Patricia Harrelson

We dove into autumnal chores the past few days with gusto!

First, I borrowed my son’s pick-up and enlisted my grandson’s help to pick up 2 yards of decorative bark that I won at the Waldorf School acution last spring. Friday was the last day to redeem my coupon for the bark, and that deadline is what kicked off the chore-filled weekend. Two yards of bark is a lot, and I’m so happy to have had Cody’s help or it would have taken me DAYS to unload and situate the groundcover. I shoveled enough to have one heck of a back ache, but it was only 1/10 of the work done by Cody. The bark is all in place and will greatly reduce the weeding next spring, another back-breaking job.

Meanwhile, Cindy got started on cleaning out the shed, a project we thought about all summer but put off to wait for cooler weather. (As it turned out, it was 100 degrees on Saturday when we finished the job.) Cindy’s methods of reorganization and cleaning are comprehensive and detailed. Any such project ALWAYS begins with removing EVERYTHING from the area, cleaning thorougly, and then replacing things in an orderly fashion. What I bring to such projects is the ruthless disposal of all extraneous items–defined as anything that has not been used in the past year! This is a compromise: we allow these compulsive needs to coexist–and the results are dramatic!

On Saturday, while Cindy continued emptying and cleaning the shed, neighbor Becky and I cleaned the rain gutters. This is the thankless job of removing accumulated debris that has fallen from the oak trees (leaves, acorns, dirt) and lodged in the gutters. We have to do it at least twice a year or we have waterfalls streaming from the awnings when it rains. Becky worked from the roof using the blower while I dug with a gloved hand into gutters to remove clumps of gooey mess.

Three hours later, I joined Cindy to haul several boxes of stuff removed from the shed to the hazardous waste disposal event (another reason we chose this weekend for the shed chore). After dropping the material at Cal Sierra recycle center, we fortified ourselves with ice cream sundaes at Baskin Robbins before heading home to finish the shed. It was dark by the time we finished the job, and we were both moving very stiffly, but the shed is certainly spiffy as are the gutters and the flower beds. Today will definitely be a day of rest.