Well, it’s that time of the year again — the time of year where I start to want to have people come over.

Which means it’s also time to clean the Burrow.

Rudi and I are not minimalist people. We enjoy bulky hobbies — music, books, yarn, and bicycles. Unfortunately, we do not live in a clutter-friendly home. We live in a home suited to a single person with small hobbies — painting miniatures, perhaps, or dollhouse embroidery.

Or, perhaps, we live in a home suited to Type A personalities who do a good job of tidying up after themselves in a quick fashion.

Us? We tidy up in emergency situations — flooding, bug infestations, impending visits…

But it’s time to pull out the paper shredder and deal with the junk mail situation. I think it’s possible we could be buried alive otherwise, leaving three hungry cats to alert passersby that we’re under a huge pile of campaign announcements and charity requests.

It’s time to locate our quarters and do some laundry. I’m not ready yet to switch away from the summer wardrobe (this is D.C., after all, where January 1st reached 75 degrees), but it would be good to get it cleaned so that I can put it away for the two-week period it won’t be needed.

Rudi already started the cleaning by emptying the fridge of unmentionables. I need to do my part by washing the containers. I think they may have soaked long enough now to remove unpleasant odors.

It’s time to unpack from Utah and find places for all the … stuff … that came home with us from Salt Lake.

And it’s time to look hard at what we have lying around and see what we can do without. Do you think GoodWill picks up?