Roomba... fieldba?

Last night I reached the limits of my patience with the state of my house. Not that I kicked into full-blown cleaning gear - instead I sat down at my desk and once again began to look at the possibility of the Roomba.

After a few minutes, which were punctuated with Bear the Corgi chasing, in order, Kyra Corgi, several resident felines, and nothing, it occurred to me that perhaps my thought of Roombas constantly circling and cleaning was... not exactly realistic.

Can you imagine the scene here if I set up a Roomba with a less than one-year-old Corgi in the house? Between Bear and the cats, and Kyra provoking them into action from the sidelines, I'm not sure the Roomba would make even half a circuit.

I wrote on Facebook this morning that maybe the Roomba would work if I could program it to say "leave it, Bear" as it made its journey through the house.

And then, my mind went into overdrive.

A pasture roomba!

That scene would be, I'm afraid, even crazier. Between Keil Bay flipping it into the next county, the painted pony herding it, two donkey boys stomping it, and Cody nibbling it, the thing wouldn't make it to the first pile of manure.

All this is clearly a sign that I am emotionally and psychologically ready for spring. The day before yesterday I spent nearly the entire day harrowing the front field - there was ONE DAY where it had dried out and thawed out just enough to do the job, and rain was predicted for that night, so I had to get it done before the rain actually started. In the midst of it, I ran out of gas, one back tire that has a leak had to be filled with air 3x, the mower blades got packed with soil and mulched leaves, and I had to take a couple of breaks just to keep myself going. But I got it done.

Needless to say when I got inside around 4, the house was a wreck and I had to take son to his class. Yesterday I focused on the house. Hence the dreaming of Roombas and wallbas and all kinds of -bas that would take over and do all the things I feel like I never get to in the process of cleaning.

And what a shock when I realized that the one real thing in my fantasy - the Roomba - is not even a possibility because of the Bear! 

When I start obsessing over things like this, it's a sure sign spring is in the air, even if only as a fantasy. But it's not a fantasy - yesterday I discovered the first bulbs shooting their green heads toward the sky.

It's starting. And now there's a race to keep up - I finally sketched out the garden beds last night and began to think about starting seeds.

Couldn't Martha Stewart loan me her staff for just one week? They might be mortified but they could dig in, get me caught up, and then head back to perfection land.

If anyone has suggestions for coordinating house and barn and fields and all the things that need doing in between, I am all ears!