The Lion And The Lamb

     The traditional saying for March is, "In like a lion, out like a lamb."  This year it's been closer to, "In like a lion, out like a lamb, and back in like a lion."  The month began with subzero temperatures, soared into the 70's two weeks ago, leveled out last week and then it snowed 4+ inches Sunday night/Monday morning before settling into the "teens" today.  Tonight it’s supposed to rain and possibly be a thunderstorm.  When my son came out and saw the heavy snow falling yesterday (he had run shirtless in track practice last week) he said God's probably looking around saying, "Are you not entertained?" (Using Russell Crowe's voice from Gladiator.)  If I hadn't been heading to school I would have been out in it; and yes, I would have been entertained!

     I never had a chance to head out to the woods on Saturday or Sunday.  Spring Break is in one more week and I should have a chance to get out on a couple of those days.  Instead, I took advantage of decent weather and being around home.  I started Saturday by running 3 miles in and around Rockton while the kids were at track practice.  I'm trying to get my Achilles tendon and calf muscle back in working order before the summer and fall.  It's steady base work now for speed and endurance later.  Once home, I worked on renaming and organizing our picture files on the computer.  A necessity, as Cindy gathers photos for an album that documents Todd's high school years before he graduates this spring.

     In the early afternoon I raked around the back patio.  The ten foot swath along the foundation still hasn't received direct sunlight, as it's on the north side of the house and in the shadows throughout the day.  The raking got rid of the riff-raff and seemed to revive it.  I also raked out the old skeletons of last summer's garden plants, and then used a shovel to turn the soil over.  

The temperatures were mild, lamblike, and sweatshirt worthy.  After a dinner break, I turned over our compost pile too.  Once I had started a fire in our fire-pit, I burned what I had raked, and then added what I found along the west-side fence-line in the form of old leaves.  It was an early start to "spring cleaning" before winter returned.  Luckily I had completed some yard work back in the late fall to make it a bit easier this spring.  I came in after dark and relaxed a while with the family; watching a little basketball on TV, before going to bed.

Chives from Grandma Fagerlund
poking up in the corner of our garden.

     On Sunday I ran again, and then our family headed down for church.  It was a "wrap up" message, reviewing the series of "How To Eat An Elephant."  A great, practical way to take one step (or bite :) at a time towards change or working towards goals relating to everything from friends and family to finances and fun.  Back at home I took a much needed "catch-up nap" before heading over to school to organize my room for a project in science this week, and do some correcting (while listening to Wichita St. beat Kansas in the NCAA tournament on the radio..."March Madness").  With temperatures and snow falling, I came home for a meal of tacos and then headed for Menards; making it with ten minutes to spare before they closed.  I bought four 2x4s and some sandpaper for the science project.  Coming home, I fired up my Grand-dad's old table saw to cut the boards into the sizes I needed.  I cleaned up and was able to get to bed a little before 10:00.  It was a good weekend to work on things that needed to be accomplished before March ended like a lion.  
See you along The Way...

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