DOOM of List, Day 2

Right. So. Day 2.

It’s still uncommonly cool for summer here in the Baked Potato Old Pueblo, so I’m trying not to turn the AC on and so save myself some money. That means the second it drops below 77° outside in the evenings (which is happening later and later, sigh) I open all the doors and windows I can. And I don’t button up until it hits 73° (yes, these numbers are somewhat arbitrarily chosen) in the morning.

That means the window above my head is open, and about 0530 the birds start going ABSOLUTELY BERSERK and I get awakened. Usually I turn my background noise back on and go back to sleep for an extra hour or two (depending on if it’s the weekend or not.)

Today I got up.

Before breakfast I had

• Finished with the palm fronds including the new one that fell, I saw that, tree.
• Walked up the easement and found the $400 cactus attempting to grow and I squashed that sucker’s hopes. (Did I tell y’all about the $400 cactus?)
• Avoided the shed because I had this sudden paranoia that there was someone in it (probably false, but when you’ve got teenagers turning up all the time…)
• Started bringing in the cups and glasses and plates and silverware the teenagers left in the ramada
• Filled up THREE planters with soil (I had on my list to get one done today) and transplanted all the herbs
• Got the hose off the faucet omg I’ve been trying off and on for TWO YEARS
• Watered the citrus trees
• Discovered and dealt with (partially) the source of both the smell in the back yard and probably many of the mosquitos
• Cleared off the cart on the back porch to use as a planting shelf
• Picked up some of the crud just hanging out back there

You gotta understand. We pretty much abandoned the back yard to the teenagers. This was, in retrospect, a mistake. One which I am now rectifying.

Also while dealing with the source of the smell and mosquitoes (a trash can the teenagers filled with garbage including dog poo and then LEFT STANDING UNDER THE GUTTER SPOUT WITH THE LID OFF) I got a goat head between my sandal and my foot and now my third toe on my right foot hurts a lot. (goat heads are AKA CALTROPS [seriously] )

Yeah, I know better than to wear sandals doing yardwork, but I wasn’t DOING yardwork, I was just walking (in the place I know the goat heads grow!) at that point.

Emptied the dishwasher, dealt with laundry, did some editing, took a two-hour nap, went grocery-shopping, and now I’m settling in for a virtual write-in to get some more editing done. Later I’ll make overnight oatmeal for the week, and some food I can eat a few times to take care of other meals for a while.

Will I get up tomorrow at 0530 and do more? Probably not. I won’t be able to grab a nap mid-workday if I feel the need, so it’s probably best if I don’t. It’s not like I can go to bed early–it doesn’t get cool enough to open up the house until 11, sigh.

I’ll tell you one thing that has been helping a lot–looking over the list to see what it would be good to do next. When I go to bed, I have a plan for the morning. When I take a mid-day It’s Too Hot break, I plan what I’ll do when things cool off again (or, in today’s case, what I’ll do when I wake up. >_> ) (It was a really lovely nap, okay?)

Right. So. Onwards. To editing!