating kept flaking off. Now I am trying to find out what it is and how to get it all off safely so I can recondition the roof and seal a few cracks. I washed and waxed the rest of the coach just before the rains came. It really looks great.

Since I had the last botox injections in my eye lids in February, my eye condition has worsened and it had become very difficult to get around. I gave in and called the doctor. He injected me again last week. In the 13 years I have been receiving the injections, I have never had this much. It has worked as far as opening my eyes but the downside is I am not blinking enough now. Consequently, my eyes hurt from dryness and strain especially at night. I have to wear my mask to keep them closed. All of this is worth it though to be rid of the spasms.

The effectiveness of the latest treatment came just in time since I have been offered a long-term temporary position at the Saratoga BOCES office. I am going for a day tomorrow to see if I like it. It is about a 40 min. drive but the weather is good now. My car is economical to drive and the money is much better for BOCES jobs. I think I will take the job unless it is just impossible for me to handle.

I will be mowing grass by the weekend. Whoopee! It has been a long winter. We are supposed to be 80 degrees in a few days. Seasonal changes happen very quickly here.

It is very nice having my sister Gloria back home. We went to lunch once already. Social calendar around here picks up rapidly when the winter ends. We will be busy. That is a huge switch after several months of doing jig saw puzzles.

Happy, happy --