behindtheax

garbage day

I went for my first jog of the year this morning. It was cold. I jogged past this man who just left his house to walk his dog. His car was parked in the street. He went directly to it and pulled out a pack of cigarettes from the trunk. He glanced at his house once, quickly. His secret.
I use to smoke. When I first started, I would sneak up to the ball diamond in my hometown and hide out in the dugout. When I smoked I would pretend I was Francis Farmer and I would pick imaginary tobacco pieces from my tongue like Jessica Lange did in the movie. I quit smoking when I got pregnant with Erin and never had one since but I would have to say, I use to love to smoke. It's a little ironic that I was doing something as healthy as jogging but thinking about smoking. Not that I will ever start again. Well maybe when I’m eighty if I get there.

I walked around my yard when I came back. The crocus’s shoots are about an inch or two above the surface now, the tulips and daffodils have started also. New green in little bunches. Well, considering back home had 30cms of snowfall yesterday – all is going quite smoothly here.

I tell ya though, the raccoons in this city seem to be out numbering the squirrels now. I spent a lot of time in the woods as a kid and I don’t think I ever seen a raccoon but here in the city I see two a day. Big fellows. I wonder what happens to animals like this who have no natural predators around to keep their population down? There are a lot of skunks too. The city now has in place, organic waste removal, where we fill up these green boxes and put them out once a week for pickup. The winter wasn’t that kind to ours and the latch is difficult to bang shut now. On my jog I noticed a few others must have this problem because the raccoons had gotten into a few. It wasn’t pretty. As I am writing this I just noticed a squirrel running across the road with what appears to be a half eaten donut. Rejoice, all ye little city animals for today is garbage day.

So, spring-cleaning. I should go out and get a book on how to do this because frankly I always do a half ass job. I’ll start with the kitchen and move on to the windows if I have time today. My cupboards are scary – I think I have a couple of garlic plants growing in the back of it now. At least the basement is done. So, anyway here I go to clean the day.

posted by mary j. @ 10:17 AM