Spring Cleaning

Spring cleaning is such a natural human inclination that self-help magazines, podcasts and advertisers plan their seasonal releases around the theme.

Once again, I am not the target demographic.

I gave up cleaning my house long ago.

Even in the spring.

Actually, especially in the spring.

Who wants to be inside when the green grass and sunshine call?

However, I have a list of outside projects that I have saved for spring.

These are improvements that are not fun to do when the thermometer drops below freezing – painting the house, repairing the rock wall that I built 10 years ago, starting a 1979 Chevy Luv that has been parked for almost as long, cleaning an irrigation ditch, filling potholes in my driveway, and planting and watering a vegetable garden.

My list is long and varied.

The demands from newborn lambs force me to postpone starting my projects as soon as the soil warms up.

Now, lambs that were conceived during the ewe’s first heat cycle are bouncing across the prairie so I have more and longer blocks of time without immediate demands.

It’s a good thing.

I move faster in warm weather and so does my livestock.

In fact, a ram I purchased last fall moves fast and far.

Usually, he moves toward lush grass – like the grass growing in my yard.

As much as I want all of my sheep and cattle to grow fat on grass, I don’t want any of them in my yard.

I attempt to protect this tiny space from chaos, where I have flowers just because I like them and where I try to grow a garden.

This ram treated my peonies and currant bushes like snack packs.

Three sides of my yard fence consist of woven wire and one side, the side that faces the driveway, is a 10-year-old, serpentine, 2.5-foot-high rock wall.

I gathered every rock from my alfalfa field, placed each one according to the vision in my mind and held them all in place with Quickcrete.

I know it is 10 years old because my son bet me $10 that I wouldn’t finish it in time for his high school graduation.

I placed the last rock on the morning of his graduation ceremony.

Will’s 10-year class reunion will be held next week.

It turns out that Quickcrete was not the correct mortar for long-term rock glue.

Fluctuating weather, dogs and, finally, the ram, knocked rocks off the wall until they created more of a speed bump than a barrier.

Even though many of my spring projects are more important, patching this rock wall is urgent – more to save myself from aggravation and anxiety than to improve ranch productivity.

First, I purchased mortar that contains no sand.

The rocks provide enough grit; I need glue.

Then I chipped off all of the old Quickcrete with a chisel and hammer.

This task was surprisingly satisfying.

I focused on each tap, forgetting paperwork, expensive repairs on my building in town and global situations that I can’t influence.

Then creativity kicked in and I was sidetracked by another task on my list.

My driveway potholes always need more fill, even those covered by old carpet.

I filled a couple of potholes with the old mortar.

Then I gathered netwrap from my winter feeding grounds, pulled the old carpet back and filled more potholes with netwrap.

I tested my improvements by driving over the re-laid carpet. It is still not perfect, but better.

Suddenly, this urge to improve my surroundings became fun.

I might be the target demographic for spring cleaning after all.

But I won’t get carried away.

I might find myself dusting dining room shelves.

I cringe at the horror.