Setting my sights

At last the snow is finally going, this has to be the longest winter in ages/ years.

I can see the grass in our yard and know that soon I will have to brave the shed and go dig out the mower.

I do love to mow, I find it makes me feel calm, I adore the smell of freshly cut grass and seeing the achievement of cutting down a jungle of weeds and tall grass to a nicely clipped green sea of cool grass that I can later walk bare foot on makes me happy.

There are few jobs to do around the house, small to begin with then larger ones later, I’m fine with that.

It’s nice to look back on it after you’ve finished and not think too much about your scraped fingers and bruises that you got whilst doing the job. We’ve got a deck to repair and one to upgrade, they are small, but it will be lovely when its finished as they say.

I’ve been catching up on my to do list and am feeling quite proud of the amount of things I’ve been getting through, from finishing knitting projects to crochet, sewing and general repairs to things in general, yes, I’m mostly up to speed.

I’m now firmly setting my sights on barbecue weather. It will be wonderful to have the family round and feel the love, its so lovely to spend time with them and knowing how busy everyone is its a minor miracle to get everyone together at the same time, here’s hoping that happens. The only thing that puts me off are the thunder and lightening, it scares the brass bells off me and I go and hide whenever they happen, my children don’t seem to care much about them, my husband loves them, me, I’m a shrinking violet during a storm.

This weekend I’m hoping to get the table out, so we can sit to in on the deck at least then I could enjoy a coffee outside.

Everything tastes better outside unless it’s -40 then I’d want soup and burgers or hot dogs and a blankie. I can go either way with that one. All I need to do is put up a little screen, so we are not so visible from the road whilst we sip our coffee.

That and a few potted plants and boom, outside oasis.

Our pets don’t enjoy the heat too much and I thought for the dogs I’d make some of those frozen treats, like frozen banana cut into pieces or peanut butter and banana mashed or blended up and frozen in an ice cube bag or tray to give then a cool treat. You can just break one out and give one to your pup. If were going to be outside I’ll make a large freeze pop for them with fruit for them to nibble on, I use ice cream tubs because one of our dogs is quite large and a smaller one wouldn’t last him very long. Make sure your pet is properly hydrated in hot weather, lots of fresh water on hand is a must.

Our cats are older and don’t seem to yen for the great outdoors anymore, but that’s ok they can lie in front of the fan if they choose. I can freeze them some wet cat food to help them out with the heat.

The other thing that bugs me about the nicer weather, literally are the insects, flies mostly, they drive me crazy, especially the ones that fly right at you and continuously buzz you, why would they choose to do that? They fly right at you and even pursue you round the garden, makes me crazy that. Mosquitoes are not my friend either I always have a bad reaction to their work on my arms and legs, just one of the little blighters can get me good. I did hear that there are less insects this year, I wonder if that’s true, we shall see wont we, knowing my luck the ones that are left will seek me out and swarm all over me. Butterflies terrorize me and although I’m getting old in the tooth and have bad knees, show me one of them and I can find a reasonable turn of speed to get away from them. pretty they are, but I don’t like them on me or near me.

So, summer’s shaping up to be good so far what with repairs and barbecues, decks and flowers, I’m looking forward to it greatly. As always, be nice to one another, enjoy what you can, when you can. share the love.