More Tired Than I Thought

I didn't really do much today, not much physical anyway, but I sure am tired tonight. I mowed the lawn after supper. It was longer than I thought it was so I had to go slow and stop frequently to let the mower throw out extra grass clippings. I run it on mulch but when it's as humid as it's been the grass sticks to the mower deck instead of getting chopped up. I know you probably don't care about that but it slowed me down, made the job longer, and now I'm extra tired. Just have to whine a bit.

Birds showed up today! Hooray! First this Sparrow and Chickadee shared a ride on the round feeder. The Chickadee didn't stay long before flying up to land on the Oriole feeder but I was glad to get its picture. They're hard to capture.

Then a Cardinal came. No other birds had the guts to try to share the feeder with him so he was able to eat safflower seeds in peace.

 

A Goldfinch came again today and it landed on the round feeder. Naturally it had its back to me but that's better than a picture with only a tail.

And of course a squirrel leaped from birdbath to crook to another crook so that it could hang there upside down and nibble away at the suet pellets. I don't know how it manages to get much out of there because it's a pretty small mesh meant for birds but that doesn't deter squirrels.

I spent a couple hours writing this afternoon. I didn't write as much new stuff as I did yesterday but I added to it. I'm happy with the way it's going. I set up the rock stars to go to the jump-up at Johnno's beach bar so maybe that'll make something happen. Maybe one of the teenagers at the party recognizes them and goes all fan-girl on them. Never having been a fan-girl I'll have to make it up but that's why they call it fiction.

After mowing but before taking a shower (I really needed a shower!) I sat down and drew a gratitude journal page. The weather today was the thing I was most grateful for. It only got up to 70 degrees, there was a nice breeze, and it was sunny. I am happy to say that the breeze did not come from the direction of Burger King so I wasn't tortured with the aroma of grilling hamburgers while I was mowing. Sometimes it's very hard to resist hopping in the car and going around the block for a burger. I suppose I could just walk there... Hm.

Just as I was leaving on errands I got a text from DS asking if I wanted to come visit since he was brewing today. I did since one of my errand stops was just a few blocks from the brewery. 

My errands were to places where I could drop off charity knitting donations. CS said she had a laundry basket full of charity knitting and when we all sorted out the 71 hats to send to Mayo, we also all sorted out the rest of the stuff. I took preemie hats to the NICU at St. V's and slippers and a big stack of knitted washcloths to the NEW Community Shelter. I was going to take a bag of knitted toe caps for people with casts but I was smart enough to call ahead and was told that they didn't want them. There has to be another ortho place that will take them. Maybe when the weather starts to get cold.

After I mow I take the mower to the end of the driveway, pull the hose down there, tip over the mower, and spray off all of the grass stuck under the deck. Once that's done I spray the grass clippings down the gutter and off the driveway. There was a small clutch of kids from down at the end of the street, little kids, riding scooters and little bikes up level with my driveway and then coasting down the hill whooping and laughing. They saw the grass and water in the gutter and wondered where it came from. I was spraying off the driveway so I lifted up the hose and sprayed toward them but plenty short so I didn't get them wet. They loved that. "You can't get me!" came from the biggest boy, about six years old. I told him I wouldn't spray him so that his mama didn't come up and scold me. "She won't. She's not home," said Mr. Smart Mouth. "Besides I have to go home and have a shower." Oh, he wanted to be sprayed so badly but I just kept rolling up the hose and putting it away. But now that we've made a connection maybe they'll wave when I drive by. They had a cookout last year that smelled so good I was tempted to walk down and introduce myself but I don't speak Spanish so that wouldn't have worked. I don't know how to say "please feed me" in Spanish.

--Barbara