Thursday, November 4, 2010

What's The Plan?

Nearly every morning started the same way when the weather was clement.  Coffee mugs in hand, Steve and I would take a turn around the deck as soon as the sun was up, doing a check on the property, a little dead-heading on the potted plants.  Leaning on the railing, sooner or later I'd hear the question that started the day, "So, what's the plan?"  That's a lot of responsibility to lay on a person, having to have an agenda, especially when I tend to be one of those fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants people.  Not wanting the system to break down entirely, I'd try to come up with something.  Old habits are hard to break.  Regardless of what chores are waiting, I still take a stroll on the deck and around the yard in the early morning sun.  Bessie Anne does a perimeter check, and Frank and Pearl do their own inspection, but we more or less parade around together.  Inevitably, I will hear that phantom voice, "What's the plan?"  If there are any have-to jobs, I will write them on the kitchen board just to have the satisfaction of crossing them off later (and as a goad when I'm dragging my feet).  Then there are days like yesterday, when there were several things that needed tending, and I chose to pick up a book and ignore everything.  I am enthralled with Stieg Larsson's writing:  tight, fast-paced, characters with character.  The good guys are "human" and the bad guys are capital-E Evil.  It is a pity that his only three books were published posthumously; there won't be any more.  I think today I will finish The Girl Who Played With Fire.  Sounds like a plan to me.

3 comments:

Cally Kid said...

Amazing. I get to be the first to comment. Maybe because that's because it's 4:15am here and I am across the dateline so it's also Friday. After arrival here the hours of each day were work, eat & sleep with no time or energy for reading. Lately, the sparse free time has allowed me to resume my reading. And yesterday, like you, I had "chores" that could have been tackled. I have 6 days of clothes left so laundry can be done later, don't care if my barracks room is messy for another day, cleaning my little frig can wait until tomorrow. Once I arrive at the halfway point of a book and the characters are familiar, they whisper to me that "the chores can wait". I like that. Hearing voices that aren't really there is not new to me anyway. Hint: Add "Prioritize my List" to your chores then rearrange the "To Do's" on the white board and that effort alone will make it feel like you just did something and you can cross "Prioritize" off the list!

Kathryn said...

Mark, I LIKE that..."Prioritize" and then cross THAT off! And what the heck do you do, that sounds like the military, and yet you can have a messy barracks and a fridge? Whatever it is, it's nice to have you back in the comments department, and I welcome someone else being first!

And Bo, you have more on your "have to get done list" every day than most "of a certain" age ever have to do....hmmmm, let's see..."feed the goats, milk the goats, and haul the milk buckets back up the hill..." OK, YOU WIN!!! Now go sit down and read a book...you've earned it!

Cally Kid said...

Kathryn..I know this is not our blog but, inspired by Bo, I am thinking of doing a journal about my exploits. If you're interested you can send me your email to callykid.smith@gmail.com and I'll let you know where I post it. Thanks for the advertising space Bo!