This week being the annual leave drop is nearing its completion, is the cleanup week. From the new gutter guards and roof to the cover on the pond that used to be my pool. Yesterday the yard was cut so that mulched that up pretty good and will be easy cleanup. The patio, deck and gardens along with the pines and shed will all need attention though. As will finalizing the winterization of the yard tools, hoses, covering of furniture and battery out of the mower. Snow shovels out of the shed and into the house.

You know I never appreciated how much fun all that work was and is. My hat is off to another season change provided by mother nature. I just wished my back roof wasn’t so high.

 It’s always been a challenge to keep up with all the yard work during the March-November season. But I learned so much from it. Its one of the few times a week I was alone for the most part for hours at a time. On the mower, raking, fixing something or another. I was a good chance to clear my head about some things and make good decisions on others.

I also learned consistency and dedication looks good. At least I always though my yard and home were pretty good-looking for someone who couldn’t afford landscaping or services. But we still developed and changed it over the decades.

Don’t get me wrong, its nothing special except to us. The pool has been a money sink and was brutal work to keep clean and operational. But I don’t regret a second of it, because it gave my family joy at times. But that finally gave up this past September. It sprang a major leak and I believe its underground pipe. Far too expensive to fix at this stage of the game and its a hell of a lot of work when it did well anyway. So the big job of filling it in this coming spring looms.

So on this fine Sunday I spent the morning with all my children at breakfast. Visited my sister in-law this afternoon who is visiting from across the country and a quick nap with the game on in the background after that. Sounds like a fairly good day.

Wish I felt better though. I must not have spent enough time in the recliner to the right. But as the Marines or some branch of the service say, “Improvise, Adapt, Overcome”. So I’m finding a way to power through work also.

And as this tree below appears to say. I’m representing the transition. From its bare branches at the tips to the few dead leaves hanging to the red and oranges and yellows all the way to the green on the interior of the tree. And as we all transition to the work week, may you all have a successful one.