Getting Up Early

There is something about Spring that stirs the mind and body. For weeks now I've been busting to wake up early. Sometimes I'll wake at 3 or 4 am and look at the bedside clock and think "Bugger too early" and go back to sleep. Then when the clock gets to 5 am and the first signs of daylight are just appearing I'll leap out of bed to make coffee and feed the two cats who run into the laundry and wait by their food dish. If you don't feed them immediately they harass your legs until you do.

Morning coffee is a latte made entirely on milk. Very filling which allows breakfast to be put off until mid morning and on fast days gets you through the day with only a few thoughts of food at meal times. The routine of fasting on Mondays and Thursdays has become second nature and nowhere as difficult as it was at first.

Rather than count sheep after turning off the light at night the mind turns to planning the next day. What jobs have to be done over the river at our paid work and then the endless (and enjoyable) list of tasks to be completed at home. As well as maintaining our personal lists (on scraps of paper scattered in the kitchen there is the mental review of changing priorities and added tasks. One job often leads to or has a precursor task such as making the latest compost meant the pile of pruning's that had  been sitting around for weeks could be put through the mulcher. I suppose a lot of normal people would not enjoy this daily work load but I love it.

This is the breather hole in the latest compost pile. Every now and then a huge wisp of warm steam wafts out. Unfortunately it requires better photography skills to capture the moment. 

In the cold frame another batch of seeds have germinated. Some dry pumpkin and more Rockmelon and Watermelon. All these will be in the ground in the next 24 hours. The weather forecast looks promising with some showers of rain promised over the next 1-4 days.

The garbage collection in our area is every Thursday morning about 4 am. In terms of measuring consumption and waste it was pleasing to note that the recycling bin which is collected every two weeks was only 2/3 full after a month. And the general rubbish bin collected every week was 1/3 full and hasn't been put out for at least 6 weeks. I wonder how long it will be before councils put barcodes on our rubbish bins and start charging for usage. I suppose never. The collection contractors wouldn't be happy with the reduction in income and it might encourage householders to dispose of their waste inappropriately. Reducing landfill costs might not be that high in the priorities. Easier to slip in some more costs in the annual rates rather than address behaviours.