The May tradition

May is always a very busy month for me at work, and this May is living up to that tradition.

Last week was a bear, mainly because of track meets. I went to one near Iron Mountain on Tuesday. On Wednesday, I (we, actually) was right back in Iron Mountain to ride with my mom to the doctor's. On Thursday, a 60-mile drive to get photos at a regional track tournament.

After three long drives on three consecutive days, I decided against making it four for four--I didn't go to yet another regional tournament Friday afternoon. That one was a two-hour drive away--each way. The word from above is that my bosses would like me not to drive as much. After all, they pay me 30 cents a mile, and even a trip to Iron Mountain and back is nearly 100 miles. There are no short trips up here. (That's why, when I finally get another car, gas mileage will be a big consideration.)

It was cloudy with a chance of showers on Friday and highs in the 60s. But I did my time on Thursday--that regional tournament was held in bright sunshine and temperatures in the mid 80s. Yes, I wore a wide-brimmed hat, and yes, I made sure to get the sunscreen on me. But it still got pretty hot, and I ducked out in the shade of a metal building for a while.

Just for a while. For most of the three hours that the meet lasted, I was walking here and there and hither and yon, trying to follow the action and get the best pictures as several different events took place at once. A lot of guesswork is involved. That's what it's like when you cover a track meet. And me without a split personality!

Saturday was cloudy for most of the day, but the sun will be beaming down on us again Sunday, and we'll get into the upper 80s. Might even hit 90 on Monday. The heat is supposed to back off a little near the end of the week, when my older son and his GF come up for their long-anticipated visit.

In anticipation of that, we are cleaning up the house a little. A little, not a lot. We have too much clutter, and we have to stay true to ourselves, I guess. The main thing is that we really don't have a lot of time for declutterization. And when we do have time to declutterize, we tend to think of other things to do that would be more fun.

First things first, though. On Sunday, we may have to dig our room air conditioner out of the bedroom closet and get it into position. There won't be that much heat and humidity this week, but it seems to be getting that way. Last summer, in comparison, the room AC unit never had to leave the closet. Not once.

My big achievement today was mowing the lawn. I had last mowed it on Monday. When I got back home from the track meet Thursday evening, I was astounded at all the millions of dandelions standing proudly in the back yard. It had only been three days! I was going to mow them all down on Friday, but it started raining in the afternoon. Saturday, it was mostly cloudy but no rain, and the dandelions were all sent to a better world.

I'm starting to think about getting another mower. Right now, we are using a Neuton electric mower--it's powered by a battery that you charge up inside. No gas, no exhaust, no tune-ups. But we have had it for a while, and maybe it's time for a new one. Whatever kind we get, the odds are quite high that we get another electric one. Our lawn is small enough to make it a viable option.

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I got to talk to B one night early last week. We gabbed on the phone for about 45 minutes--about 11 p.m. here but 8 p.m. for her in Alaska. Nothing in particular. We just chatted about this and that, had a laugh or two. Her husband was out of town, and I wanted to help her pass the time till he returned. Of course, she has other friends she chats with, too ... but this was our first talk since some time last year.

Our trips out of town and all the work has kept me hopping this month, as I wrote earlier. So I'm really looking forward to June and the chance to make some other trips and see some other friends. It's always that way.