Uh-Oh! Am I Qualified to Write This Blog?

This is not the post I planned to publish today.  That one still needs to be written.

Yesterday, I spent almost the entire day outside.  We were putting up our Christmas lights.  Or more specifically, that is what we set out to do.  We did get most of them up - but it became a little more involved than we expected.

An unplanned chore 

We had the “big ladder” out to hang the wreath over the garage, so I decided that it was a good time to mention to my husband something I had noticed when snow was melting off the roof. I had seen water overflowing from the side of our roof gutter, instead of out the downspout. I wondered if something was blocking it.

Oh, boy! ...  An hour later we had removed two rubber balls, some unknown debris and a ton of thick silt from the gutter.  Good thing it was warm enough to hook up the hose and use it to rinse the muck off everything that had been splattered, when we eventually got the gutters unclogged. What a mess.

Hanging lights used to cause some tension - but not anymore!

My husband and I finally returned to putting the lights on the trees. Thanks to the string light hanging pole that I mentioned earlier this week, this process went really smoothly and was accomplished without any tension! I really love that thing!

How could I not have done this before ...

Once the trees were decorated, I started to arrange the ropes on our rock walls.  Withered iris leaves (which I had not found time to cut back before winter arrived) were quite an unsightly distraction, so I decided to remove those before I finished with the lights.

As I was cutting down dead foliage, I was mentally berating myself for not having done it sooner.  I was thinking, "How can I write a blog about making the most of every moment, when we clearly did not do the home maintenance and yard work that we should have in the fall? Wouldn't someone who makes good use of her moments complete such tasks in a more timely fashion?”

Gardening in Montana in December - perhaps that is making the most of a moment!

But I suddenly decided to see it another way.  I reminded myself of all the things we did accomplish in autumn. Also, yesterday was an unbelievably gorgeous day - warm and bright and sunny, with no wind. Cleaning the gutters wasn't exactly fun - but it wouldn't have been in September either. I love to garden, and even clearing away dead plants can be enjoyable for me. What could be better than being outside on a December day, needing only a sweatshirt to stay warm - gardening in Montana in winter! If that is not making the most of the moment - perhaps nothing is!

I am not an expert at making the most of my moments ... far from it, a lot of the time, I'm afraid! But, perhaps that is exactly why I can - and should - still write about it!

Happy Holidays!

How often do you clean your gutters?  How does mud get on the roof?!

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