March 26, 2007

“I want a new lawnmower,” I said, as I paged through a sales flyer. “Front-propelled, is that self-propelled? And with a bagger. This one has a bagger and a mulcher. It would be perfect, because I don’t like to bag every time.”

Then I sighed, realizing it wasn’t going to happen. Reality is, I’m trying to save up for a new roof and siding, and my car’s eating up every penny. And I have a perfectly good mower. I don’t need a mower. But I have a serious case of spring fever.

It happens every spring. As soon as the snow melts enough that I feel spongy patches of earth under my feet, I start to dream.

As soon as it dries off a bit, I’m going to do the raking I didn’t do last fall, and finish cleaning out the flower beds.

As soon as it gets warmer, I’m going to get out in the garage and do some organizing.

Then comes the day I finally open the windows. The cat spends the day hanging by her haunches over the back of the chair with her nose to a window screen. I bustle in and out of the house, accomplishing a whole lot of nothing. But, after all, it’s the first spring-like day! I have to celebrate. We still have lots of yucky weather to deal with yet.

Then comes another gorgeous day. And another. And life goes on. I go to work, come home tired, go out to the farm. I love the warm weather, savor it every time I stick my nose outside. But the daily things still take over, and I don’t get anything extra accomplished. The lawn still needs raking, only it needs mowing as well. Weeds take over the flower beds. The garage remains piled up.

But this year’s going to be different. I just know it…

3/25/07