Archive for May 2013
New Friends
We have arrived back home at Wintervale, and the cats seem pretty happy to see us. In fact, Pequenita doesn’t seem to want me to get this post typed, because she is on top of me, between my hands and the keyboard, insisting on being scratched enough to make up for the days we have been absent.
It looks like there was some heavy rain in recent days, because it seems like it is wetter than before I left, five days ago. If you have been reading along, the geothermal guys like the soil wet, for drilling the lines underground. As a result, the geothermal plumbing installation is complete, up to the furnace room in the basement. As for the fence project, no progress whatsoever.
I have already had an opportunity to put some of what I learned over the weekend at the Epona leadership workshop, into practice. Just as I was picking up my car at the airport parking lot, I received a call about a problem situation that had arisen at the day-job, yesterday. I had to kick into “leadership” mode and deal with a sticky issue.
It really upset me, because I was trying to reflect on the wonderful weekend and many learning experiences I enjoyed. This issue commanded my full attention long before I was interested in changing modes. Cyndie quickly pointed out I had a choice about how to respond to this interruption, and, using a skill gained from her training, helped guide me to a place that we refer to as “getting back to grazing.”
It is a reflection of the behavior of horses, after they are involved in a conflict. Whatever happens is dealt with in the moment, and then it is done. Return to the calm mode of grazing.
It helped. I made some calls, and got back to remembering the great events of the weekend.
We already dearly miss the friends we left behind. Sunday night there was a graduation ceremony, and I tried to get a couple of pictures. Monday morning we had breakfast together, and then went our separate ways. Last night we felt a void, in not being able to check in with them about how the rest of their day went.
It is a great indicator of the bond we are feeling for these special souls who have become new threads in the fabric of our lives.
Many Paths
Today, we fly home. Cyndie has graduated from the Eponaquest apprenticeship program. It is the realization of a dream. We are tired, but it is a good tired.
There are many paths from which to choose, and there are many who are traveling similar paths to ours. We are thrilled to have connected with some very special new friends through this experience, and are looking forward to what is in store for us all on the paths ahead.
Deep Meaning
I am greatly moved by what I have enjoyed the past two days here, learning from the horses. There are many words to be written about it, yet, at the same time, few that will convey the fullness of my experience. It is quite an exercise to move from paying primary attention to my mind, and the limited cues modern society relies on, toward giving the heart and gut equal value. There is wisdom, ancient wisdom, in practicing a more informed awareness of the unseen signals of communication.
Observing and interacting with untethered horses, offers a special opportunity to become more aware of parts of ourselves that we often neglect, or even, simply disregard.
This is Mystique, who communicated with me in ways I have yet to fully comprehend.
I look forward to absorbing the full depth of what transpired in the sessions with the equine companions here.
I believe it is infused with deep meaning for me.
New Skills
Having a wonderful time in the sunshine of southern Arizona, practicing new skills of awareness, and seeing the way horses respond to my communications. For the first time in my life, I was alone inside a round pen with an untethered horse. I enjoyed successful interactions in two different exercises, with two different horses.
It is also a pleasure to meet the other apprentices that Cyndie has been involved with, and be immersed among of group of people who all share a similar interest and belief in the value of this program.
Arizona is beautiful, and, …no surprise, hot, dry, and dusty. It is funny to see scrubby trees and cactus everywhere, but at the little villa of rental units where we are staying, they are trying to keep some palm trees alive.
Forget It
Yesterday was a day to forget. It would be nice if I could, but I have a tendency to hang on to the angst of things when they go awry. I like to bring order from chaos. It is one of the most rewarding aspects of my day-job. I can’t solve everything, but, if by the end of a day, I have achieved putting some things in order, I have a feeling of satisfaction for my contributions.
I didn’t have much luck doing that yesterday. I am wondering if it was somehow a carry-over of my not being able to bring order to the many projects going on at home, just at a time when I was leaving town. For sure, I was rattled by that discovery of a problem with the septic system.
In the morning, I woke over an hour before my alarm, and couldn’t get back to sleep. Of course, my mind was abuzz with preparations for my travel, needing to get ready for work, and get the house ready to be vacant for a couple of days, and to make sure to bring everything I would need for my trip. Also, there was a lot of work waiting for me on my desk at the day-job, so I went in early. I was thinking that I could use that early time to tackle one of the piles and get it processed before events of the day take over.
I never had that chance. Things unraveled early, and everything I seemed to try to get in order just became more chaotic. I had problems with my problems. Really, it was a total disaster. Maybe one of the most difficult days I’ve had, in terms of trying to bring order to chaos.
What can you do? I gave in. I let the chaos lay. I had somewhere to be. I had a deadline to be at the airport. It didn’t help that I stumbled upon a middle-of-the-afternoon traffic backup due to a stalled car. Really? Was this some kind of stress test I was being given over the last few days?
I sure hope it ends soon.
The good news for now is that I have arrived, safe and sound, at my destination, with Cyndie, in Arizona. I really have no idea what is in store for me today, at the introductory Epona workshop that Cyndie’s cadre of apprentices is giving. Maybe it will be a continuation of the stress test for me, but I don’t plan to frame it as such.
I am going to forget the day-job stress, and focus on the new adventure before me. Maybe the difficulties I have faced in the previous two days were just to put me in a place where I will get more from this weekend than I could possibly imagine. I’m going to aim to be open to whatever the lesson is for me here.
New Dilemma
We are now at the middle of May and our place is finally beginning to show signs of greening up. The weather has moved very quickly from chilly temperatures, to a day with a heat advisory being issued. The grass is wasting no time. The lawn beckons to be mowed, especially if we are to keep pace with all the other property owners in the vicinity. Everyone around us seems to have leaped into that task with gusto. Don’t they have more important things to do first?
I still haven’t figured out which areas I want to continue to mow in the manner they were previously tended, and which areas I can turn over to nature’s whimsy. As it is now, areas around the driveway and barn are going to be hard to mow, because of the disruption caused by the projects underway.
Speaking of projects, one more thing demanding immediate attention made an unwelcome appearance yesterday. I was running a load of laundry, in preparation to pack and leave for Arizona, and while I was out discussing the location of our planned backup generator with a contractor, we witnessed some water flow out of the lid of our septic tank!
That’s not right!
Especially, based on the fact that it was pumped out and inspected about 8 months ago when we made our offer on the place. Based on only 2 people living here now, that is way too soon for the tank to need to be pumped again.
It seems a little ironic to me that the whole time our property was soaked through like a wet sponge, there were no signs of trouble from the septic system. Now, just as things are finally drying out, the problem shows up. And, of course, it happens just as I am headed out of town.
So, today, while I am at work, and then headed to the airport, there will be a drilling crew setting up at the house for few days of work, and a septic company pumping our tank. I hope they all get along fine with each other, …and without me.
———————————
I’ve got no posts prepared in advance, so we’ll see what the next few days brings, while I am in Arizona. Cyndie tells me I will have access. Hopefully, I will be able to provide some up-to-date stories and images from our adventures over the coming weekend.
And, hopefully, there’ll be no more new dilemmas popping up for some time.
Good Wet
Of all the days for the new geothermal furnace installation project to start, they picked the day when I leave to join Cyndie in Arizona. Isn’t that just the way things go?
But, hey, that’s progress, and any progress is good progress, as far as I’m concerned this spring. Yesterday, at the house, I was able to meet with the lead person on the boring crew for the fluid lines that will go underground. He said that if all goes well, that part of the job will be done in two days, and thus, completed by the time we get home. It was good to meet him and talk, because as he was leaving, he commented that I may never see him again.
He offered to take some pictures of the process for me, which will be fabulous, because burying the lines is the most dramatic part of the project, I think. The rest is just units in the utility room in the basement, which is about the same as the installation of a conventional furnace, as far as I’m concerned.
Interesting note about our soil, which is the big question regarding whether the boring goes well for them, or not, is that he said, “The wetter, the better.”
Well, we’ve got wet here, that’s for sure!
He also said that clay would be good to go through, so I’m hoping they will benefit from the very thing that has been a big nuisance for the people trying to put up fences for us. The geothermal guys will be happy to find clay and wet soil.
‘Being happy’ sure is a switch from what we’ve been hearing for quite some time now, from the fence contractor.
Lucky Loss
Throughout our life together, up until the purchase of our current property, Cyndie and I had never owned a parcel of land that amounted to a single acre. Now, we are responsible for 20 of them. That feels real intimidating at times. I am seeing an awful lot of things that deserve to be dealt with here, and we just can’t get to them all at once. I need to work on developing acceptance with not being able to take care of every issue I see, as soon as I see it, or I will become very frustrated.
That’s a risky proposition for me. I grew up in a home where I developed a notable ability to accept unaddressed issues. The kitchen of the house where I spent my pre-teen and high school years, was torn up when we move in, with the intent of being remodeled. My father put up metal shelves to store things on. It stayed that way until after I had moved out. It didn’t bother me one bit.
I have a recollection of there being a vice grip pliers to turn on the water for the shower in the bathroom I used. It seemed like a workable solution to me.
I have a dangerous ability to turn a blind eye to any number of things in my own living situation, that would strike me as odd for being overlooked or disregarded in another person’s home. It has taken a conscious effort to motivate myself to not be that guy who just gives up and lives with unfinished business. I have failed more often than I have succeeded in that endeavor over the years.
It seems counter-productive to be considering a strategy that gives me permission to do the very thing I am trying to learn not to do. Somewhere in there, I hope I discover that some sort of achievable healthy balance exists.
I did a short walk-around after work yesterday, to check on the water in our drilled holes, the remains of the smoldering brush pile, and a couple of evergreen trees I have propped up. I also walked past the second pile of root bundles, which is on the agenda for further burning, around the area marked for a labyrinth, up through the now-long (and getting longer) grass on the hill behind our house, and into the garage with wood overhead doors that are about shot, and log siding that is overdue for being re-stained and sealed. All of it on hold for the time being.
I did pass by the one tree that tipped under the weight of the last record-setting snowfall, which we are totally okay with, and have no intention of rescuing. I don’t think I have mentioned it here yet. It is the one tree that we were going to need to get rid of, in order to open up a road on the back side of the barn. We were talking about trying to transplant it, but it was going to be a difficult and iffy task with the equipment we have at hand.
Now the decision is made for us, as the roots have broken, and there is no sense trying to save it. We got lucky on the loss of that one.
…And I am very happy to have an item removed from our list of issues deserving immediate attention around here.
After Burn
I think there was finally a perceptible shift in the drying of things around here. The holes that were drilled for the hay shed are still full of water, but there are other areas that are showing signs of being dry for the first time all spring. Portions of the sand that was brought in for our new driveway loop are drying up and getting very hard. Some of the clay that got knocked off the drill bit of the skid loader has dried, and seems like a chunk from a broken ceramic pot.
The most vivid example was in the behavior of the burning brush pile. Elysa was helping me to drag dead and dried branches out of the woods, and down to fuel the burn of the pile. Each time we tossed more wood on the fire, we tried to move the primary target of burn further into the pile. I had worked all morning, and she arrived to help me haul multiple loads in the afternoon, and the progress was meager, gaining ground on a relatively small percentage of green branches remaining in the pile.
I had hoped to see the bulk of the branches knocked down by the end of the weekend, but it was looking less likely, as we began to run out of steam for hauling. While we stood watching the last load we had added begin to ignite, it was as if someone 
flipped a switch. Maybe it was the two days of wind, and all that sunshine on Sunday, and things finally dried to a point of combustion. Without a hint of what was about to happen, the fire picked up momentum and proceeded to light up the whole of the remaining center of the pile.
It happened so fast, I didn’t get around to pulling out my camera. It was a dramatic spectacle, and thoroughly entertaining, bordering on scary. It was definitely beyond our control for a while there. That fire was going to do whatever it wanted to, and we wouldn’t have been able to stop it. Luckily, there was nothing around the pile but open pasture, and the bulk of fire energy was rising straight up, with little in the way of ash.
And, most of the area is still pretty wet. It is dry enough to burn brush piles, but not dry enough to dig post holes.
By the time we finished, that pile looked more like a little volcano than a brush pile. Now they need to turn over some of that dirt with their skid loader and reshape things, knocking out the roots from the soil. We made great progress, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t still a bunch of wood that will need to be burned. I don’t know how long conditions will continue to be acceptable for burning, but I think I will be striving to make it more of a controlled burn when we get around to working on the remainder of what’s there.
Project Interrupted
Happy Mother’s Day, all you moms out there! 
Yesterday, the crew showed up to begin the process of framing the hay shed. They didn’t get very far. Guess what. It’s too wet. Imagine that. At least they accomplished the first critical step of stringing up the exact square dimension of the future structure. After that, they drilled one hole with the skid loader, and quickly discovered they would not be able to set the posts yet.
The dirt that came out of the hole was a sloppy muck that plopped to the ground like a wet cow pie. Then the hole filled with about 2-feet of water,
the sides of the hole collapsing, as water ran in. If you look closely at the second image, you will see the muck in mid-air, dropping from the drill on the skid loader.
Progress is stalled, once again. But, not for lack of trying. At this point, all we can do is wait for nature to take its course. Luckily, it was a windy day, which does wonders for drying things.
Too bad it was offset by a May 11 snow shower. We need wind and sun, not wind and snow.
I busied myself with getting a fire started in the brush pile nearest the barn. We haven’t been giving this pile as much attention as the other one, partly because it has so much dirt on the pile. It also has a much larger collection of branches, most of them still too green to burn easily.
To get them to ignite, we have to feed a lot of dry wood to the pile, so I made multiple trips up the hill toward the house, to pull out dead branches that are stacked throughout the woods across from the house and shop garage.
It isn’t the type of walking exercise that I am supposed to be doing, especially when I am trying to lift too heavy a batch of branches, but I hope it counts for something, because it totally exhausted me. I decided to end my work before something gave out on my body and forced me to be done.
We’ll see if I quit in time to save energy for today. Over half of that brush pile remains, and I have plenty of trips to make if I’m going to reduce it a noticeable amount by the end of the day.
Relative Something 