What Nice Weather We've Been Having!

The weather since the first of the year has been marvelous! Most days the highs have been above 50 Fahrenheit, and except for two nights in early February, the lows have been above freezing.We've had lots of sunny days, and lately the highs have been pushing seventy.

That's not to say there's not been rain and the occasional storm.In fact, The Weather Channel is predicting severe spring thunderstorms today and the rest of the week.

I've taken advantage of the early spring; for the past three weeks I've been working outside.

First, I raked up and bagged the fall's accumulation of leaves and fallen branches. Then I got busy on the ivy that's been slowly taking over my yard, pulling hundreds of runners. I pulled until my wrists were sore.

Ivy catches a lot of leaves, so it was pull a bit, then rake and bag leaves. Eventually I filled more than 75 big leaf bags. That's a lot for a parcel as small as mine!

After the ivy had been cleared from around my house, fences, and gazebo, I rehabbed the rope lights on the gazebo, replacing strands with burnt-out sections and cleaning grime from the ones that were still good. Almost all of the 10-year-old plastic clips holding the lights broke and had to be replaced.

When I plugged in the multicolored rope lights that frame the door and windows at the front of my house all three strands were partially burnt out, so I pulled them down. Perhaps come the holidays I'll replace them with the new LED rope lights.

The big cast iron bell on my gazebo was leaning precipitously, so I took it down. As soon as I get by home depot to buy a new post, it will go back up.

I scrubbed the grime and moss from the fences on either side of the house and then washed the moss from the house up to eight feet or so. Since I've reached an age when I shouldn't be climbing ladders, I've arranged for my friend Rena's son Mark to come over on Saturday to do the top sections.

I scrubbed the back deck, which was dark from tannin from leaves that sat on it all fall. It's much better, but I'm afraid it will never look new again.

I even cleaned the lean-to shed at the back of the house, washing things that had become grimy (it's semi-open) and putting them in tubs or gallon-sized plastic bags.

I'm proud of my unaccustomed burst of energy. From now on though, I'll keep the yard up.When one lives in a forest, one must be eternally vigiliant.