GUTTER CLEANING 101

 Good Morning California!!  The weather could not be more perfect.  Cool nights now with warm 70 degree days.  I knew there was a reason I still live here.

It was probably in the "plans" so this Kitters could adopt me.  She is parked on the edge of the couch, six inches from my face, purring away.  If purring is a sign of happiness, this cat is in 7th Heaven!!  To make it even better, she has now learned to go both IN and OUT the doggie door in the bedroom.  It's a tad bit noisy, but that was the only place in the house to cut a hole years ago.  Miss Jessie used it every night.  Cooper has NEVER used it.

Anyway ... we got up a O-Dark-Thirty ... now 5:30 according to the clock, to the sound of the sprinklers.  I'm guessing I should have run them through the course to see if any were going wonky.  Maybe that will be today's job while waiting for the Electrician to come fix those overhead lights that keep falling out of the ceiling.

The first thing I noticed on this day was the chunks of dirt all over the patio.  It took a minute to figure it out since I know "I" did not make that mess.  Then it dawned on me.  I heard all kinds of Mockingbird mayhem going on early in the morning.  Around here they are harbingers of trouble and mess.  They were digging through the gutters looking for critters to eat.

THIS was the result.  Ugh .... it's time to clean out the gutters once again.  It's not the leaves, it's the dirt.

Definitely not the most fun job I have to do around here because I've never been good with heights.  You are looking at twelve feet here, hanging on to the top step with my toes while I scrape the dirt out of the gutter.  

I know ... and I've heard it dozens of times ... get leaf guards.  Except ... THEY DON'T WORK.  They only keep out the leaves, of which there were maybe SIX in this entire long run.

Oh look ... a GOAT!  I thought the neighbors got rid of all their goats four years ago!!  Kitters like to visit there every day.

Anyway, THIS is why leaf guards do not work.  It's not the leaves, it's the DIRT that is the problem.  Remember, this is AG country with lots of discing, mowing, harvesting and discing again.  All that dust and dirt has to go somewhere.  When it rains, it all washes into my gutters.  This pile is almost 2 feet wide and ten inches tall.  If I don't clean it out, the weight pulls the gutters right off the roof line.  Leaf guards do NOT stop the dirt.

Seventeen times up and down the ladder, moving it further each time, did a royal job on my little body.  Maybe it was because of the walking two days before, but I was in bad shape come dinner time.  I ached all over.  How depressing that I can get so sore doing so little.

Lunch and dinner was exactly the same as yesterday.  A not very exciting end to a long day.

I did cut the binding for that veterans quilt, sewed it on and got all of six inches sewn in place.  Maybe today I'll get it finished up and can tackle the longarm computer.  I still have not turned it on.  

Now I wait for the electrician to come and fix my light fixtures.  I'm guessing they will all be replaced for big bucks.  Yes I could probably do it myself, but those 12 foot ceilings bother me too much, and there are TEN fixtures, meaning 20 wires that I could possibly be electrocuted with.  It's better for my health to leave this one to the experts.