Resetting

Graduation is under my belt and I am just waiting for my diploma to arrive in the mail to close that chapter in my life. It is a major habit change to not log onto my university site the moment my laptop boots. In fact, the university site looks totally alien and empty without any classes queued. Add that strangeness to the fact that my desk is now clean! There are no more piles of notes, or textbooks strewn around. I threw out all the post-it notes and sticky tabs that were stuck everywhere, then returned the stack of library references balanced atop my printer. It took a full trash bag to organize the mounds of paper that had accumulated while I cranked out reports and studied for finals. I temporarily became an obsessive organizer and sorted through everything in my entire bedroom, once I cleared the desk area, then I started on the rest of the house. It is amazing how things get shoved aside when the busy-ness of life distracts.

So, the house, closets, kitchen and basement got a long delayed clean out and I got a streamlined environment. Then, I got cited for weeds by the Department of Community Development. Spurred by the threatening code enforcement letter, I transferred all my efforts to the yard. The lawn mower got fixed and used, a blueberry enclosure was created and we got to work trimming and detailing the gardens. Admittedly, both the front and back yards were looking neglected, so the violation letter was the "kick in the pants" I needed to get focused. Now, after almost a month of effort I am proud of the home that for the last six months I have merely sheltered within.

The blueberry shelter is constructed similarly to the small rose arbor I made last May in the front yard. See here http://dustoffurthinkin.blogspot.com/2015/05/new-rose-arbor.html Materials: 3-10' lengths of 1/2" PVC pipe; 6-2' lengths of rebar; 1 package of bird netting; and I found the 1/2" black plastic fencing under a workbench in the garage. Finally, a staple gun and some zip-ties/pipe cleaners anchored the netting to the fencing and the enclosure was complete. I also sulphured and mulched these six spindly blueberry bushes in hopes that next year we will have more fruit. Looks pretty sharp!


It has been very hot for early June 97F/36C, so the roses bloomed in about a week, then faded. The daylilies and the orange butterfly weed (asclepias tuberosa) are the current bloomers. The hummingbirds have been buzzing around the yard with all the bright flowers. I have three feeders up, two in the front yard and one in the back to provide extra fluid for these tiny birds while we endure this extreme & early heat.

Big projects done, I have also completed a shawl and have been applying for jobs. While I am anxious to get to work I do appreciate this bit of extra time to re-order my life.