Relative Something

I have to run in to the day-job and tend to a few things today. Business is strong right now and it is overflowing our capacity a bit. A good problem to have, but I’d rather have my weekend to myself, thank you.

To compensate for today’s hours, I snuck out a little early yesterday and was able to get some outdoor chores taken care of at home. In the past, I had my area of focus in our landscape, and Cyndie had her own. It occurred to me that I must take on the whole of the chore. Dandelions used to be her domain. Ugh. And I’m pretty sure there won’t be as many annual flowers gracing our property as before.

In the middle of raking and pruning yesterday, I stepped into a thick cloud of tiny flying creatures. I made a point to hold my breath and soldiered on. Then I quickly forgot about them. When you live alone, there is no one watching your back. I was lucky to catch a brief glimpse over my shoulder in the bathroom mirror and saw that the back of my shirt was a mess. I figured it was from when I laid down to rest my back after pruning branches. Those degenerating discs don’t react kindly to yard work, by the way.

Then I noticed the debris covering the back of my shirt, and I do mean covering, …was moving. The gazillions of tiny little creatures were all wandering around on my back! Yikes. I would have been happy to have someone just brush them off for me. Instead, I had to delicately get the shirt up over my head and off of my back. I guess the little guys hadn’t developed their confidence with flight. After finding my perch, they seemed satisfied to remain with their feet in contact with something.

I must have showed up in the right spot just at the time the throngs went airborne. I remember thinking it did seem like an unusually thick cloud of insects.