Tuesday March 25, 2003
Obviously I haven’t written for a while, but today was definitely a journal day.
Started out simple enough; I had dog duty this morning and they got me up @ 7:10am. It was a lovely morning – birds chirping and sun shining and horses grazing. I had coffee in the sunroom and settled into the recliner with a notepad to organize the menu and future grocery list. Hard to concentrate on even simple tasks with such a nice view and nature sounds.
Noteworthy that last time I wrote, Feb 1, we were dealing with the shuttle Columbia, and now we’re hip deep in a war with Iraq. Sometimes I feel a little guilty having such a wonderful personal life experience during this parade of national misfortunes and troubled times.
Anyhow, @ 9:00am David got up and after cereal headed to “Tractor Supply” for some gates & something else. We were just there the other day for fencing & a gate so he has a small list. I was still in my pajamas when he left, and didn’t dress until after I had the new bird feeder put together. Weather forecasts were for rain & thunderstorms this afternoon, so I decided to get outside while it was nice. Just a t-shirt and sweatshirt (and pants…) required. Walked around the areas we worked yesterday (more on that later) and admired David’s fencing.
I was out on the driveway when *[G] putzed by on his ATV & stopped briefly to chat. Said he was headed to help *[L] load some hogs, as he didn’t think [L] could handle it alone. Now, seeing as [G] is a pretty old guy with limited mobility, I had my doubts about his usefulness to his son. Then, we heard [L] hollering from his barn area (sound travels well in the clear country air) and [G] buzzed away. I felt compelled to offer assistance since I was dressed for outdoor labor, so I hopped on my bicycle and headed over.
The bike did pretty well on the grassy/muddy lane to the barn. Well, I started out as an onlooker, but soon enough I was offering suggestions, slinging pig slop with one hand and slapping hogs on the butt with the other. 45 minutes later we had 3 hogs in a trailer and the promise of ground sausage. It was quite a stinky experience, and I didn’t mind too much that I was prepping them for their “trip” since their living quarters were pretty gross.
As things were wrapping up, I realized I hadn’t left a note for David, so I headed back towards the road. He wa standing in the west field and it didn’t take long for me to figure out that he was pissed, in that 'I thought you were dead and gone missing' sort of way. He was honest about his worry & frustration & searching the fields for me. I felt awful and knew it had been a big mistake not to leave a note or take a walkie-talkie. Never again.
Unfortunately, while being worked up about me David decided to take the pickup truck through the west field with some fence posts, and got bogged in the mud. He’d gone and brought the Ford tractor and was trying to pull the truck out, but not enough horsepower. While we were working on that, George putzed by on his way home, and offered to pull us out with his John Deere, and that he’d just pulled someone else out this morning. We accepted, and soon he was back.
David attached the chains and out onto the road came the truck. A short while later, David was headed into the field again on the tractor, with the post hole digger. I watched him dig from the kitchen window where I was busy scraping hog stink from under my fingernails.
(It’s 10:45pm as I write this & I’m very tired, so the rest is a condensed version) I went outside & did misc. yardwork until David needed a hand with the fencing. Put the roll of fencing in the dump cart and pulled it with the lawn mower down the road to the west field gate. I scouted out acceptable ground on my bicycle, then David motored across. Together we strung woven fencing on the north side – the expanded area of the backyard. We conquered mud, bumpy ground, and a heavy roll of wire. We even rolled it across the stream on 2 beams.
After the last anchor was nailed on the last post, David looked around and said “Uh-oh”. Not a good sound… He pointed out that the mower & trailer were inside the fenced area – on the wrong side of the stream. We managed to laugh at ourselves on that one, and it got more wry as David forded the stream – and got stuck in the mud on the other side… Just briefly though, then we managed to get it up the steep hill and through the new gate and into the chute. Whew. I went back to shut the field gates and get my bike. I must have been a sight, biking through a pasture wearing big rubber boots, work gloves and a grin.
A bit later neighbor/seller [D] wandered over to see if David wanted to borrow his roller to roll out the lawn. We chatted about this & that, and David found out that the pond just ‘naturally’ sinks to a low lever – i.e. no drain per se. I threw out a dinner invite but it remains vague. Note: the *new mini horse’s name is Sassy, but I think I’ll still call her Coco Chanel, or just Chanel – much more classy! The clouds finally moved in @ 6:00pm, so we put things away and went in. Bratwurst & instant rice for dinner – too exhausted to make mashed potatoes.
This is the last available page in this notebook, so I’ll wait until I have a replacement to detail the recent visits for Dad & Elisie, Lars, and Leslie's family. I’ll also review the remodeling thus far.
*[G] friendly, elderly neighbor; [L] his large, talkative son, bearing less than a full load of common sense...
*new mini horse: I think we started keeping one of the neigbors mini-horses as a companion for Sam, who was still in our barn. We had gotten to know her through the fence from the adjoining field.
End of Entry
