Relative Something

*this* John W. Hays' take on things and experiences

Taking Advantage

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Unlike my usual mode of operation where I dig into a big project that commands the bulk of my day, I set about trying to touch as many little tasks as possible to take advantage of this quick dose of summer-like weather that has shown up. We hit 80°F yesterday!

One technique I employed was to simply jump on whatever popped into view and do a minimum amount of work to achieve satisfactory progress.

The easiest of these is continuing to pick up a winters-worth of fallen branches wherever I turn. I tidied up the barn a bit since it was delivery day for bags of feed. That triggered the moving of Cyndie’s treasured picnic table made from a repurposed door out to her chosen location beneath a giant old tree in the woods by the house –kicking away fallen branches as I went.

I was eager to clean out the flattened ornamental tall grass by the shop garage. Nothing fancy here. I kicked my perfectionistic desires aside and focused on the intention of making short work of it.

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I made a point of getting the horse water fountain cleaned while the herd was out grazing new sprouting blades of grass in the back pasture. Of course, they eventually noticed I was up to something and came running in to check on me. I hustled to replace the stopper so the pans would start filling with water. Light didn’t wait and poked her nose in to drink before I was able to get the cover on that muffles the loud spraying from the water valve.

Then she circled back to get in proper order behind Swings, who politely waited until I had collected my things and headed up to the barn. All four of them looked rather cute lined up nose-to-tail to take turns at the waterer.

The best way to take advantage of a summery day in April is to go for a bike ride, so that was something I intended to fit in with as little extra effort as possible. Having an E-bike made this much easier for me. Gliding along with an electric assist made my first ride of the season on the local hills more of a pleasure cruise than a strenuous workout.

Keeping it short and sweet got me back home in time to feed the horses their evening rations.

Even though it feels like summer, there is still snow to be melted. The pile of snow that slid off the hay shed lands on the shady side of the structure. It might be the last snow to exist on our property this year.

My last task of the day was to do a little light housekeeping so Cyndie wouldn’t return to a complete disaster. It’s only been a week but I feel like I will need to adjust to having a housemate again. I’ve enjoyed being able to leave my things laying around without having them be in someone else’s way.

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Written by johnwhays

April 12, 2023 at 6:00 am

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