Today has been a busy day. Also one with a lot of ups and downs. I started by sleeping too late, which is an up for me since the night before I had not slept much at all. After coffee and breakfast I headed into the front yard to finish a project to root out all of the wild blackberry vines that had grown back since the last time. This was my second day of attacks; I did a large bunch yesterday.
Today the garden fought back and I wound up with both of my arms pretty badly scratched and two deep gouges in my right calf where I hit a piece of broken deadwood under some heavy foliage....twice. It is aching and is red and angry looking right now, despite me washing it and applying an antibiotic cream immediately after I came inside. But I won in the end and the area is blackberry vine free for the moment. A temporary victory but one I'll take. Tomorrow I will have to go out and pick up all the stuff I cut down today which will almost certainly fill the yard waste recycle bin again. Then I am going to water my garden and begin some modest pruning on the bushes out there. Over time I will get some control on the front yard and it will look very nice.
I decided to take a break after all the work and went to see the latest Harry Potter film again. After I paid for my ticket and a small popcorn, I concluded that I would be going to the theater for movies much less often. It's just gotten to a tipping point with me. For all but a very few movies (and those will be without popcorn *sob*) I will just wait and buy the DVD when it comes out. The cost is close enough to the same now that it no longer makes sense to go to the theater, as much as I enjoy it. They have simply priced themselves out of my market. Oh well.
When I got home I had an email that was a real ego booster. I retired last year about this time. Not because I wanted to, but because I couldn't find any work in my own field, though lord knows I tried hard enough. A couple of months ago I got a call for a 2-3 day job (I wrote about this previously so there's no need to go into details). That contract was up yesterday and they had talked about extending it for another month so I could pick up some other odd jobs for them.
Yesterday I gave a small presentation to the management team there about how to write. Today I got a request to extend my contract until the end of November. This means a lot to me. Not because this is a big important job, because frankly it's not. Rather it means a lot because these folks came looking for me by name, and because it allows me to retire feeling good about myself. I wasn't feeling very good this time last year. It's allowed me to regain a lot of my self-respect and confidence. It's allowing me to go out at the top of my game. That's not so bad really.
So tomorrow I start another phase as I try to get a handle on all of the things I am trying to do every day. I've got to get a bit of a system down so I can ensure that I get housework done, gardening because it's good for me and I like it, writing because it's my life, and then progress on all the stuff I am making for Christmas as gifts. It makes for a very very busy day. I'm busier now that I'm retired than I ever was when I was working full time.
For now, however, I am going to get this done and get to bed. I'm tired. My leg aches, and I need to put some itch cream on all of the other scratches because they are itching like mad. I look as if I lost a couple of rounds with a really pissed off cat.
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3 comments:
Good on you!
Have you tried using "Round-Up" on those blackberry vines? I know it works for a season when I use it on the damned phlox that the neighbor planted and that think that I want them in my yard as well.
Round up and other such killers carry specific warnings about not using them around animals so we have to go the old fashioned way with clippers and pulling them up by the roots.
I must admit this latest adventure has given me quite a daily workout. This is definitely good for me as long as I pace myself. Today my outside work is done, and I am now tackling the housework I have let slide for a while. Laundry, mopping, vacuuming, dusting, and stuffs like that. My list is endless, but I don't have to finish it until tomorrow sometime, so I am chipping away at it slowly and surely.
I am seriously considering a bookstore run since I have some gift cards I can use to get free books. Free is an excellent price for a book.
Right now I would prefer a nap to a mop bucket, but the bucket is going to win. I have to shake the rugs and sweep and empty the garbage first though. Then do the other.
Then lunch. Or maybe I'll heat up lunch just before I mop so I don't have to wait any longer than necessary. *grin*
Retirement was hard for me. I never even looked for work for nine years but people where always calling me and asking me to do jobs for them.
I finely started just saying no. But I do still take a small job at times. I prefer to just do volunteer work and help others.
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