Sunday morning to do's

You don't realize how much your spouse does for you until she takes off for a week.

Mine went to Northern California for a small buying show and a little fraternity with a couple friends. 

She is coming back real soon so I had to make an assessment; is there anything I have forgotten to do around the house that will cause even a small conflagration upon her return?

Catbox is clean, check. Wet bathmat off the floor? Check. Recyclables out? Check. Did I save her the Sunday funnies? Check. Cat bowls scrubbed? Not yet but they will be and I don't think the cats are exactly talking so I am probably out of the woods on that one.

Dishes are out of the sink, bathroom sink is reasonably free of the detritus of shaving. 

I am not so clueless as to think after 31 years that I have not forgotten some duty and committed at least one cardinal sin but I can't quite foresee my gross failure at this point.

I have been real busy with work and floods and things are lagging around here a bit. 

Allan Gracey glued up about two hundred feet of new 1 & 1/2" schedule 40 water main and it will probably get tied into the system tomorrow. 

Tom helped plant a beautiful specimen beaucarnea recurvata that I got from Bill.

I should say, I helped, as he, as usual, did most of the work.

Bill also gave me one of his prized birds of paradise with yellow instead of orange flowers. He was growing them thirty years ago before anybody had ever heard of them. I planted it the other evening.

My "Mickey Mouse" opuntia blew over under its own weight but I think it will be okay. Cactus are like that.

I planted a regular bird with standard flowers this morning.

I have had three giant trucks in my back yard for about a year. Been storing them for Tom in  my pasture. 

Tom sold them and a mover is going to come over today. I will miss the old Studebakers.

I had a minor epiphany the other day. There are people who plant and people who water and cultivate and some rare people that do both. 

I am the former and thank god my wife is here to make sure that it all stays healthy and alive.

Takes a village.

I fed the birds this morning as I have done every day during her absence. It is quite a complicated chore. 

First the sunflower seeds in one feeder. Next the nijer for the finches. After that peanuts are distributed on the ground for the scrub jays who are all over it in seconds, only challenged by the nasty doves. 

Then a couple of scoops of wild bird seed spread on the ground for the quail and towhees, both California and Spotted. 

The piece de resistance is the grape jelly bowl for the hooded orioles who have yet to appear but are annual residents and on their way up north as we speak.

It is a lot of work. My wife does it every day, along with a million other things.

I let the cats out today, first day of freedom in a week. Chaperoned, of course. Pruned and fixed a couple sprinklers, re-mortered a bird bath. If I am feeling up to it I am going to attempt to clean the garage, at least a quick once over as it is pretty pitiful. When you live as far out in the wild as I do you really stop caring what your garage looks like but it is getting pretty sad, even by my low standards.

This afternoon I get to go into town and pay bills. Joy of February 28. Wife coming home soon.