Today was my Sunday, the weekend reprieve from work having shifted to the right two days, postponed by a monthly event I am beginning to really despise, Drill Weekend for the Reservists assigned to the squadron.
I won’t harp on it here, but let me just say that it is exhausting. And it is for them as well, as they work all week then come in and drill over the weekend, and go right on back to their civilian jobs on Monday. At least we full-time folks can take a couple of days off afterward to recuperate.
Not sure why anyone would subject themselves to such torture. The money can’t be that good. Maybe it’s the retirement points.
Anyway, I made it through another long working weekend, putting Bear on a Delta flight to Jacksonville early Sunday morning for a week of travel with his job, and now have the house and yard to myself for a few days.
And so, without the evening TV routine, or a slumbering person on the couch in the morning, I’m able to get some long-overdue spring cleaning done. Amazing how grungy a home can get with only two people in it.
I’ve gotten late starts these past two mornings, and have had some difficulty getting going on what are really very simple tasks, but progress has been made and the house is not so much a wreck anymore, which boosts my motivation level considerably. Tonight my dear friend Liz is stopping by with her 16-year-old daughter, Cecilie, to bring a belated birthday gift and share a meal with me here at Bear and Thistle West.
We’ll have spaghetti made with home-canned sauce from last summer’s tomatoes, braised garden greens just picked from the garden going wild, and garlic-toasted sourdough bread, baked last week. I look forward to the company and companionship.
Thistledog's Farm 
Ah, yes, I well know the difficulty of getting started on simple tasks – there is always something more interesting to do, isn’t there? After a near drought the Spring of 2009, I lost large patches of grass, something that has never happened in my lifetime before. In the dead spots, a ruderal plant commonly known as spanish needle sprang up. It is a wonderful butterfly plant, but I really don’t need 10,000 of them! So, after coming back from the gym every night after working out, I spend 30 minutes or so pulling up the plants. I’m making progress, but it is slow. I’d much rather sit in the chair and watch the butterflies and listen to the birds …