A Good October

At the end of September I was lamenting what a waste this year has been in so many ways. It was something of a wake-up call to look back on 12 months and realize the lack of progress. I managed to pull myself together and make some goals for October. And then I jumped on them. Without listing all the things I wanted to accomplish, I can predictably say a lot of them had to do with fall projects in the yard.

And how did I do?  I am amazed and pleased to say I've already completed nearly every one of the things I set out to do and a few more besides.  Here's one I'm rather proud of:

My cute wrought iron arbor was starting to have rotted legs due to being buried in dirt and mulch -- more every year. It looked like it was doomed. The legs at the fronts of the benches no longer supported the bench and you could not sit on them, although the four main support legs were fine. I thought I would try something to save the arbor rather than throw it away. My plan was to make cement "boots" for the bench legs. There was some trial and error involved but here's the succinct version of how it went. I placed cement patio blocks under each leg to keep them out of the dirt in the future. I used empty gallon size nursery pots cut to size to create forms for the cement. I used quick-setting cement and worked it into the forms and let it harden. This took a couple of weeks due to intermittent rain and running out of cement. At last I spray painted the entire arbor and the new feet with flat black paint. I was surprised and pleased my plan worked and looked pretty good as well.  Ta da!

The yard is all cleaned up now, the sprinklers winterized, some soil amendments added to flower beds, and houseplants have come indoors.  As seen in my previous post, I also shopped for and bought a car this month, and cleaned up my older car and sold it. And since I sold it to my son for my granddaughter to drive, I gave it some extra detailing and brand new snow tires.  I renewed my birding adventures along with my annual pass to Antelope Island.

This is not all I managed to do in October. But, it would be enough to feel so much better about things. Probably the most important effect of these successes is the improvement in my mood and outlook. I feel more like my old self again -- the person driven by goals and lists and planning.  I look forward to November and some new challenges.  I'm even looking ahead to 2018 and the things I want to change in my 70th year of life.  That's right, I'll be 70 in almost exactly two months. But I'm not finished yet.