Great Expectations

All righty then! I think it's time we talk about this "retirement thing".  I have lots of retired friends, almost all of them in fact. I hear them talk on their computers over hot coffee in the mornings, trips to Branson and Dollywood, guys off on hunting trips, gals off to quilt shows. This retirement thing must be an all right deal! I have quilts to do, piano to play, books to read, sweaters to knit, journals to write...I think I can do this!

The first couple of weeks of retirement was a pity party, well maybe it was for about a month, because I missed the excitement of school starting, my new kids and such. Then I decided I needed to pick myself up and dust myself off. I thought, "You have things to do that you couldn't do while you were working. Now you have the time to do them so get with it!" And I did. Off to Alturas to the yarn shop, off to Cedarville to the Weavers. Hither and yon I went! But then it began to look like there were things at home that needed doing and... I could be doing them.

This morning snow covered the bottom field. Mike's horses needed to be in that field but there were still pipes on it. They needed to be moved. Mike was at work. That's when I decided it was up to me to fill the role of the hired hand! Cheney thought it was a great idea! She pulled on my jacket sleeve. She was either telling me "Let's go for a grand adventure," or "Come on. Check out my favorite vole holes!"  I could hear the cottonwoods whispering. It seemed they were saying, "What is she doing?? What happened to that retirement thing? Doesn't she know what can happen?"  It did take me a bit to figure it out. I pulled the pipes one at a time for quite a long time before it dawned on me to pull them two at a time. That indicates my heritage! I won't mention which one! The ice had frozen inside the pipes. They were heavier now than in the summer. The snow had stuck them together where they met and also to the ground. We had quite a tussle before I worked this all out but in the end I had a good 50 pipes stacked up like matchsticks in a box!

And when Mike got home from work..."Hey Hon!! Who moved the pipes? You? Really? Good job! I didn't know you could do that. Now that you're retired maybe moving pipes can be your summer job!! What do you think?"