Archive for July 2013
Horse Power
Yesterday, I was sitting in our kitchen, with Delilah at my feet, sprawled out on the cool of the tile, when I heard a new sound coming up the driveway. It was our neighbor from the CSA farm, arriving with a team of horses to cut hay. What a wonderful sight to see. I grabbed my camera and followed them down to the pasture, calling Cyndie on my cell phone as I walked. I knew she would really love to see this, and how much she wanted to learn how to drive his team of horses. She was over an hour away, but I could hear in her voice how interested she was in getting home as quickly as possible.
Delilah and I wandered the hills around the field, watching the action. My favorite part was how quiet the process is. The cutter is a sickle bar, and is powered by the forward motion of the rig being pulled by the horses. It was a truly bucolic scene.
Cyndie made it home just in time to get out and learn some details of the process, and watch him make the last few passes. Then, he gave her chance to do the driving, luckily, without needing to navigate a row or position the cutting blade. She’s a pretty quick study, and soon was directing them to make a couple of turns and urging them up the hill. One more skill that she fearlessly adds to her already amazing repertoire.
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Memorable Weekend
Returning to work can really increase the feelings of longing for the pleasures recently enjoyed over a holiday weekend. Since I had Monday off, that made yesterday my first day back after the long break. Yikes, what a contrast. The day-job doesn’t have nearly the appeal of a long weekend at the lake place.
What a great time we had this year, with our annual batch of games, followed by dinner at the lodge and fireworks shot from the beach after dark.
I was in something of a hurry to get home and pick up where we left off with projects at Wintervale, but after arriving back to chores, the allure of the lake just became more enticing. Add to that, a dose of the day-job, and thoughts of returning to the lake become all-encompassing.
It says a lot when people in a community like that influence you so deeply, after just a brief visit, that all you can think about is finding a way to return to be with them again.
It’s too bad I don’t have a job that involves hanging out with friends and family for days on end. I think I would be well-suited for a position like that.
Growing Family
Yesterday, we added a new member to our family. Her name is Delilah. She is a 10-month-old Belgian Shepherd dog, also known as a Belgian Tervuren. Ultimately, we expect her to be a perfect fit for us here, but it will take a while to get the cats and her adjusted to fully accepting each other. I now have even more adventures to write about here, and we haven’t even added horses yet!
Home Again
photo by Elysa Hays
We made an early exit from the balloon toss competition this year. Elysa snapped this photo, in which I am holding up the remnants of our water balloon. Cyndie made a perfectly good throw, but I messed up the catch. Somebody immediately hollered that it was a classic example of farmer’s hands, since I didn’t execute the soft catch required.
We endured some long traffic backups on the drive home yesterday, due to the heavy volume of holiday traffic. I plan to do some exploring in the future, for the possibility of using back roads to avoid the areas where a turn causes a log jam of vehicles to accumulate.
Our cats didn’t seem to hold a grudge against us for having left them alone, and immediately sought as much hands-on attention as we were willing to give. It appears we won’t have to worry about leaving them alone for a weekend.
We decided to give our attention to the labyrinth for the rest of the day. I used our old reel mower to cut the turf at the lowest setting, while Cyndie did some weed pulling and trimmed the long grass around the perimeter. Then I measured and marked the last of the areas where Cyndie wants to do some planting, along the axis where the entrance is located.
The essential steps that remain after that are, laying markers to establish all the lanes, and putting down some gravel or wood chips on the path. Optionally, we are still considering planting a tree near the middle, and we are hoping to do a bit more work dressing up the grounds immediately surrounding the labyrinth. Cyndie would like to make a bench out of found natural materials, to be located near the entrance, allowing for a moment of pause before embarking on the journey.
Something tells me there will be a permanent urge to continue to refine and enhance the whole thing. It will likely always be a growing and changing space, which will be a reflection of our growth and change with the passing of time.
New Slide
We are enjoying our annual Independence Day celebrations at the lake place. Cyndie’s brother brought up a new toy for the kids to try out on the hill from the cabin down to the lake: Turbo Chute. It works pretty well, but the kids end up kind of speechless at the bottom, not sure what they’ve just experienced. I figure they are liking it, because they climb the stairs repeatedly to try it again, and again.
A proclamation was read anointing Steve as “King Neptune” for a day, in honor of his incredible contributions toward the unending aqua fun available to the kids here.
It’s been a nice couple of days, taking a break from projects at Wintervale, but we will head home today in hopes of resuming work on our wood shed and the labyrinth, among other tasks waiting for attention at home.
This has been the longest that we have been away from the cats, so we are eager to see if they accept being left alone or not. It is nice to be able to get away and up to the refreshing coolness of the lake. We envision being able to have our kids take care of animals at Wintervale for future weekends that don’t involve the whole family being up here together at the same time, so we can enjoy some lake time. It is only two hours away from us, so we want to take advantage of it as often as we can.
Fourth
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holiday weekend
early July
at the lake
kids galore
laughter and tears
“get me a drink”
“I want that”
oops
manners forgot
sunny lake breeze
boats to and fro
soccer on the lawn
plastic chairs
as goal posts
game without borders
play continues
through the playground
around the tractor
and back
19 goals later
throngs hit the beach
shrieks splashing
in every direction
parents lounging
side by side
on chairs in the shade
as the sailboat returns
triumphant
smoke wafting
from the hot tub burner
and our campfire, too
where the potatoes in foil
simmer enticingly
marshmallows melting
charred by flame
then card games on the porch
firecrackers popping outside
carefree pleasures
galore
happy weekend
celebrating
July four
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Sense
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delayed reaction
ancient wisdom
flows
invisibly iridescent
radiating tangible value
solutions
overflowing with simple
yet complex
enduring congruence
of earth
rocks and sky
sunlight
growing things
water
waiting
like notes in a song
existing
obvious
and lost
in patterns
of the whole
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Banner Day
We had a banner day of progress at Wintervale yesterday. I got home from the day-job early and immediately changed into grubby clothes to go out and work. We have had enough days in a row without new rainfall that I felt emboldened to bring out the big tractor and try knocking down the overgrown grass in and around the paddocks. It went as well as I could expect, only getting into a bit of a muddy mess, two times.
I had enough success that I decided to try cutting a path around the back toward the location of our labyrinth. If that was dry enough, I could take a shot at moving the boulders that have resisted all previous attempts. Cyndie was quick to join me there. She has been wishing for these rocks to be moved everyday since we gave up the last time. Yesterday turned out to be our day.
It took a lot of tries, but we ultimately triumphed over the task. We got the keepers stood up and positioned, and the discards have been removed. This opens up the door for us to finish laying out the path from the entrance to the center.
Here’s hoping the progress of finally getting the boulders where we want them, will motivate us to get the rest of it done without allowing too many interruptions to interfere.
Important Message
This week the U.S. celebrates our Independence Day, and in the nick of time, warm and sunny weather is settling into the region. That means a lot of people will be heading to their favorite lake places and vacation spots, and probably spending some time splashing in lakes and pools. On Monday, I was shocked to see a rather morbid graphic with an article in a local paper on the subject of drowning, and what drowning actually looks like.
Even though the subject can be disturbing and unpleasant, I’m glad it caught my attention. I learned something very important about drowning, and it is something that I believe should be more universally known, especially by parents of young children.
Revisiting the online version of the article that I had read in the paper version of the StarTribune, I don’t find the same haunting graphic, but the drama of the gripping opening paragraphs is there:
The new captain jumped from the deck, fully dressed, and sprinted through the water. A former lifeguard, he kept his eyes on his victim as he headed straight for the couple swimming between their anchored sportfisher and the beach.
“I think he thinks you’re drowning,” the husband said to his wife. They had been splashing each other and she had screamed but now they were just standing, neck-deep on the sand bar. “We’re fine; what is he doing?” she asked, a little annoyed. “We’re fine!” the husband yelled, waving him off, but the captain kept swimming hard.
“Move!” he barked as he sprinted between the stunned boat owners. Directly behind them, not 10 feet away, their 9-year-old daughter was drowning. Once she was safe above the surface in the arms of the captain, she burst into tears, “Daddy!”
I did not realize that a drowning person does not present the classic signals of distress that I expected would be present, and that have been used for years by the television and film industry to convey the situation: yelling for help, splashing in the water, and flailing about. It doesn’t work that way in real life, and that is very important to know.
Before I learned to swim, which was long after most children do, I jumped off a raft for the umpteenth time one day, and shockingly discovered it had floated far enough away from shore that I was now out over my head. I thought I would drown. I swallowed water, hit the bottom and came back up. I didn’t make a sound. There wasn’t much time to think, but I recall not wanting to make a fuss or draw attention. What a silly, and potentially deadly, reaction that is. I didn’t make a sound.
Luckily, that bounce off the bottom I made, moved me forward enough that I sensed I was close, and I bounced down and back up a couple of times until the water was no longer over my head. Coughing, I made my way back to shore and sat on land for a long time. I didn’t tell anyone what had happened. I was embarrassed that I didn’t know how to swim.
Now, I think about all the times in my life that I have been charged with supervising swimming children, to assure their safety, and I shudder over the fact that I never actually knew the most important sign I should really have been on the lookout for.
Watch out for that kid who goes quiet!
I found a better graphic in an online search, at the site of The Great Lakes Surf Rescue Project, Inc. I encourage you to visit their page to read about the real signs of drowning.
Experiential Learning
I admit it, I have never done anything like trying to build a shed on my own. I’ve wanted a wood shed since we arrived last October, but with no experience, it took me all this time to get over the hurdle of just deciding to try.
In a search for what I wanted for a wood shed, I quickly and easily came upon images of styles that appealed to me. One of the sites even had a rudimentary sketch of a plan to build a simple version for low-cost, if you scrounge materials from what is available to you.
I decided to use the old fence posts that we have from the original fencing that we had removed last fall. Other pieces slowly seemed to appear and fill out my list of needs. The key piece I wanted to have was roof material that would be translucent, like corrugated panels I have seen on other roofs of this type of structure. I was finding that to be a difficult thing to scrounge. I didn’t do a lot of aggressive searching, which left me hoping something would just magically appear out of nowhere.
When that didn’t happen, I started to research what was available for purchase from building supply retailers. The first large entity I shopped at didn’t stock anything of the type, but one friendly customer service person spent time searching their records for something that would work. He came up with an option that wasn’t quite right, and would cost 10-times what I was interested in spending.
I find it funny how quickly after that, I fell into a mode of thinking this wouldn’t be the way to go. Then I got around to visiting the next building supply retailer in the region, just in case I was giving up too soon, and to my surprise, there in front of my eyes was the exact product I envisioned, stocked on the sales floor, and at an acceptable price. My hope was restored!
That left one last crucial step. I needed to commit to the location. It was a tough decision, but in the short time since clearing the ground at that spot, I have grown very happy with that choice.
There was nothing left to stop me from getting on with the cutting and hammering. I spent the weekend toiling away, trying to figure out what the essential steps were that need consideration, and then in what order it all needed to take place. I had a dream of being able to start and finish it all in a short span of days. By Sunday night, my accomplishments were: the ground was leveled, footings were located and leveled, and the vertical posts were attached to the horizontal beams, ready to be erected.
It’s not bad progress, for a first-ever attempt, but I had higher hopes. Things take the time they take, and I want to remember to be present and appreciate the variety of interruptions that inevitably pop up, even when they delay the project.
The delays actually provide a chance for earlier lessons to sink in, and time to consult with advisers on how I might choose to proceed with the next learning opportunity.
Relative Something 