GRAVETTE — The grass fire wasn’t too bad; we got it out before it took the entire old chicken coop. The fire department was here pretty quick, sirens howling, lights flashing, men hollering out instructions and not one person listening. Old Dog was under the bushes behind the well house, and I was wishing I could join him.
My close relative waswiping her face with the tail of her apron, pale as a ghost when I finally had time to look around for her. I suspect she was pretty sure the whole place was a goner as she is prone to see the dark side of the clouds. The scorched grass and woods smelled to high heaven and I knew she wasn’t thinking normally because she would havedashed in the house to close all the windows.
A feller can’t be too careful when he is welding and we aren’t the first to have a grass fire as a result of stray sparks. The offspring were fixing the tongue of the hay wagon - broken for months - and things do happen. I hadn’t gotten the hoses out of the storage area to attach to the faucets as of yesterday and, of course, we could have doused the fire with no problems if they had been connected.
What I am bound to say is just this: We procrastinated. The welding could have been done last winter, inside the shop, when the cold north wind was blowing. I guess it blew a time or two, didn’t it? Well, anyhow, the job was deterred until now. I could have had the hose connected a couple of weeks ago, carried water in a bucket to pour on a crepe myrtle bush instead of taking the time to do a simple job.
Procrastination is a problem that has always hounded mankind. Can you look around your home and see several little jobs that would require a few minutes that you are waiting for the spirit to move you to do? I suspect some battlesin all the preceding wars have been lost due to someone waiting just a minute before doing it!
I am so relieved that our little fire didn’t do much except provide a place for the new grass to grow well as I sit here in comfort instead of trying to figure out how to build a new barn on my budget.
The offspring were so pitiful, apologizing over and over, both of them so sorry about the ordeal. I must admit that I sorta enjoyed that, but do not tell my close relative. She was petting them and making over them like they were six years old!
It is my opinion, and everyone has one, the longer you leave a job sitting or a stack building, the harder and more time it takes to get it over with. Figure the feed sacks in the feed room at the barn. If I’d taken care of each one when it was emptied, or at least every 10 or 12 of them, there wouldn’t be a stack as high as the ceiling and three columns deep! That is gonna be a big job if I ever get around to it! I am determined to stop procrastinating soon!
Bill is a pen name used by the Gravette author of this weekly column.
Opinion, Pages 6 on 04/18/2012