I Got It

"Be careful what you wish for."  How many times I've heard or said that, right along with "Ask, and you shall receive."  I asked for relief from the days-long illness that had struck.  It seems the antidote for exuberant housecleaning is heat, and it arrived yesterday.  Stopped dead in my tracks, the step stool sits in the dining room, the growing pile of lace panels lies on the living room floor, and more pigs to wash are on the kitchen counter.  (Those 36 clean ones done the day before are just the tip of the pigberg in my house.)  Much as I dislike going to town, driving in an air-conditioned truck seemed the lesser of two evils compared to washing more windows.  It was 101 degrees in Diamond Springs.  At 9:30 last night it was 80 outside and 86 inside here, and that was after running the whole-house fan.  My efforts at sprucing up have ended in a bigger-than-ever mess.  I shall be more careful in phrasing my requests in the future.

In the beginning, I was a veritable Birdie Hicks about the barn, swiping down every cobweb before the spiders could catch a bite to eat.  I still rake up and haul out two buckets of goat poo every day, but now the rafters, corners, nooks and crannies are festooned with spider webs.  When I was in my neat-and-tidy phase, I had to hang sticky fly strips in an attempt to keep down that population, a losing proposition if ever there was.  And then one day it dawned on me; I was buying fly strips to do exactly what the spiders would do for free.  I like free, and I've learned to like spiders.  In fact, I encourage them by catching flies and tossing them to the nearest waiting daddy-longlegs.  I'm never going to win the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval down there anyhow, and I appreciate the help.

Given the forecast, I can't hope for a relapse of my malady before next week.  By then, the pile of curtains and the step stool will be dusty.  I can't win, but I'll be careful what I wish for.