As the saying goes. Spring hasn’t completely sprung – we’re still really mid-bounce. Several warm days last week, followed by cooler and windy this week. The trees have commenced budding, and though they haven’t quite unfurled their leaves here yet, it’s on its way. The flowers are sprouting – a couple of bunches of daffodils blossomed until the winds decapitated them. But more are coming along. The crocuses are up, and the first few tentative buds are opening on the forsythia. The squirrels and chipmunks are digging up my spring bulbs with joyful exuberance, so all is well with the world.
In a burst of inspiration last week, I did set up furniture on the deck and vacuumed the back porch. I know, I know. My readers are very impressed. I was going to go out and sit with my morning coffee, beginning a routine that goes back years, until the mercury dipped back into the 40’s, and I had to retreat to my wing chair inside. It’s still too early to put out plants, although I did buy a couple of small containers of pansies, which were basking in last week’s sun and now are shivering, looking rather forlorn, as though saying to me, “What were you thinking? You know better than that.” I do know better – it’s that eternal desire to see the first bits of color versus knowing we could still have some chilly weather. Even snow. That’s happened here in April. Yesterday, I went out to sweep the steps, the porch, and the small brick terrace out front. At least it looks less like a derelict property and more like somebody lives here. I have to do something too about the privacy fence at the end of the walkway. We have a neighbor that thinks it’s a bird-feeder and sprinkles seed all over it. The wild turkeys have truly enjoyed themselves, and another bit of lattice is lying on the ground. Another project, speaking of which . . . . .
All the projects I have stored up for “warmer weather” are coming home to roost. We have a couple this year for which I thought I had months to prepare. Now, you guessed it – they need to get started and I’M NOT READY. Spring projects typically center on the outside world. I need to clean up the gardens, which look like an untouched wilderness – twigs and branches down, leaves in various stages of decomposition. I could, of course, wait for the landscape company to come in with their blowers and just blow the heck out of everything. Or I could start to do it myself, because the damage to perennials is much less if I carefully rake. As I said, we had a couple of really warm days last week, in fact turned on the a/c for the first time. Good news, it works. It should, we had a new central air system installed last year. Made the yearly call to the HVAC people to come and tune up the furnace and flush out the water heater. An annual ritual that’s a necessity but feels like flushing hundreds of dollars down the toilet. Rather like insurance – you pay for it hoping you’ll never need to use it.
The Princess moved back to the area four years ago, as I’ve written before, and she filled much of the basement with her stuff. I’d done a pretty good clean-out in time for her arrival, but she promptly filled the empty spaces with her more recent possessions. And she’s planning to move back in with us next year while she finishes her doctoral thesis, so we’ve got to consolidate even more, and make room for the things she’ll need about her, or she thinks she needs. And my houseplants tend to take up a lot of “her” space. Or so I’m told, when she’s home. “Dad, you really need to cut down on those.” I just nod and smile.
There are about a dozen old cans of paint that I intended to take to the dump. They’re still waiting. I’ll put those in the corner until the next HAZMAT disposal day, hopefully remembering to take them to the town’s trash transfer station, where some contractor will take all of it and probably dump it into the woods someplace, to be found in twenty years by a horrified news team. But I digress. As most folks do, we could furnish at least one more houses and an apartment from extra stuff in the basement, so I’ll see what I can do there about getting it out or giving it away. And worse, my in-laws will be doing their spring cleaning when they open up the summer camp. They’ll discover more family treasures for which they have no room, so they’ll bring all of it back to us. I’ve made a tacet arrangement with my brother-in-law – I don’t take anything unless he takes something off our hands of equal volume. It’s all too good, or has special memories, to just be given away or tossed. So, we put it downstairs in the basement, and I’ll sort it over the summer. Plenty of time. There would have been if spring hadn’t sneaked up on me.
I went out to breakfast with a friend several weeks ago. He and I get together every so often. His late wife and Herself taught together years ago, and we’ve been great friends ever since. He told me about his projects, which are much more ambitious than mine. He owns a house in a neighboring community and a summer house on Cape Cod. So, he has two houses worth of projects, which he tries to alternate year-by-year. Last year, the house on the Cape got a new heating / central air conditioning system, which it hadn’t had before, and his long-range planning includes finishing the attic space into two bedrooms and a bath. So, this year it’s the main house. The pool is due for a makeover, or so he tells me. He has a new pickup truck and a few years back bought a good-sized tractor from a friend. That way, he can buy mulch by the truckload and spread it out all over the property. He has enough equipment to do some real damage, and certainly puts my touch-ups to shame.
Our in-laws, Her Ladyship’s sister and her husband, (the same ones that bring us their surplus) will no doubt have multiple projects this summer – either at home here or at the cottage. My brother-in-law is repainting the back porch – floor and walls, because it hasn’t been painted in at least a year or two. “If the paint is dry, it’s time for a new coat” is their philosophy. The cottage has had multiple renovations over the last half dozen years – new floors, new ceilings, new windows, new kitchen, new furniture, painting until the rooms are at least a half inch smaller. They are perpetual motion when it comes to renovations, and no room is completely safe.
Over the years, most of our major systems have been updated, including the air conditioning last year, so all of the major expensive stuff is done. But there are always the little things. The back screen door has warped at the bottom, and the lower panel is puffed up like it has a weird growth. We also have to figure out what to do about the fireplace. When my chimney sweep came to clean and inspect last year, he told me that the chimney and firebox are rusted out and unsafe to use. So, another project for which we’ll get estimates and decide what and how much we want to invest.
Yes, it’s that most wonderful time year. What we put off all winter, because “it’s too cold, so it’ll get done in the spring”, and that time is now upon us. The true test of spring, however is the official change of the rubber car mats over to the carpeted ones. Then, you’ll know that the snow and ice had better not reappear or there will be some serious consequences. Her Ladyship wants us to start grilling again – by “us”, she means “me”, and I keep reminding her that it’s too cold and windy. We were laughing about it in the grocery line the other day. The cashier, a man about my age, reinforced my thought that it’s still too early, while a woman in the next line over said cheerfully, “Oh, we grill all year round.” I thought, I’ll bet you don’t – it’s probably the male of the household out in parka and ski cap turning the burgers. Quite treacherous out there, and I could blow away. I’ll clean the grill, though, and fill up the propane tank in readiness for . . . . perhaps mid-May. I’ll start cleaning out and raking the gardens and consider what new plants will go where. I’ll oil the clippers and the pruning shears. I’ll plant some of the bulbs I ordered over the winter, in hopes that they’ll still come up. A few months of dormancy is okay, isn’t it? I’ll clean and wash my containers for planting later on. Yes, indeed. Spring is here, and I’ve got lots to do. Right after my nap.
I'm Thinking...No! 