Left work early on Friday, spent the afternoon removing window screens and installing storm windows. Started a fire Friday night and kept it burning low, slow and lazy most all weekend. Saturday was a dreary, cloudy, breezy day that never broke 40[sup]o[/sup] so the heat was welcome… spent most of Saturday covering windows with plastic and cleaning up a few leaves. Storm windows and plastic are the two fall “chores” I hate, so once I start I like to get it over with.
But Sunday… man, a perfect fall day. It was 23[sup]o[/sup] when I stepped outside just before sun-up and got a whiff of wood smoke from the chimney. The sky was packed full of stars, indicating a clear blue-sky day was on tap… everything covered in heavy frost and “crunchy” under my boots. Piddled around putting some tools and stuff away from the day before… but mostly just stood in the open overhead shop doors, sippin’ coffee and watchin’ the sun come up. Just as it cleared the trees my 4-year-old son came bounding out the door with his “work” cloths on, ready to help daddy with whatever. A few years ago I’d have never believed, that at near 55, I’d have a 4-year-old helper… but life is-what-it-is.
Seemed like a good morning to start moving the winter firewood supply into the basement. As the boy and I were filling the trailer the sun was working hard on the frost, freeing up Sugar Maple leaves and making them heavy. We were working in a shower of big red and gold leaves… which soon caused the boy to lose interest in the wood so he could run around catching them. Managed maybe a couple cord moved in and neatly stacked before I became bored with it. Grabbed the leaf blower and started cleaning up those maple leaves… me blowing them into big piles, and the boy jumping in them. I was feeling a bit lazy after that, so I opened a Bud and lit the piles on fire, drank a six-pack watching them become reduced to small piles of ash... called it a day at 3:00, sat on the porch watching the Blue Jays steal corn from the corn shock.
Man I love October… so many chores to do, but none of them “mission critical”. I still have a lot of leaves to clean up, more firewood to move in, lawn furniture to put away, probably should cut the grass one more time, and I’ll be doin’ some cuttin’ of standing-dead… but there ain’t any hurry for any of it. Clear, blue-sky October days like yesterday are made to enjoy… and that’s exactly what I did.
But Sunday… man, a perfect fall day. It was 23[sup]o[/sup] when I stepped outside just before sun-up and got a whiff of wood smoke from the chimney. The sky was packed full of stars, indicating a clear blue-sky day was on tap… everything covered in heavy frost and “crunchy” under my boots. Piddled around putting some tools and stuff away from the day before… but mostly just stood in the open overhead shop doors, sippin’ coffee and watchin’ the sun come up. Just as it cleared the trees my 4-year-old son came bounding out the door with his “work” cloths on, ready to help daddy with whatever. A few years ago I’d have never believed, that at near 55, I’d have a 4-year-old helper… but life is-what-it-is.
Seemed like a good morning to start moving the winter firewood supply into the basement. As the boy and I were filling the trailer the sun was working hard on the frost, freeing up Sugar Maple leaves and making them heavy. We were working in a shower of big red and gold leaves… which soon caused the boy to lose interest in the wood so he could run around catching them. Managed maybe a couple cord moved in and neatly stacked before I became bored with it. Grabbed the leaf blower and started cleaning up those maple leaves… me blowing them into big piles, and the boy jumping in them. I was feeling a bit lazy after that, so I opened a Bud and lit the piles on fire, drank a six-pack watching them become reduced to small piles of ash... called it a day at 3:00, sat on the porch watching the Blue Jays steal corn from the corn shock.
Man I love October… so many chores to do, but none of them “mission critical”. I still have a lot of leaves to clean up, more firewood to move in, lawn furniture to put away, probably should cut the grass one more time, and I’ll be doin’ some cuttin’ of standing-dead… but there ain’t any hurry for any of it. Clear, blue-sky October days like yesterday are made to enjoy… and that’s exactly what I did.
