Spring Chores & Writing Keep me Busy

Whew!  Spring chores have been keeping me busy recently. For a 67-year old, I’m over-working myself!

 

I have two very physical tasks to complete in the next week or so between rain storms: I need to spread the 12 yards of gravel that were dropped in our driveway this morning, and I need to take wheelbarrows full of the stuff (well, not full, or I’d have a coronary!) to the goat shed where I’ll be adding about four inches to the substrate that’s there already. The space is about twelve feet wide by thirty feet long, so I’m looking at about four and a half or five square yards of the stuff. Yeah… it isn’t easy!

 

When it’s raining–which will be very often for the next seven to ten days–I’ll duck inside and work on copy writing and editing work. I have several clients now. None of them keep me busy full-time (which is fine!), but when they come calling, I need to respond the same day.

 

Out with the old…

 

I just edited and enhanced a 3000-plus word sales page that a life coach wrote. It turned out very well and she is over the moon, so she’s lining up additional work for me to tackle in the coming days. She has a great program, so I’m very happy to be supporting her in this way.

 

I’m picky when it comes to supporting life coaches (or anyone else, for that matter!). The coaches I’m helping right now are both certified by some of the best agencies, so I feel confident they’re doing great things for their clients, especially when I see their passion and dedication for helping people.

 

If I can stay this busy (physically outdoors and writing indoors) I’m sure I’ll start losing some of this accumulated winter weight. I surely ought to! I’m definitely expending more calories than I’m taking in recently!

In with the new!

(Looks like a mini Mount Rainier, doesn’t it?)

 

What surprises me is that I’m not getting overly sore working as hard as I am. I figured I’d be in agony the first few days, but it hasn’t happened. That might be because I only work about 30 to 40 minutes at a time, several times every day, instead of hours at a time all at once.

 

I’m probably not even capable of sustained heavy work anymore. I was raised on a ranch as a teenager throwing bales of hay around, but that was a helluva long time ago.

 

I’ve been riding bicycles during the spring, summer and fall (15 miles at least three days a week, over 1000 miles every season for several years running now), so I’m sure that has helped keep me pretty sound of wind and limb, but still!  Wheeling and spreading gravel isn’t for sissies, that’s for sure. It’s a serious workout (especially at 67!)…

 

Work in progress…

 

I’m enjoying it all, though. There’s just something about seeing a big project coming to fruition little by little day after day that is gratifying beyond description. I almost get as big a kick out of it as I do writing–and that’s saying a lot!

 

Plus there’s the perk of having the goats “helping” me — ahem — by being curious, positive, loving and a little bit demanding (but not too demanding). When I know I’m working toward a result that is going to make them and me very happy, it feels like a fun challenge rather than a chore…

 

I can’t wait to build their “slide” and den-top resting area and take photos of it to put here. But first–FIRST–I have to finish graveling the floor so their new play place is on solid, level footing.  Building what I have in mind won’t take more than half a day.  It will require three panels of 4 x 8 plywood, 5/8″or wider, about 30′ of 4′ long wooden slats, a couple of  16′ or 18′ 2 x 8 boards, and at least four hinges.  I might also build a hay rack for them so I can keep the hay sequestered. It’s the loose hay that plays havoc when the time comes to clean out the sheds after a long season of rainy weather when the goats stay inside (heaven forbid they should venture out and risk getting wet!!! Goats HATE to get wet!); it gets soggy with urine and heavy with goat pebbles and is just a nightmare to break up, lift into a wheelbarrow, and transport out.)

Our backyard garden island

Spring has sprung!

 

It’s gonna be great!

 

Those are my outdoor spring chores.  I don’t even want to think about what my indoor spring chores will require. One of them will be cleaning carpets, for sure!  I’d love to replace my counter tops, too, but I have to see if I can afford to this year.  With any luck at all, that can happen this year, too, because I’m about a month away from paying off my only credit card so I can forego paying for that and save enough to get counter tops! WOO HOO!