I was up and out like a firecracker. No cats in the house? Great. Change torn sheet on bed. (Would you believe it -- we have only one, and on laundry day I wash it in the morning to have it ready by evening. Not surprisingly, it wore it out!) Hmmm. Dusty underneath the bed. Vacuum. It's Ed's job, but he's busy swinging saws at a tree limb. (You cannot say that Ed lacks patience, nor perseverance!) Change torn blanket on couch (same thing: one cover to protect the couch; once it gets thread bare, it's time to replace it). Change torn bathroom mats (ditto: 18 years of overuse). Feed the animals.
Why the energetic movement? Oh, it's the last day of winter and the sun is out and though it's still nippy, it is one hell of a gorgeous day. Makes you want to get things done!
Breakfast: oatmeal for him, almond croissant for me. I notice that Ed is getting beyond shaggy.
Time for a haircut and beard trim. I take out my shears.
Back to work, this time outside. The new orchard trees need pruning. Today. Ed does help me with this. I'm too short to do most of what needs to be done.
As we work on trimming, I have to shake my head at the uniqueness of this grove of fruit trees. The cherries outperform everything else. The pears in some years are great. Last year they were almost nonexistent. The apple trees? Some produce apples, but they are not good apples. The plums? We're six years into the project and I have yet to see a single plum. Still, it's a lovely little grove and the pollinators like the spring blooms. We are hoping that the new peach grove by the barn will give us a better yield. (We've been very lucky with peach production at the farmette!)
Prune, snip, clear. But not for terribly long. Ed noted that each year, the work bursts are shorter and the rests that follow are longer. Time for a rest!
In the evening, the young family is here for supper.
It'll be a month before we all sit around the kitchen table again. We all have loaded Sundays coming up. In this month, the landscape will be transformed, of that I am sure. Good bye, winter -- you've been decent to us here, in south-central Wisconsin this year. Time for you to take a pause now. Tomorrow we come into spring.
