Saturday, March 20, 2010

Spring Cleaning

We had another gorgeous day today, just perfect for spring cleaning. My morning latte and walk with Ben left me full of energy, so I got to work outside cleaning up and getting ready for the new season.

While Ben and Paul were at the Cub Scout Pinewood Derby, I looked through our two small sheds and tossed out lots of stuff we don't need anymore. Honestly, it's amazing what you find when you clean out like this. Old lawn furniture you were keeping for parts; the plastic swimming pool with the slow leak; garden insecticides that are ten years old; work gloves that clearly kept a family of mice warm this winter; inner tubes that only fit that bikes we gave to Good Will five years ago; bike helmets and knee pads that fit Paul when he was five; well, the list goes on and on. Once all this was out of the way, I organized what was left into groups so all the kayaking equipment is together, the fishing things are organized and ready to grab, all the pool and beach things are together, the grilling supplies are all on one shelf, the gardening equipment is all ready to be used again, and each item in our ever-growing collection of power tools has its own spot on a shelf. Then I tackled the porches, moving off all the snow-related items, clearing out some of Paul's old outside toys, relocating things that had gotten parked there during the winter, and giving the whole place a good sweeping.

I was running out of steam so when Paul got back we I headed out to Target where he found a new Hexbug and I found a nifty coiled hose and holder. With Ben's help, we got it installed just before the sun went down. The old hose was too long and too dirty, and was an obstacle between the back and front of the house. The new hose sits all coiled up in a basket mounted to the side of the porch, leaving a wide free space to walk. I was pretty happy with the result.

Here's the before and after views.






After all this work we celebrated by relaxing around the first campfire of 2010. It was pretty sweet.

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