Vacation...

So, next week I'm taking a vacation. I'm pretty excited; I haven't had a vacation that I didn't have to do something for quite a long time. I was trying to tell people what I'm doing on vacation and I get the strangest looks. No, the family isn't traveling anywhere; we are not going to Disneyland etc.  :) I just want to work on some projects around the house that have been nagging in the back of mind for a while.

What I want to do

I find that for me, work outside is kind of a meditation in motion. Yes, my body gets exhausted and sore, and I push myself by will-power, usually well beyond what my arms, legs and back are ready to handle. That's the meditation....the focus on the tasks or the daydream of what my project is...and following through, no matter how tired or sore or weak feeling that I have become during the day. In the end, I am rewarded by completing another step in creating my own little Garden of Eden.

I've come up with a pretty expansive list of what I want to accomplish this week.

HLR Septic Designs

• Finish Mom & Dads design
• Finish Pond Road design
• Finish Wilkes design

Yard Cleanup

• pick up charcoal from brush pile and spread in garden
• Clean up branches off lawn
• Cut up and clean up big pine in the back yard
• Rake yard

Garden projects

• Turn compost bin
• Finish planning garden
• Roto-till garden

Landscaping projects

• Dig little frog pond for tadpoles
• Build stone retaining wall at garage bank wall
• Get 2-4 blueberry bushes from Mom & Dads house
• Re-grade washed out portion of driveway
• Build next section of split rail fence along driveway
• Build gate to back yard
• Build gate/arbor to garden
• Cut down big dead maple and 2 dead cherries
• Transplant perennial flowers to herb garden

Post & Beam shed

• Cut down big hemlock for front roof beam
• Split more shingles from pine
• Saw 4-10’ 2’-inch planks for shed floor

I’m pretty sure I wont get all of this done, but if I get a chunk done, at least the septic designs and the yard cleanup, my mind will be clear and my body exhausted, and I’ll be very happy.