Pedley's Ponderings

A changing of the seasons is upon us here in northwest Iowa. Though my grass quit growing a long time ago, I’m noticing more leaves in the yard each morning. There’s an occasional bite in the air and the days are shorter now, too – fall has arrived.

I’m pretty happy about it. I know that’s an unpopular opinion, as summer is usually most folks’ favorite season. I’m a fall and winter guy through and through – mainly because I can be a hermit. I’m tired of having an itinerary all the time.

That doesn’t mean I have nothing to do. I keep making excuses and putting off a long to-do list, and my anxiety about its growing length is choking me. My wife has been relentless lately, too. I’m running out of excuses and bogus house chores to complete in the meantime – she knows I’m just trying to watch football on the weekends.

I have walls to paint, a bathroom to mess with and landscaping to adjust. There is this, that and the other thing to do, yet I don’t really care – never do today what you can put off till tomorrow, or something...

Last weekend provided me with a timely side job to delay my other chore list. Hartley’s fall cleanup necessitated a thorough review of household items to dump, and while we definitely identified plenty of curb-worthy possessions, in the end we mostly rearranged unwanted junk.

Last Wednesday I hauled two large bins of old paint, oil and other chemicals to the household hazardous materials disposal trailer at the city shed. I was worried I’d drop $100 or more, but it only cost me a grand total of $5.

I was feeling great until I strolled into the basement later that evening. Another container’s worth of the same material greeted me on a shelf, as I had completely forgot about its existence. Most days I can’t win for losing.

Unfettered, my better half got after it the next day. Kaity was busy rearranging the house, tossing unwanted items and identifying others that needed to be taken to the curb. Some of it was stuffed into the storage room until we could get to it later, but it was marked for removal nonetheless.

Saturday was my turn. I cleaned out the garage and hauled more than a few items to the curb, including two bikes. Most everything we ditched last week was gone within an hour – I suppose the bicycles were taken as scrap metal, but the other items were seemingly worthless. One man’s trash is another man’s treasure, as they say.

Still, I had more. We needed to take a mattress and box spring to the curb, and there were three plastic kiddie pools in the back shed I wanted to get rid of. It was too windy to put them on the curb Saturday.

None of them made it there, though. I got sidetracked with the Hartley Community Center’s bag tournament and by Sunday, I had already forgotten the pools and mattress existed. They yet remain in my possession.

Still, my garage was looking pristine for about an hour. After hauling out all my unwanted junk on Saturday, my sister-in-law brought over a portable fire table and plopped it inside. It works great and will eventually go on the back porch, but it’s still taking up space in my garage. My kids also had no problem messing up my masterpiece – all of their junk that I had put away is already on the floor.

I guess there’s always spring cleanup.

Nick Pedley is the news editor and ad manager of The Hartley Sentinel-The Everly/Royal News.