This evening before dusk settled in Linda and I took a stroll around the property, assessing some of the projects that lie ahead this spring and summer. The side yard is full of mini sink holes where the moles and other assorted critters have burrowed till the ground literally collapses. Combined with the general unevenness of the lawn, just getting everything ready to mow is going to keep me busy with the loader and the pile of topsoil on the backside of the bank by the garage.
The tree that came down in the creek in January washed down till it got stuck in the waterfall, blocking the swimming hole. Somehow, I've got to get it hoisted up where I can cut it up. I'm hoping Johnny's wrecker is still operational, and that he'll be willing to winch it up the bank for me. The trees lining the creek are shedding small branches with about the same degree of proliferation as our cat sheds gobs of fur all over the house. It all needs to be picked up before mowing season gets here. Which reminds me that I need to replace the blades on the mower deck and do the spring servicing of the tractor. And while I'm at it, the motorcycle and old 8N.
The walkway from the driveway to the front door needs to be pulled out and reset. I have to lay down some gravel to bring it up about six inches so we don't end up sloshing through standing water where it all seems to collect. Inside, the kitchen backsplash needs to be tiled, and I have to install ridge vents in the front entry so hopefully we won't get the ice build up next winter.
When I first started mentally ticking off all the projects, it felt a bit overwhelming. That is, till I started listing what we accomplished last summer. I wired the entire garage, including digging a trench from the house to the woodshed for some underground cable. We put a peaked roof on the entry room, fixed the rotten garage floor, built a closet under the stairway, complete with wiring for a light, shelves and trim, all stained, varnished and installed. The entry room floor was renovated, requiring the removal of two layers of carpet and vinyl tile, patching the cement, cutting, laying, and grouting the tile. A new front door, with a complete rebuild of the framework was next. Shrubs were put in around the east side of the house, and we built up and seeded the low spot by the driveway that was always sodden.
It's usually good when looking at what needs to be done to also look at what has been accomplished. Unfinished business always looks imposing, but yesterday's accomplishments once loomed before us, menacing and formidable. Whether it's home maintenance or life goals, if we take the future in bites too big for us, we get overwhelmed. When in life I see how far from the goal I still am, I am tempted to despair of ever attaining holiness. But when I look back, and see how far I've come, I have hope. Tomorrow's challenges will soon be yesterday's victories, and through it all is Jesus' promise of Hebrews 13:5 - "I will never leave you or forsake you."
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