Agh!
Is it seriously already August? Almost the middle of August, in fact?
How is that possible? There’s still so much to have done by the end of summer for it to have been considered summer by the end of it!
I need to go camping, go on a hike to see some waterfalls, play mini golf out at Saratoga, have an ice cream at the pier, head over to Quadra for whatever reason I can spontaneously come up with (usually golf), take off to the potholes for an afternoon of lounging in the sun, go play some guitar on the beach….
I’ve done almost nothing “summer-y” this summer.
In fact, I never even filled my barbecue tank. We were thinking about replacing our barbecue with a natural gas one to hook into the house because it’s at the point where we need to replace things in the guts of it once in a while, and I just never got around to doing either/any of those things.
But I guess there’s still time.
After all, July didn’t really count, did it?
During this past July, precipitation in the region was somewhere around 135 per cent of normal levels – and more like 180 per cent just to the south of us – so I can’t really be blamed for not doing too much summer stuff that month, can I?
I also didn’t get any time off in July this year. I got a week off in June – but I kind of “wasted it” (at least in terms of relaxing) by working on stuff around the house. I do get another week off starting about a week from now, though, so maybe that’s when I’ll do my summer stuff.
But alas, that week also needs to be spent, at least partially, “accomplishing things.”
There’s still a piece of siding on my house that needs replacing before the fall, I want to replace – or at least reinforce – the stairs to my back deck, and I want to make either a sofa table or coffee table for my den.
Oh, and let’s not get started on getting the kiddo ready to head back to school at the end of the month.
I mean, it’s not like he’s been regressing over his break and needs to get reading and learning to get him back to the point his teachers left him at, but I think it’s a good idea to start getting him back into a routine that includes a bit more reading, drawing and thinking and a bit less lazy relaxing, playing and snacking.
Which isn’t really ideal when that’s exactly what I’m going to be trying to do. It’s a little hard to lead by example that way, and that’s the best way for kids to learn. He’d also be coming along if I was going off adventuring, and I’m not about to make him bring a book of math problems to the beach or the mini golf course.
Maybe he can just have one week of reconditioning for school, and it can start after I get back to work after my week off.
And maybe I can accomplish those house-based things over September weekends instead of mashing them into my vacation.
And maybe, just maybe, I can get five or six “summer-y” things packed into that week so that by the time the calendar turns over to September, I can say that summer was a thing that happened.
I need to start a list. Wait…I did that back up at the top of this column.
Nice. Look at me go! Already accomplishing things!
Ugh. That was the opposite of what I wanted to do!
Apparently I suck at this.
miked@campbellrivermirror.com
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter