Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2022 - 10:09 a.m.

I’m here on the patio. Today I mopped it and uncrusted the bird poop below where the dumb doves nested. I washed the dust off of the table and chairs. I put a tablecloth on it. I have sat down to regard the patio, and I’m drinking tea. Not a thing I have done on the patio in some time.

Am I any happier? I feel marginally more together, I suppose. The best part is none of the children have questioned where things went.

I still have two large things I need to remove, sweep and scrub under, perhaps replace. The overgrown weeds. The mesquite tree detritus in drifts on the sidewalk. The side yard where the grill is should be nicer and less overgrown. The compost bin that’s disintegrating should go. On the other side, enough sand got knocked out of sandbox that weeds are growing. I need to clean that. Weed the weeds I don’t want. Recover the sand to layer atop the cat poop. Clear the walk.

There are several things here that look like planters but in reality nothing will grow in them nor should it. I have yet to figure out what to do with them.

In the front, sweeping the front by door. Not just right in front but also under the swing. Paint or varnish the swing perhaps. I won’t talk about repairing the wall there where the kids have been bashing the swing into the wall for 10 years now.

I don’t know why I’m doing this all of a sudden. There are other things I’m not doing so it’s not a general thing. Best not too look too closely. So far it’s at least 4 years of neglect I’ve rectified on the patio. Maybe more. I’ll go till I don’t I guess.

Would string lights like the happy, capable people on Pinterest boards have make me happy? Maybe not but I would reclaim a level of self-efficacy by getting to the point where I actually hang them.

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