fresh eyes

We had April's Uncle Ron & Aunt Christine over to see our place tonight. I needed some advice on the construction of the raised beds and how best to get rid of the Bermuda grass currently growing where they will sit. Today was spent waiting for the snow to melt down enough to get back to work, by noon I was back in business. The future chicken coop was cleaned and cleared out, nails were pulled, measurements taken and plans laid to turn some old kitchen cabinets into roosts I can pull eggs out of without going into the coop and disturbing my girls. Clyde was acting the fool so he was left in the garage as Otto and I made a trip to the dump and enjoyed a Bojangles spicy chicken sandwich. When my O.G.S.D(original German shepherd dog) and I got back home, we all got back to hoeing and pulling up Bermuda grass. By the late afternoon I had two 8x8 foot patches cleared and turned over, so we are about a third of the way done before I can lay the railroad ties down into two 24'x8' beds. Tilling by hand is not a lot of fun, I am sore in muscles I was not aware I had before today. Once I saw the late afternoon sun dipping low in the sky, I figured I would clear the fallen tree branches and leaves off the driveway before April got home. While she might not be able to see the freshly turned earth when she got home at night, I was pretty sure she would appreciate a driveway free of wooden obstacles. I used the Troybuilt gas blower her folks gave me as a Christmas present. It felt pretty damn manly with the roar and vibration of the 2 stroke engine and the heady aroma of gas fumes. Clyde stayed a safe distance back while I blew the detritus aside but Otto was unfazed by the noise machine and stayed right by my heel. Team Jacob wound our way down the 1/3 mile of steep & windy pavement, gravel and dirt that connects us to our only road off the mountain. When we finished, I saw I had missed a call from Uncle Ron and rung him back to see what was up. He said he and Christine were getting a bite somewhere in our vicinity and wanted to stop by and check out the homestead. I was instantly pleased with my decision to clear the driveway; as that would prove to all that I had not sat on my duff all day. April got home just before they pulled up the drive and we stashed the filthy dogs in our bathroom so the stench of mud and dank fur would not detract from the grand tour of our casa. Somewhere along the tour, in between showing off our beehive factory, raised beds, the chick hatchery taking shape in the garage, fruit orchards and the mini vegetables sprouting in the basement I realized we had been pretty busy. Industrious even. I guess I was a bit snowblind yesterday, failing to see the progress we are making because nothing was finished. It will take some getting used to, having so many projects happening in various states of completion; but sometimes it really helps to look at your life through fresh eyes.