Putting Off the Inevitable

The weather this fall has been fairly mild most of the time, if rainy. I have had weeks and weeks to move the wood pile closer to the house, to tuck away the outdoor furniture, to tidy up in anticipation of snow.

But I didn't.

I have been busy with other things. Good things. Family, writing, work, sewing, church projects, ESL tutoring, preparing Sunday school lessons. All good, worthy things to do with my time. But my home needs me too.

And to I find myself in a horrendously busy week in which I am trying to finish writing my catalog, paint a backdrop for the children's Christmas play, and finish a teal wool suit I'm making to match a vintage scarf and wear to the company Christmas party on Thursday night. And it is this week in which I read with some alarm that we are due for 6-10 inches of snow tonight, on top of the freezing rain we're getting now and the gale-force winds that are battering my house and blowing detritus all over the neighborhood.

Winter is come at last.

The snow doesn't alarm me in and of itself, but because it is my very real deadline for getting stuff packed into the garage, which I have failed to clean out and therefore resists any further storage, and for moving the wood pile to a more accessible place just outside the back door.

So off I trudged in ripped jeans, a hoodie, and some unlaced boots (no socks) into the wild winds and biting rain to move the wood while it was still fairly accessible to me. The rain lashed my face and with every step beside the garage the ground got muddier and more treacherous. The wood was, as to be expected, serving as tenement housing to a myriad of crawly things like pill bugs and spiders tucked into their silken winter cocoons. (Note to self: Do not bring in wood unless you are ready to put it directly into the fire or your home will be overrun with bugs.)

In just a half hour the job was moslty done and my legs were mostly frozen, so I went inside, took off my filthy clothes, and put on a soft knit skirt and a tank top (because while my legs were the temperature of my ceramic kitchen tiles on a winter morning, the rest of me was quite warm from the effort).

My lesson? Don't put off the inevitable. It still has to get done. May as well do it when conditions are good rather than when you're in a hurry and the weather is out to get you.

That is all.