01:35 - 29.04.07
Freedom
Ow, oww, owww. I finally managed to get my act together with the weather so that I could work on cleaning up the yard. Winter brings many things, including a lot of yard waste, with it. I want to have my yard all shipshape for Beltane, you see. I want to do a little planting ceremony on that day. I'd also like to build a big bonfire, but those are subject to municipal ordinances that I can't meet. One must have a specific type and size of fire pit you see. Oh well. My backyard, 1075 sq ft - the fenced part of my property - was pretty easy. Just one garbage bag, mostly full of bits that dropped out of our regular weekly garbage runs over the past six months. One thing with yard work here is one has to wait until the refuse defrosts enough that one can pull it away from the ground. Mother Nature can be such a joker that way. One mystery solved as I worked away around the deck and the rowan tree. I glanced up and noticed a fan perched on the bathroom windowsill of the neighbours who share my duplex. I had been wondering where that humming sound had been coming from the past couple of months. It always starts up around bedtime and goes on late into the night. What is it that requires venting outside from that bathroom I wonder?
Next up, the side yard, at 210 sq ft, had more garbage than the backyard, thanks mostly to the neighbours in the next duplex. Antifreeze and oil containers as well as fast food restaurant containers seemed to have migrated from their driveway somehow. Their backyard is full of garbage as is their sideyard. I also don't own a vehicle nor do we visit drive through restaurants, so I know it isn't our garbage. The opening into that area is so protected at the front that the only place it can come from is that neighbour. The front yard, at 625 sq ft, produced 8 full to bursting bags of yard waste. There are deciduous trees in both the front and backyards, so the difference can't be accounted for on that premise. It took two hours of uninterrupted raking and bagging to complete the task.
I started the work at 7:30 in the pm, hoping the neighbours would be too busy with their partying to notice me working away. The women were busy, but the males on both sides kept running out to their vehicles. Sometimes they would just sit there for a while, then return to the house. Sometimes they would drive away, return and sit there, then drive away again. Maybe there are rules for going out to pick up beer that I'm not aware of. The neighbours who share the other half of my duplex appear to number about 8 to 10 adults from the coming and going I witnessed and I have heard children's voices emanating from inside, as well. I'm certain that the landlord has constructed an illegal suite given the number of people, the amount of cigarette smoke billowing through our shared wall, and the noise level they attain from time to time. I was wearing shorts and a denim shirt - no shoes - so that I wouldn't work up too much of a sweat. That resulted in a number of wolf whistles and catcalls from those neighbours as well. Too bad they can't find something better to do with their time.
Our five cats lined the windows watching my every move. The cats from next door came around to check out what I was doing too - taunting our cats by going up and patting the windows as they passed. I could hear the squirrels overhead in my sundance tree. I shifted a number of ladybugs off the leaves and grass that I was stuffing into those bags. The local birds chirped and chattered, while the migrating wildfowl called mournfully and loudly as they passed overhead. My skin was soaking up every bit of sunshine it could get - almost purring with pleasure - it seemed. I am so pale right now that I think I must glow in the dark. It was quite dark by the time I finished the raking, so I guess the hedge trimming will have to wait for another time. I can bag yard waste in the dark no problem, but using a power tool on living plants is another story. Rain is forecast for the next two days, but maybe there will be a break in there somewhere for me. I was fairly chilled by the time I did get back inside but a hot shower and the stair climbing very slow stair climbing - warmed me up quickly enough.
I also sent out more resumes since a number of interesting postings arrived in my inbox. I navigated to that one big job posting site where that one phishing attack seemed to be coming from last week. There was an "interruption of service" notice just stating that the site would be closed to applicants from last Thursday to next Tuesday, as maintenance was necessary. Maybe their database was more compromised than the email response I received, when I reported what I had received, let on. After all, if I received an email then likely everyone else in that database was targetted too.
I had one dream that I can recall in the past day. It started out in a very grand library. All black marble floors and white ionic columns with furnishings of real oak. Classical architecture - clean lines and understated elegance, in white with gold trim. I seemed to be part of a group who were studying or researching a specific topic together. After we had completed our work for the one day we travelled together to one of the member's homes. A very big home given the size of the kitchen and the table where we sat. It was that person's birthday and we were all invited to enjoy an authentic Italian dinner party in their honour. A huge pile of gifts awaited them in the sitting room, but they were to be opened only after all the guests had their fill of supper and dessert. Really gooooood spaghetti among many other savory dishes. In the midst of the celebration one of the politicians I volunteered with many years ago walked in. Would I mind taking a walk with him to discuss some issues. I suppose. It must have been autumn given the weather - icy rain as well as leaves falling from the trees as we passed under them. He kept pulling my hand up to rest against his third eye and I kept pulling it away feeling quite embarrassed. I didn't understand why he was doing it, but it felt very uncomfortable just from a physical standpoint anyway. I was also feeling frustrated with his comments. He was talking about things that happened a long time ago. I couldn't see any purpose or relevance in discussing them at this point in time. Maybe there is a turn on the spiral of time that brings some the actions of that time up for review or correction. I don't know. We walked through a concrete tunnel/shortcut of some description - one with those railings to hang onto because the grade is quite steep. I was relieved to find that one of the dinner party guests was waiting for us at the other end, urging us to return to the party so the birthday boy could start opening their gifts. End of dream and so to bed. Good night dear diary.
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