restoration
(of course this isn’t really me as i would never have a cat.)
(photo: youngkeepers of the home/wordpress)
each summer when we return to boulder from our long stay in california i have “reentry” problems… i feel jumbled and foggy and a bit overwhelmed. so i have developed a (compulsive?) process of restoration that helps me adjust back to my boulder life - basically i CLEAN everything. i start with the laundry, of course. the last two summers we have road tripped to berkeley and back (the first summer because of the corona and this summer because hank can’t fly anymore… he used to travel as an “emotional support” dog but all the airlines changed the rules as people started bringing “therapeutic” peacocks and pigs and little horses and kangaroos on their flights. hank is too big for the carrier you can keep at your feet and with his smush face it’s not safe for him to be placed in the underbelly of the plane so the only way to get him to california is to drive.) even if we leave the west coast with suitcases full of clean clothes, after a week in the car we have tons of dirty stuff. this may take several wash loads, which gives me time to clean out the dressers and pull all the items that are too small or otherwise deemed unnecessary. this year i was delighted to realize that i’d sorted through the dressers and closets right before we left so i could put the clean clothes back straight away.
(these guys really messed things up for hank… the peacock)
(a tiny horse)
(a pig)
(even a KANGAROO!)
the next order of business is the car. despite my best efforts to keep it clean, road tripping ensures that your car will get DISGUSTING. by the time we pulled into our garage on 7th street, the car was filled with sand from pebble beach, dust from moab, all kinds of snack wrappers and la croix cans and bits of bun or chips or the odd half eaten cheese stick that rolled under the seats and an EPIC amount of hank’s shedded fur. he is nearly perfect, but if i could change one thing about him it would be for his hair to just stay put on his body. the carpeted area where your feet go got so inundated with his little hairs that it made me nauseous to look at it. i took the car in to the regular car wash the morning after we returned for a preliminary clean, but am also taking it to get thoroughly detailed because one go at restoring it is just not enough.
(i’m pretty sure the little one brought in the pebble beach sand)
(there was also some santa monica sand)
(this is as close as hank would get to the beach… he does NOT like it. i think the sound of the waves reminds him of the vacuum which he is also not fond of… those are the only things that hank and i do not agree on!)
(the red dust from utah)
(lu snacking on red vines in the car)
i also have to take hank in for a washing. this is always a bit heartbreaking. he loves to ride with me in the car, especially when he doesn’t have to compete with the kids for the front seat, and happily jumps right in, but as soon as we arrive at the groomers and he sees it out the window he starts to shake. i don’t understand this reaction because i LOVE to take a shower and for other people to brush my hair and do my nails but hank does NOT look forward to his spa appointments.
while hank is getting sorted, i head to the market as our fridge and cupboards will need to be completely restocked. technically, this activity isn’t “cleaning” but is an imperative part of the restoration process, most notably, i have to make sure that i have both coffee and milk in the house or i will not be able to live.
(image: envisioningtheamericandream)
then there are all the random house jobs that need to be addressed… this year: wiping away yucky spider webs on the exterior siding, sweeping out the leaves that have blown into the garage (this should have been done months ago), pulling all the weeds that popped up over the summer, composting the bazillion apples that have fallen all over the yard - this is a GROSS job because many of them have already started to rot (boulders - it looks like we’re getting a MASSIVE crop this year so you are welcome to come pick your fill any time! even though i have serious agricultural roots - i am the very first of three or four generations in my family not raised on a farm and it may go back further than that - i have no idea what they did when they were still in europe but i suspect they worked the land as well - i think i will need some help with this year’s harvest), cleaning the vitamix (i learned how to do this during corona with baking soda and vinegar and it is very exciting because when you combine those products they bubble up like a volcano), polishing the silver - this is also very satisfying and cathartic, if a bit messy and going through the cupboards. this year i only have to do the front hall closet and the mudroom because i got a start on it before i left.
(my great grandparents billy and kate in front of their farmhouse in iowa)
somehow i need to get through all of these tasks before i can settle in and transition back to my life in boulder. i just wish i could vacuum (my MOST favorite appliance!) my brain and get it as clean and tidy and organized as my house.