Life in the projects
People spend so much time in anticipation of holidays,
family reunions, weddings and any special occasion. I anticipate the
project season; in fact I so completely immerse myself in these
little tasks that you could say that I live in my projects.
Intensive planning should precede any project, not so that you are
organized but so you can really enjoy the anticipation. Nothing spins
my wheels like sitting on the couch in the middle of winter, catalog
in hand, laying out plans for the spring. Some folks like to plan
with a seed catalog or a home improvement magazine while some just like
to talk about their projects; I am the perfect storm as I do all
three. Anyone who’s seen my car could surmise that any extra money I
have is going somewhere besides my wheels. Lisa and I invest our extra
money in matters of home and garden and so that is what entails most of our
plans for spring and summer. Notice I say “invest” instead of “spend” which is the
first step in justification of any home project.
The second step in planning a project is taking on way more than you
can possibly accomplish in a Minnesota summer. This list will dwindle
when you find that what appears reasonable in December is a waste of
time in May. There is nothing like being held to the flame of
reality to make one realize what project needs to be moved to the
front burner. Most of our projects are done in the heat of summer to
survive the cold of winter however yard projects are mostly done to
please Lisa and myself. We can indulge ourselves and have done so
with rainwater collection projects, a pond less fountain, raised
gardens and several improvements that we could live without but make life much more enjoyable to live.
I think you need to start a project on glorious and fanciful
proportions so that when you eventually compromise and perhaps cut
corners, the project will still look good and be worthwhile. It’s so
easy to fantasize about a project but money, work and time will
modify what anything looks like in the end. I’ve had several large
and glorious zebra’s that have become practical and sure-footed
burros by their finish but typically I’m satisfied and proud with the
end product. I guess my mission statement could be; “think big but be practical.”
If you’re performing a project out in the yard, make sure you dig it
deep enough and work hard enough. Over time, I have witnessed projects
fall just short of successful completion because people didn’t dig
deep enough, use enough sand, get it completely level or take their
time. I’ve fallen prey to the need to finish quickly and have even
cut corners to finish in a timely manner. Better to do one project
well than to do create several projects that eat money and produce little joy, a lesson learned well by a younger version of myself.
In the end, maybe I don’t actually live within my projects, which would be too limiting. Perhaps our efforts, time and money actually express what we hold important and the priorities that shape our lives. If that isn’t justification to dig, plant, build and plan for a summer lived, at work, in the projects.
