Relative Something

It was kind of a slow day yesterday at Wintervale. We are approaching the first freezing overnight temperatures, so it is time to pull the pump out of our little landscape pond, and drain all our hoses. I got part way through that project. It has been that kind of week for me. I seem to only get part way to completion on everything I choose to do.

We had some luck with Delilah behaving well, a couple of days ago, so I gave her some time off-leash. I was walking around the area that I recently mowed, on the north side of the driveway, taking measurements for future fencing, and she was having the time of her life. She was running back and forth at amazing speed. It was going so well, I offered to take her for a walk through our woods. She bolted down the trail, getting way ahead of me. When I got to a place I could see her, she was facing the neighbor’s woods, locked in on something.

I called her, but she had tuned me out, and then she darted through the rusty barbed wire fence that separates our properties. I didn’t see her again for about half an hour. Our period of lucky good behavior had come to an end. While waiting for her to come back, I killed time by pulling Buckthorn up by the roots. Upon her return, she got shuttled directly to her kennel where she spent the rest of the day.

I tried to do some work shaping the main drainage channel beyond the paddocks, but it was too soon after a recent rain, and my boots and tools became a comical mud disaster. I switched my focus to the deck, where I proceeded to dismantle our gas grill to troubleshoot a problem with gas flow. I hope it is the regulator, because I have exhausted all other logical possibilities. That’ll require a trip to the store where I bought it, to swap out that part.

As the afternoon wore on, a little sunshine appeared, so I headed down to mow the labyrinth pathways. It was still a little wet, but manageable. I guess that one did get accomplished, although it doesn’t feel like completion because, by walking the path to mow, I keep seeing all the things we still want to work on down there. I’m wondering how well it will survive the winter, and whether we will be able to walk the path throughout the complete snow season.

It wasn’t one of those dramatically rewarding days here, but that’s okay. There is something valuable to be gained from days like this. The horses have a way of dealing with things, and then just going back to grazing. At one point yesterday, I decided to go down and be by the horses, to immerse myself in that kind of energy. Being with them can provide a sense of calm.

It was good for me, but I must admit, I don’t think I could rate the visit as being anything more than just a partial accomplishment, in that regard.