Spring Cleaning

Yesterday was a throw the windows open sorta day. It was sunny and warm. A little guy in our home spent most of the day outside building gnome homes, playing in the mud and aspiring to make progress with his scooter on the still soggy ground. At one point he had short sleeves on. His cheeks revealed a bit of pink left over from all that sunshine.

Mark started his day by hanging up a new clothesline for me. The old one fell victim to snow fallen off our roof this past winter. He then hung up the two loads of laundry. How great is it to have your laundry dry so quickly, in a day; instead of over several days , as it is done in the winter? Pretty awesome.

The sap was running yesterday. We may get another run today. It was pretty crispy last night on this little hill we have here. This has saved us. Because of the warm weather we have had this past month or so the sap has been slow to run. So far we have put up just over a gallon. Last year we put up 4 gallons. Mark and Tristan spent a better part of the day boiling sap down. We got over 30 gallons collected late yesterday so hopefully we'll get close to 3 gallons when all is said and done.

What did I do? Spring cleaning. Seems a bit contrary to clean house when it is mud season. I am not usually one to do spring cleaning. I save the big cleaning for winter but we have been painting Evan's room and the house has been discombobulated. After we put Evan's room back in order there was a leftover piece of furniture that I had planned to put in the cold room. Isn't it always the way ? Like dominoes one project leads to another until all all the pieces lay down in a nice neat line. Anyway, the cold room got a really good clean out. There were boxes and boxes of canning jars. They have been rinsed out and put on the shelves in the empty spaces. All ready for canning season. Mark brews his own beer. He had too many beer bottles stashed away for the eventual day when he might fill them all up. We negotiated an amount that would work for both of us without being left on the floor. There were a couple of science experiments in there that have met the compost pile. Lets just say this was my room of shame. Now it is efficient, spacious and shameless. Nothing like a clean conscience.

Meanwhile, there is still that piece of furniture still looking for a home. It might just have to find a home in someone else's home. Today I plan to tackle the upstairs entryway. It is where all the winter gear is kept. With all the mud I do not think we will be using the snowshoes and cross country skis again this year. Our home is small and cozy and anything that is not being used can not sit around.

For now I will take this sunny warm weather and work indoors. Soon enough the garden will beckon me and any cleaning indoors will be simple; with a broom and mop. I have until the snow melts off the garden. Better get crackin'.