Cleaning and packing

I'm heading out on my pilgrimage tomorrow morning.  Drop the dogs off at the kennel/spa at 8:30, then hit Route 3 and off I go.  First stop is 5-6 hours away, Jim & Judy's house.  The weather is supposed to be grand, sunny and warm.  I have lots of books and music to listen to, and a GPS to entertain me.  I have maps of every state I'm driving to or through.  I have everyone's phone numbers.  I said goodbye to my mother this morning.  Mark sent me a nice card and a lot of money yesterday.  I haven't packed my clothes yet but they're either in the dryer or piled up in the bedroom.  Can I really be this well organized?  Is this what it's like to travel when you're retired and driving?

I saw a woodcock near my driveway yesterday and again this morning.  This is a sure sign of spring.  Jamie used to hunt them but they really taste like worms (well, to be honest, what I imagine worms would taste like) so he stopped shooting them.  They make amazing sounds with their wings when they do their mating routine.  They fly straight up into the sky then plummet to the ground.  It's pretty cool to see.

I had a cowbird at the feeder the other day, that was strange.  I'd say it was a treat but they're not very attractive and all they're known for is laying eggs in other birds' nests so I don't think of them as exciting to see.  I haven't seen one in a long time so I guess it's vaguely exciting.

I found a crocus in bloom this morning.  I have no idea where the rest of my crocuses are, but there's one blooming under the living room windows.  One.  Where are all of my daffodils?  And what about the squill?  Where, huh, where?

It's a beautiful sunny day, temp is 50 so I'll go outside in a little while and clean out the car and feed the birds.  I think I'll take the car to the free car vacuum to try to get at least some of the dog hair out of the seats.  Some, at best.  These dogs are shedding like mad this year.  I need to brush them some time today.  Yesterday at the dump (not my regular dump) the woman fed the dogs biscuits and we talked about dogs.  She has a "mastador," which is a mastiff-Lab mix and sounds like an ugly dog.  Anyway, we talked about shedding dogs and she nodded when I talked about my mess, saying "Oh yes, you're on to me, you get it."  Not sure exactly "on to me" means but we agreed and it was a nice exchange.

I bought brown paint so I can re-paint the trim on the living room windows.  I painted them several years ago but never really liked the color, and it brings out the pinkish hue of the wall paint so I really don't like it.  I painted the living room door gray and it looks just awful against the trim as well as the walls, so I should figure out something to do with that, too.  Boy do I want to paint my living room.  It's a cathedral ceiling, though, and would require scaffolding.  Someday, someday I'll hire someone to do that for me.  Oh there are so many ways to spend money!