All the windows are open and I’m thinking about turning on the fan and putting on a sweater. The screens are in now to keep the mosquitoes out, but I can’t paint the porch floor yet because the firewood is still stacked on it and we are still burning the stove most mornings. So why are the windows all open?
One rite of spring that isn’t weather dependent is the pumping of the septic tank.
My neighbors had a septic disaster that required heavy equipment and chain saws. Don’t ask. It was all dramatic enough that another neighbor said he was going to dig his septic up just to make sure it was all right. He was counseled out of that plan. It’s best to let septic tanks lie (and only unscrew the cap so the sanitation company can drop their hose in.)Another neighbor had a septic tank emergency just in time for a wedding a few weeks ago, so septics are on my mind, and no this is not a metaphor for local politics, they are actually swimming along quite well. Still, we always pump ours this time of year, every since we had septic disaster at one of our daughter’s weddings and it involved a horrible mess and a very, very good friend who jumped down into the hole with a shovel. It is very funny in hindsight, almost.
Two granddaughters just came inside with one wet dog. (No, it is not septic related thank God. But the tide is low so there is a lot of mud.) “Cookies done?” One asked.
“What cookies?”
“You said last night you’d bake some so we’d have them next time I came by. What’s that smell?”
“Wash your hands,” I said. Better safe than sorry.
(And you thought the reason I am not as punctual with my dispatches was that I had work to do, writer-ly work. It’s a big wink, I tell you. Each book is a miracle.)
What I meant to write, is that it’s a terrific, busy, summertime is here First Friday– at 4 the North Tide canoe gang leave the boat harbor for Celebration in Juneau in their red and black Tlingit canoes. At 4:30, the museum exhibit From Forest to Finish about wood products in Haines past and present opens and there all kinds of shops and businesses serving snacks and hosting exhibits. There’s a puppet show at Tresham’s downtown gallery and there are tours of Sea Otter Woodworks hot tub company and the refurbished LAB storefront, now featuring La Loft store. (Main St. looks great.)Sen. Lisa Murkowski should be out and about too, so if you see someone who looks like her, it is.
Tomorrow there is a farmer’s market at the Fairgrounds. I hear there will be fresh arugula. (I guess I better plant mine.)
“Girls? Who wants to come out in the garden and help me?”
