Does this effect you ??

During our January thaw last week, The Frontiersman was putting new light bulbs in the pole lamps at the front of our cottage walk when I opened the front door to let him know the can opener wasn't working. As he walked back to the house, he said he noticed the rain gutters above the entryway were full of leaves, so he got a ladder and dug the leaves out. From that vantage point, he observed a board on the garage trim had come loose.

He came in the house, unplugged the can opener and took it to the garage to fix it. While he was at the garage, he nailed the trim board back in place.

Upon re-entering the enclosed porch, two bags of bottles and cans in the corner caught his attention and he decided to take them to the truck so he could return them on his next trip into town. As he tossed the bag into the bed of the truck, he saw a few gum and candy wrappers along the shoulder of the road so he stopped to pick them up and soon found himself 1/4 mile down the road with pockets full of all kinds of paper scraps. Usually this is a task we do together, but with a trash bag and a Grabber, but he got carried away. He walked back home to empty his pockets and wash his hands.

Next stop was the garage so he could work on the can opener, but first he decided, a pile of newspapers in the corner needed his attention. He picked them up and tossed them into the back of the truck along with the bottles and cans. As he did that, his sleeve caught on a nail in the doorway of the garage, so he picked up a hammer and pounded it back into place.

He didn't see the rake laying on the garage floor, but he stepped on it on his way out of the garage and the handle of the rake popped up and hit him on his elbow as if to say, "I need attention, too", so he hung it on its assigned nail and was on his way back to the cottage when he observed the garden hose had come unwound from the reel and stopped to drape it back over the reel.

Once inside, The Frontiersman decided to stop for lunch.

"Do we need to buy a new can opener", I inquired.

"What can opener", he came back, seemingly baffled.

"The can opener you took to the garage this morning. I take it you haven't worked on it yet." I had no idea he had had such a busy morning.

"I've been busy with perfectly legitimate to-dos" he replied flippantly.

"So, are your legitimate to-dos going to allow you to work on the can opener this afternoon?"

"We'll see", he replied.

After lunch, The Frontiersman said he would work on the can opener just as soon as nap time was over.

While His Tiredness slept, I continued on with my house cleaning and laundry chores. It seemed so good to have some time all to myself that I just breezed through my work with more energy than I've had in a long time. The cottage is so small that we seem to always be under each others feet, so It's hard for me to clean unless I throw The Frontiersman out of the house.

He slept for the rest of the afternoon and woke up just in time for dinner. I had made a 'comfort meal' of porcupine meatballs in mushroom gravy, steamed broccoli and candied carrots. After dinner, The Frontiersman sat in his comfy chair and watched TV while I cleaned up the kitchen. He went to bed about 8 p.m., saying he had put in a full days work and he was tired. I just smiled, comfortable in knowing that I too had a full day, but rather than being tired, I was energized. Maybe tomorrow I can get him out of the house to work on the can opener and I can have the day to myself again. I'll buy a new one on my next trip to Wal-Mart, but in the meantime, it'll keep him busy.