The Fine Art of Puttering Around

I wasn't going to post today because I couldn't remember doing anything last week, but then I looked at my calendar, where I write down stuff, and it turned out that I did do a few things in between a lot of puttering around.

Puttering around is when you wander around the house for hours, or sit on the sofa all day, looking at things, and wondering if you should do something about them, and occasionally actually doing a small thing or two before returning to a refined state of idleness.  I am a past master of puttering around.

On last Monday, for instance, I stared at the floors for a long, long time.  And then I actually got out the broom and swept them.  It took about fifteen minutes.  Then I returned to staring at them some more, wondering if I should mop them, too. 

I didn't.

Instead, I wandered outside and stared at the roses for a while.  Eventually I got around to finding the pruners and deadheading them.  Today, a week, later, they need more work, but I am steadfastly ignoring them.

On Tuesday I puttered around long enough to do a load of laundry.  Then I did something!  I took my mother to Macy's Furniture to look for a recliner to replace an old, broken one.  We started at Mor Furniture, but they were perplexed when we asked for a recliner that only reclined.  They had recliners that swiveled.  They had ones that rocked.  They had recliners that only reclined if you plugged them into an outlet and pushed buttons on a remote. 

"We don't want a recliner that does things," I explained.  "We want one that just reclines.  Without electrical assistance." 

This they did not have, so we tootled on down the road to Macy's where they had this:

It's the same recliner that I bought for my own home, and it does nothing but recline.  Manually.  Success!

On Wednesday I went out with the Tri-Cities Urban Sketchers to the Church of the Nazarene.  It was 85 degrees out.  Luckily, there was shade, and I managed a wee montage of sorts:

The heat, in fact, was one reason I spent a lot of time at home last week, puttering around.  It was 90-95 every single day.  My standard routine was to eat breakfast and then take the Hounds for a walk by the river by 8:00am to beat the heat.  After that, I really had no reason to go outside other than to drive to places that had air conditioning. 

I spent the rest of Wednesday staring at things until deciding to do a load of dishes. 

On Thursday my biggest adventure was to visit My Hearing Center to see if they could clean my hearing aid, which needs service once a year, and how much that would cost.  Well, they did it for free and then tried to sell me a lifetime service plan for $950.  I did calculate that with the cost of annual hearing exams (included), regular cleanings (included), and batteries (included), I'd break even in two years, but still.  Not right now, thanks.  Maybe next year.

Then I puttered around the house some more.  I felt that I was achieving a new level of puttering mastery that would be tough to top until possibly Winter, should we get another housebound-inducing snowfall again which I dearly hope we do not.

On Friday I was BUSY!  Surprise!  I took the Hounds for their riverside walk and then strolled them up to the Farmers' Market where I grabbed free samples and bought molasses bars.  After dropping the Hounds off at home, I went to the art gallery for the weekly "paint in" session where artists work on whatever they want in the nice big back room, and where they chat a lot.  I worked on another "postcard" view and got this far:

I'm not sure when I'll finish this, as I can't decide what images to put inside the letters.  I have plenty of photos from my 2009 Alaskan cruise, though, so maybe I'll come up with something someday after puttering around for a while.

Did I do anything on Saturday?  Hm.  I can't remember.

Oh, wait -- I went to garage sales!  Also did that on Friday.  Some were advertised, most weren't.  Garage sales are great for puttering around in a car -- I just drive around randomly, up and down the main streets, looking for signs with big arrows on them pointing me to the unadvertised yard sale.  Found some good ones!

On Sunday the heat wave broke -- huzzah!  Overnight Saturday into Sunday morning there was THUNDER and LIGHTNING and RAIN!  Whew.  Very pleasant, and now we're down into the 70s for a few days, anyway.  I spent a lot of time on the sofa, reading and watching sports (the Mariners had an epic defeat at the hands of the Astros, losing 21 to 1).  In the afternoon it was sunny enough and warm enough to take the Hounds to the river again, where Truman went wading and where Pippin went swimming.  It wore them out:

Dogs are excellent at not doing anything. 

According to my calendar, I have Stuff to Do this coming week, and the temps should stay below 90.  While I enjoyed my week of Mostly Puttering, it will be nice to get out and about a bit more. 

Then again, I am retired.  Once in a while I remind myself that I don't have to do anything at all if I don't want to.  Well, except for dishes and sweeping and pruning and shopping and dog walking and someday maybe mopping the floors that still haven't been mopped. 

Next time I putter around, I just might get to that.