Sometimes it only takes a sentence

Is there anything that smells as good or looks better than
freshly turned earth in the Springtime?

It's kind of amazing how one sentence and a little sunshine can change your outlook. Two days ago I went to the doctor to learn the results of the latest blood-letting, a little fearful especially considering the adventure I had on the hill going up to the cabin at the East Pole. That had scared me a little, considering a doctor a couple of years ago told me I had a mild case of COPD. I even took my iPad and had this doctor read the passage about being so worn out I almost went to sleep in the snow.

Well we talked through that and she wanted to know who told me I had COPD because my lungs are clear and I might have been hypothermic or dehydrated. Neither of those were the case but I did admit that I was about in the worst shape I have been in my life. In fact because of that I have been up on my elliptical at least two out of every three days since then and, to tell the truth I already seem to have a little more stamina. We kind of laughed as I told her you get to be my age and every little ache or sneeze and you think you are on your way to your death bed. In fact she told me I am in better shape than some people she sees who are 20 years younger than I am.  And she said she was surprised I was doing the things I am doing like that trip to the East Pole. Well now doesn't that just brighten you whole outlook?

Ever since then I have been energized and with the sun out the garden beckoned. The first day afterward, I went and rented a rototiller and tore up the garden and then a new area where I am going to put two 4x4-foot raised plots where there is good sun closer to the road. Then when I returned the tiller I drove over to the lumber yard and bought all the stuff to build the boxes.

Today I spent a couple of hours in the morning working on some chores for the quarterly newspaper I edit and then the table saw came out and the boards are now cut ready to assemble the boxes and also slathered in Thompson's water seal to protect them. Tomorrow if it's nice there will be some leveling of the ground and then assembly, leading to an order for some of that good Matanuska Valley soil to fill them. This is the most energy I can remember expending in some time and that went along with an improved attitude. There were times in the past couple of months I seriously considered not even doing the garden this year. And, unlike just a few weeks ago, four hours of work didn't leave me as exhausted as an hour did then.

So, after tomorrow if all goes according to plan, Monday or Tuesday will mean a trip to the feed and seed store and after that the indoor planting begins in earnest. And during the Monday trip for seeds, I felt so good, I actually hit the high note in "Bridge Over Troubled Water."

And then just when I was beginning to feel spry and enthusiastic again, a friend sends this along. It is hilarious, give it a listen.



It's about that trip up the hill at the East Pole