After a Long Day

Yesterday was one of those long days: the sort of day when I look at my diary and see that the ratio of commitments to available time and energy just doesn't compute. I don't allow that to happen often these days. One of my big realisations in the past few years has been that I cannot be in more than one place at the one time. I've been a bit of a slow learner in that regard. Yesterday's timetable didn't require that particular impossibility. There was enough time between each appointment to get from point A to point B and even stop for a cup of coffee along the way. And there really wasn't anything I could reschedule, so I decided to do my best and tackle one thing at a time.

I left home at about 9.00am. I made my way step by step through the things I needed to do. I stopped for a snack and a coffee every few hours. Travelling around the city was hampered a little by rain showers and storms, but it was OK. I finally got home at about 10.00 pm. I was surprised that my dogs didn't greet me with their usual enthusiastic woofing. I walked down to my bedroom to let them in and put down my things only to find this:

Auuuggghhh!!!!

Somehow I'd failed to close the pet-door properly in the morning. My dogs know how much I love them--I guess they assumed I'd considerately given them the option of sheltering from the storms in the comfort of my bed. There was no hiding the fact that they'd accepted my generous invitation. I'm struggling about whether to confess the next point, but what the heck! I didn't have it in me to deal with the mess before going to sleep, but I did grab my camera and snap a shot while I was thinking about it. I brushed down what I could, got into my PJ's, wrapped myself a clean sheet, and tried to go to sleep. Now the washing machine is chugging away and I'm posting the evidence of a long, long day. Today my calender is quite free, and it's just as well.

Ditch Bi*#ch!

I don't want to mention my ditch digging endeavors on this blog ever again--except perhaps a short message to say the deed is finally done. I'd hoped today might be the day for that message of triumph, but it was not to be. Yesterday was not a good day for ditch digging. We had lots of rain. It poured down pretty much all night. I woke and anxiously checked the weather forecast: heavy rain! I'm not some-one who gives up easily. As soon as there was a break in the weather, out I went with my big boots, shovel, mattock and crow-bar. The boots tell the story: I worked hard at it for an hour or so. I wasn't really sure whether the clay and rocks I was heaving out of the trench were enough to balance the chunks of mud slithering back in down the sides. At least it was easier to loosen the large rocks in the base of the hole amongst the wet clay. I only stopped when it started to rain, again.

I can't recommend my approach to the rest of the day. I kept checking the weather forecast. The news didn't get any better, though the wording changed occasionally: flood warning; severe weather warning; heavy rain; storm watch . . . none of it was encouraging. I should have just given up the idea of digging and moved on to something else. I tried. Eventually I pulled out some beads and started to make a chain necklace, but my heart wasn't in it.

Today it's cloudy, the forecast is for scattered showers, clearing in the afternoon. It's still pretty mucky out there, but I am determined. I'm hoping to take all my pent up frustrations from yesterday and channel them into digging power. That should see the job done amazingly fast--if the weather holds off.