Yard work is nearly bearable when the weather is cool, and it was cool yesterday. Trimmed up some overgrown areas, mowed a bit, and dug up khaki weed. I think there’s a crew of elves who come in at night and plant new material. They’ve even taken to hiding it down low in amongst the low-cut grass in areas where I know I’ve checked before. Very strange, and suspicious.

The work ethic even spilled over to the house where I finally tackled the pile of paper that was stacked up beside my computer. It mostly consisted of stuff I needed to file or throw away. I have to confess some of it is now spread out on the island in the kitchen. I think I’m like one of those little windup cars I used to get as a kid. It goes real fast for about five seconds, then you’ve got to find it and wind it and do it again. And since I’m the person doing the winding it’s really easy to think that spreading the papers out on the counter counts as work, and then get distracted and forget to wind myself up.

But to take it one step further, I finally moved my wife’s old storage baskets up stairs to the attic. I remember when we bought them. We used them in our closets in place of dressers. But they eventually devolved into storage containers for miscellaneous stuff that had no where else to live. I also got the throws off the floor and onto their own shelf in the closet. They look tidy and the bedroom looks neat and now it’s up to me to keep it that way. I wish myself luck.

John W. Wilson is the author of The Long Goodbye: A Caregiver’s Tale