Readers, family, friends – I haven’t blogged in days. I’m fine, not ill, just busy. To get a taste of what’s been keeping my laptop off my lap and my mind off the blog, I offer a list – a Q&A session with (who else?) my self.

Q: Why is my schoolbag so heavy? What did I put in it?

A: Aha! I have a bag of coffee beans that I bought from a fundraiser and received today. That’s why my bag is heavier than usual.

Q: Why do I smell coffee? Is it on my sweater?

A: See above.

Q: How did I manage to schedule so much on one week? I have commitments after school every day except Friday.

A: Don’t ask. Seriously. Do not analyze this. Just survive it.

Q: When will I learn to say no?

A: When I stop enjoying what I’m doing. I revised a post for the national blog yesterday and offered a second to help fill a void later in the week. Here’s the first one, a discussion of the Naturalist in Howard Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences. Later, I’ll have a link for poetry month.

Q (while watching the national news): Ft. Hood, a high school stabbing in Pennsylvania — What’s the world coming to?

A: At least we’re not facing lengthy stories on how much of the ocean doesn’t yield clues to the missing jet.

Meanwhile, I will keep calm and garden on – after this week is over.

I heard the philosophy, the technique, the time management suggestion, and said, “Okay. I can do this.”

Maybe.

When you have a project that seems to be impossible, one that inspires you to say, “I don’t have time! I just don’t have time! There aren’t enough hours in the day!” You know, readers, the type of project. I’m sure you have several on your to-do list.

This is the philosophy that will get the garden started this year. Due to a multitude of major health issues (and more pending, dear readers, I’ve been sparing you the boring details), my stamina for digging and raking and bending and lifting is – okay, I’ll put it simply and in a sentence that doesn’t run on. I have very little strength. I tire easily.

I’ve promised myself that I will accomplish one small goal each day. That goal might be small or it might take more than three minutes. No matter what, steadily accomplishing these little tasks will take me up to planting time. Meanwhile, I’ll watch the perennials come up.

I can count on the daylilies and their buddies, the stray tulips.

Garlic!

Chives, green onions, and weeds return.

My early pictures always underplay the excitement of watching the ground grow green again. At three minutes a day, one task at a time, we’ll have vegetables. Eventually.

Actual email, sent out by Chuck to his coworkers:

Hello All,

Spring is truly here.  The snow piles are melting.  A chunk of somebody’s front bumper has been found in one of these piles and it has the license plate still attached.  I think it is from a pickup or an SUV.

If your truck is WI plate XX0000, then please come back to the workshop and pick it up.

I admit it; the license plate number has been changed to protect — oh, who knows? 

And then I went to yet another appointment with a doctor and saw what looked like the turn signal from a small car sitting on the “lawn” next to the parking lot.

And I thought uncovering pizza boxes was strange!