It wasn’t how I intended to start my day.
In fact, I hadn’t got as far as even thinking about it.
My morning routine has to get done first and today, for reasons unknown, I suddenly took notice of a bush that grows at the end of the driveway.
Or did. I realized, now that other things are reawakening, that the bush was, in fact dead.
This wasn’t a great surprise. I had suspected that it’s health was declining at the end of last Fall.
Could I have resuscitated it? Unlikely.
Just why, this morning, I suddenly felt the need to deal with it, halfway through my regular routine, I can’t say.
My brain got the message and I went to fetch the secateurs. Never mind that it was drizzling with rain. When I get these impulses, I have to act.
So by 9 o’clock, I had dealt with a dead bush. Basically by cutting it down to its roots, that were rotting.
Its neighbouring companion looks pretty dead too and I took a few snips at that as well, but by then I was beginning to lag and Grant was calling me to “come now” to offer an opinion about the new flower bed he suddenly decided to create for me.
“How long, how wide? What sort of soil, how deep?”
“Well”, I said “about like that, and to here, maybe?”
How should I know?
Then there was a great urgency to plant seeds.
The packet says April – June, so I stuck a few in to show willing. Grant got the seeds based on the fact that they will attract butterflies and bees. I don’t somehow think they are really flower bed intended. But so what?
One should grow seedlings indoors, in case of frost and to give the seeds a head start.
Except they would not survive 5 minutes in a house with 11 cats. I gave up on houseplants when I became multi-cat trained.
Yeti was very restrained and very respectful of my beautiful and much loved African violets. Kina eyed them with contempt before shredding them and dumping the dirt everywhere.
African violets were one plant I had success with. Probably because at the time I had the exact right spot for them, with filtered sunlight and warm temperature.
But I always took the credit!
Having abandoned dead bushes and flower beds for the time being, we had just sat down for tea when we heard pounding on the front door. I pointed Grant to deal with it, but when I heard the conversation, realized I had to get up anyway.
It was our snowman, come to deliver his bill for the Winter that he has decided is over.
Remember the great confusion last Fall over my snowman/lawnman? Finally I know their proper names and numbers!
The question is, will the lawn man return? He reportedly has done his back in. He also never yet billed us for all of last summer. His friend the snow man says “he’s got to work! I’ll call him!”
Somebody had better trim the bushes at the end of this Fall , or they will be seriously out of control.
Speaking of which…..
On Saturday suddenly, for the first time since I got my new Internet Service Provider, we were offline.
So, we went through the usual routine:
Unplug/re-plug/restart/reset…several times…
Finally, groan….call the number/dial 1/dial 2/swear at the answer system…get connected to a person who says….
“Unplug/re-plug/restart/reset”…even though you tell them “we already did that”. Apparently you can’t be trusted to do it without telephone assistance.
After the second such call, it was agreed that next time, if I had to call again, a technician would be sent.
But there is no short-cut to request said technician.
More swearing at the voice. I’m losing my mind. Swearing at a machine? Now I think of it, I do that a lot. Swearing at machines.
Finally, it was sorted, but the technician can’t come till Tuesday. “Is there anything else I can assist you with?”
“Yes. See if you can get someone here sooner!”
“Oh, within 90 minutes you’ll get a call and they will help you with that. They will try 3 times to reach you.”
What I got….hours and hours later, was a text message to say “Service is restored!”
No it wasn’t.
Now I was wondering..”did they cancel my appointment?”
So, once more through the routine…oh scream….
The appointment is still on. I managed yesterday, by resetting their equipment half a dozen times, un-assisted! Something is obviously wrong with it as our neighbours are “up”.
And today? So far no re-set has been required.
But I’m not cancelling that appointment!
It’s switched off in sympathy with the dear departed bush!
Ah, possibly!