Homebodies - Times tasks...

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Published on Sunday, June 5, 2016

By Rita Friesen

The Neepawa Banner

It is easier for me to get some of the yard work done if I break the chores down into two minute, ten minute or just get started times! It is surprising how many little tasks really only take two minutes – if you don’t have to find the right piece of equipment – and by whacking them off one by one, the list becomes manageable.

An example of a two-minute chore was cutting the seed stalks out of the rhubarb. Grabbing the pruning clipper as I headed out–they are kept in an unused doghouse that sits between the house and the garden–the flowered stems were into the wheelbarrow, also kept close by, in just under two minutes. There are only two clumps of rhubarb, so it wasn’t an exceptional feat! The wonder was that I stopped there and headed to the house. I sidestepped the weeds and avoided dead heading the irises. It is very easy to get side tracked once I go outside.

Later in the day, I selected a ten-minute task. Hah! The grape vines on the east side seemed to be slow leafing out. Closer examination convinced me they weren’t slow, they were dead. Some slender branches had evidence that new growth had been ready to appear, but shrivelled and dried. The vines are fifteen years old and have never failed to supply me with enough grapes to share. Alas, the thick old branches were dry and brittle. Over the years, the vines had climbed behind the eave through and had begum to pull it away from the shed. Now would be a good time to get that cleaned up. Ladder at the ready, pruning shears in hand, I set to work with a will. After thirty minutes of cutting and pulling the vines through the lattice on which they clung, I took a break. ‘The old grey mare…’ refrain mocking me. It took another go to complete that task, much, much more than the scheduled ten minutes. This would be the time then to reattack the eave through. Right? Well, it took a minute to fetch the correct tools from the shed, it took serious analysis to figure out how to separate the clip from the fastener, and just a minute to re-assemble it. It looks much more tidy, but I shall miss the lush growth this year. There were a few young branches showing signs of potential life and I carefully allowed them their space.

I do time myself mowing the yard. That job is broken down into two sections. The outer yard takes just under two hours and the inner and back yard requires two and a half to three, depending on how tall the grass is and how slow I need to go. Trimming is a whole other set of calculations. Thirty minutes of lugging the electric cord for the trimmer calls for a break!  Good thing my sit times are not monitored or tabulated!