Today was one of those amazing days.

It started with rising early and having coffee with Shane at the dining room table.

Which wasn’t very relaxing because there were two pairs of canine eyes staring me down from the front porch.

Begging to go for a walk. Without making a sound.

Just pleading with big brown eyes.

So I obliged, you would too if you could see how excited the word ‘walk’ makes them.

As soon as I moved from the table, they raced excitedly to the back door.

This is a daily occurrence and they know I will soon appear in walking shoes and my dog walking coat.

I open the door and they wait expectantly, sitting so politely, afraid to assume we are going walking.

I pause and say ‘Who…wants…to …go…for…a…walk?’

And at the word ‘walk’ the younger one starts yipping and jumping in the air and twirling around, practically doing back flips.

And the one I call ‘Old Man’ rises excitedly and puts his paws on my shoulders. (Hence the dog walking coat.)

And we are off.

I wish I could get that same reaction out of the kids on a school morning.

From our walk until time for lunch, I refused to go inside.

I picked up the yard, cleaned out the sandbox, gathered and lined up the bikes and trikes and scooters, trimmed (aka hacked) the Rosemary bush. (Maybe has needed done for a few years).

Then I helped Shane put the finishing touches on our remodel of the chicken run, and cleaned up all the scrap wood and tools.

After lunch I posted the leftover wire from the chicken run for sale and a guy from our area came to pick it up.

And he got stuck in a swampy part of the property when he tried to back up to the coop to load it.

And there I was as helpless as a man when his wife is in labor while he spun and struggled and ruts formed.

Finally we decided the best option would be to pull it out backwards with the tractor.

Shane’s tractor.

Did I mention that he was gone to town at this point?

So he hooked it up, I forgot to mention he had a large trailer attached to the back of his truck.

And I was supposed to put his truck in reverse and push a little on the gas and steer while he pulled from the back of the trailer with the tractor.

I could not see or hear him over the rumble of his diesel so it was a bit of a guessing game.

And on the first attempt I turned the wheel the wrong way.

So he paused and undid the near jack knife and we tried again.

The second time we were just successful enough that he could get it the rest of the way without me.

Much to my relief.

As soon as he was on his way I went to pulling weeds and shoveling and spreading bark chips in an area I meant to do long ago.

And the two younger boys came to help.

That’s always an experience.

Two small boys with shovels bigger than them.

I only got one faceful of dirt, and hit in the rear with the shovel once and only had to holler once that we don’t throw shovels towards our brother.

And no matter how many times I explained that we were shoveling bark chips and pulling weeds, they would go back to digging holes.

They spent more time creating more work for me than actually helping, but they needed the fresh air and something physical to do so I put up with it for a while.

I wasn’t disappointed when they started complaining about being too cold.

I finally went in at dark, very tired and very pleased.

I am looking forward to being pleasantly sore from my hard work and sleeping very well.

To top off the best kind of Saturday, Amazon dropped off some packages.

Some were boring household items. (Which are actually a bit exciting when you’re the housekeeper, grocery supplier, and inventory stocker lady)

And one contained a Rand McNally 2020 Road Atlas.

So it kinda felt like my birthday.

And now I am dreaming of spring break and summer.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz