We are Homeowners and it is Spring

I have become my grandfather. Most women become their mothers. Not me. I skipped a generation and gender-switched. Before water conservation and pressure washers I remember Grampa washing down his driveway and the sidewalks. Every bit of dirt and leaf had to go. Nothing could be left but the glistening, pristine pavement. It is a mesmerizing task, hours can pass without notice. The leaf blower and the pressure washer are the modern equivalents of the hose on the driveway for me.

Yesterday we spent 4-5 hours working on the yard and between the leaf blower and the pressure washer I let my obsessive compulsive control freaky nature have full rein. There is a big water oak in the yard next to ours and we have really lazy squirrels so there were acorns two inches deep everywhere. I blew them all away, or at least into a pile with all the leaves which my spouse loaded up in about 15 wheelbarrow loads and carted into the back corner of the back garden. I am thinking compost if we ever get any green material. I even took all the old mulch off the beds with the leaf blower and Dave valiantly braved Home Depot on a spring Sunday for cow poop and new cypress mulch. Sadly we were too tired to put it out so it sits in bags by the beds awaiting another spurt of homeownerliness. I bet the grass dies under the bags before we open them and liberate their contents.

It was warm enough yesterday that we had our first grill-and-eat-out-on-the-deck dinner with friends. In preparation (and so as not to shame the new grill) I pressure-washed the deck and all the patio furniture, and cleaned and filled the fountain. I could pressure-wash literally all day taking dirt, grime, mildew and paint right off the deck.

Dinner was bison rib eyes, andouille and apple sausages, hamburgers, corn on the cob and salad. It was accompanied by some of the wine we brought back from California as well as the excellent bottles our friend Keith brought (always brings). We would still like him if he didn't bring good wine to dinner, but as it is we LOVE him.

Even with nine fat candles in the middle of the table it was still too dark to see our food. Add a new project to the homeowner list: Lighting for the deck. Fortunately Christmas lights work well for this. Unfortunately it is the wrong season to buy them and the summer version--Christmas lights marketed as patio lights--costs 2-3 times as much.

Today I am stiff and sore and feeling VERY old and out of shape. Dave is in slightly better shape and clearly perkier about life as just before bed last night he said, "Just sixteen more weekends with a half day of yard work each and we'll be done!" I am ready to move into an industrial loft with no yard...