Archive for the ‘Chronicle’ Category
Clock’s Ticking
We are quickly running out of time to accomplish any of our goals that require an ability to see clearly into our woods. Leaves and flowers are about to burst forth like a volcanic eruption.
Grass is growing enough already that I did a little mowing with the push mower in front of Cyndie’s perennial garden and the sunny spot behind the barn that always grows faster than anywhere else on our property.
While I was tending to compost piles mid-morning, I looked up and found three of the horses on the ground napping with Light standing watch.
I finished the afternoon with a shift clearing out downed branches that have accumulated in the area where we recently pulled out a few miles of grape vines. All the time I spent in there battling vines revealed just how many branches were on the ground.
We keep going back and forth over wanting to pick up dead wood that falls or leaving it to decay. We soon discovered it’s a fool’s errand to think we could stay ahead of the number of branches that are constantly dropping. The problem is that ignoring the situation for very long gives the place a neglected look and makes the clean-up job much more work when we finally decide to do it.
I made piles that must now be hauled away from the lane around the back-pasture fence. Anything dry can be run through the chipper, but the rest will be tossed onto the natural fence wall where we just piled all the willow branches we cut down on Monday.
If we don’t move all these branches today, I worry we will get distracted by other projects. Suddenly, the piles will be swallowed by grasses and brambles, and we won’t see them again for a year.
We are on the verge of a green growth explosion. If we listen closely, I think we could hear leaves unfolding all around us.
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Topped Off
In preparation for the pending installation of a shade sail in the paddock, yesterday, Cyndie and I cut off the last of the big branches on the dying willow tree. This is what it looked like before I started cutting:
Despite a strong, gusting wind and ridiculous footing due to the saturated heavy clay mud all around the tree, all three large limbs came down without a disaster occurring.
If I had needed to make a hasty exit due to an unexpected twisting or a limb snapping where I didn’t intend, there is a good chance I would have needed to leave a boot behind, suctioned in the muck, to pull my foot out and dive clear. Thankfully, no evasive action was required.
I am very grateful that Cyndie was able to act as a spotter and offer smart advice to cut portions at a time but not make more cuts than necessary. She also carried more than her share of heavy loads in the clean-up work after the main cutting was done.
We made good use of all three of our Stihl chainsaw tools to complete this exercise. The little hand pruner is priceless for cutting all the small branches off the main trunks. I needed to use the big saw to cut the large limbs into pieces we could carry. It only required three trips with the trailer behind the ATV to haul away all the debris and leave the paddock and surrounding area looking better than it did before we started.
The result was more dramatic than I anticipated it would be. Removing all that height of branches towering over the small paddock created a startling difference in the ambiance of the entire area. My first impression is that I don’t like the change. However, it won’t be long until the next phase will happen in the form of the shade sail, and I think that will go a long way toward compensating for the loss of the tall willow tree branches.
We are expecting delivery of the canopy by the end of today and the lumber is due to be delivered on Thursday. I am meeting with a local contractor on Wednesday afternoon to negotiate his support to rent a post-hole auger and then supervise or assist as needed in getting the frame erected. I saw his company advertised on the Nextdoor app, offering professional help to lay people trying to accomplish DIY projects that stretch just a little beyond their abilities. It seemed like a perfect fit for this endeavor. It sounded like he felt the same way in our initial email exchanges.
By the end of this week, we should have a good idea of when the groundbreaking will occur. I can’t imagine the horses have any clue about what’s in store.
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So Rewarding
Yesterday, our daughter, Elysa, brought friends for a day of Wintervale exploration, a day that had been planned for weeks. Cyndie and I have been watching the weather forecasts which consistently reflected a chance of rain. Instead of precipitation, we were rewarded with a fair amount of afternoon sun.
We had spent an afternoon sprucing up the labyrinth in preparation for their visit, trimming bushes, re-balancing stones, and removing accumulated leaves.
It looked pretty good, which rewards us every time we walk past.
There is already enough grass growth happening that it could use a mowing to keep it looking well-tended. I will certainly need to cut it before the arrival of World Labyrinth Day in three weeks.
I’m looking forward to that day because of my plan to measure the circumference of the transplanted maple tree in the center circle of the labyrinth annually on the first Saturday of May. Last year was the first time I measured it, establishing a reading of 7.25 inches as the initial reference dimension.
After the five guests finished walking the labyrinth, they made their way to see the horses, where we were rewarded in several more ways. First off, simply the fact that the horses were in a very social mood all day was a big plus. The horses rarely seem bothered by groups of talkative strangers and all the added energy they bring.
The herd was on their best behavior. They all took turns lingering at the fence for scritches or treats being offered. Most rewarding for me was seeing Mia, the mare most easily startled, stay engaged at a fence gate to receive hands-on attention even after a couple of flinches when something spooked her.
That is uncommon for her.
Elysa was reaching to untangle some fairy knots in Mia’s mane until Mia had had enough. Instead of stepping away, Mia simply reversed her orientation and gave up her other side for scratching.
The most timid horse showing such self-confidence warmed my heart.
Once again, it is visitors who truly bring Wintervale to life. That is a reward we will never grow tired of receiving.
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Memory Tests
Here’s a simple tip for managing undeveloped property: After you cut back any growing tree or plant, always follow up and cut back new sprouts that emerge from the stump. My challenge is remembering where to look for the new shoots that pop up since I tend to forget where I have left behind fresh cuts.
That grapevine sent out at least six new shoots that spread out in every direction. It had been a while since we cleared out this area and I discovered some of the shoots had traveled several trees away to climb branches. I think we need to start putting little flags in places where we cut something off to trigger me to come back sooner rather than later to follow up.
Our pile of extracted vines is getting pretty tall. It’s too bad I can’t seem to make progress on the thought of building an archway out of vines. At least I’m able to remember that I was considering the possibility.
Yesterday, I spotted a horse that I thought was Swings lying down for a nap and was planning to sneak closer to take a picture. Then she picked up her head and I saw it was Light, whom we wished would get more deep rest because she was acting sleep-deprived. I stopped my approach and took the picture from a distance because I didn’t want to disturb her.
She ended up getting to her feet shortly after my aborted approach. Hard to say whether it was my doing or a choice she would have made regardless of my presence.
Last night we had a humorous lapse in our memory for a dinner date with our friends, Paul and Beth. Cyndie picked a new restaurant to check out in Stillwater and made reservations. As I made the final turn into the parking area, I realized we’d been there before.
I recognized the front seating area where we’d sat with Paul and Beth the last time we’d been there. They had picked the restaurant at that time because they had been given a gift certificate to eat there.
At least I remembered that the food was good.
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Everything’s Changed
The rule of law seems to be melting into meaninglessness right before our eyes. When insider trading is happening out in the open, in the highest government office, it sends a pretty blatant message to the rest of us. I’m so happy to be on an expedition avoiding sights or sounds of HeWho (as in “He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named”).
Every day that I give ZERO attention to awful people who feed on attention is a day when my power wins the battle.
In our herd of horses, the role of muddiest mare has changed from the usual pair of either Mix or Light to Mia this week.
Mia displays a trait of flicking her head with a feigned biting gesture to ward off unwanted contact. It is very easy to read and respect when she is not feeling touchy-feely. If I approach her with kind words and a gentle hand, giving her time to sniff me and judge my intentions, she may not feel threatened, but she will usually still give that little biting-the-air motion as a proactive protection/personal space preservation.
I usually tell her that it’s not necessary, but I don’t take offense. The other day, she approached me as I was doing my usual housekeeping chores in the paddock. She came very close, so I stopped what I was doing and let her do all the sniffing she wanted. I was happy to have her initiate such intimate contact.
Then she made her little nipping toward me move, which triggered a quick response of objection from me.
“Uh uh. Not this time, girl. You approached me! Don’t be bitin’ in my general direction in this situation.”
You know what else has changed for me? Every time I see something about Canada, I experience a deep disappointment over being a citizen of the U.S. of A.
Disrespecting our good neighbor to the north really didn’t need to happen. If HeWho and his minions weren’t such (expletive deleted), that relationship could have been preserved.
At this point, I don’t see how we will ever be able to regain the goodwill we had before.
I guess not everything has changed. I’ve been told that a certain group of people still blame Biden for anything that is going wrong today. And, you know, Hillary’s email.
I wish there was a way to make America intelligent again. Not that it ever was to a degree we liked to pretend, but at least this current tide of idiocracy didn’t always have unobstructed access to the controls other than in the movies.
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Trigger Pulled
We had a full day yesterday with some rewarding outcomes, starting with a vision appointment for me where I learned my eyes are in very good shape for my age. Who wouldn’t be happy to hear their eye doctor offering admiration for the measurements resulting from tests? He probably says that to all his patients.
While I was in Hudson, I was able to pick up an online order that Cyndie had placed with Fleet Farm and then I made a stop at Menard’s to pull the trigger on buying posts and hardware for our shade sail project. I have settled on a supplier for the canopy but haven’t locked in which size I will order.
The first version of shade sail I was considering was a very expensive commercial grade, but further research uncovered a similar technology at a fraction of the cost that I am excited about. They provided a free sample of their corner hardware for attaching to anchor points and swathes of all their color options.
The new posts will be delivered next week but I plan to wait until I have the shade sail to lay on the ground for verification of post locations before digging holes.
Late in the day, we received notice that there would be a pallet of grain feed bags delivered which would be a first to our location from a different supplier than in the past. It was a BIG truck.
Sure beats tossing 28 bags by hand. Unfortunately, the temporary fill-in driver ended up spinning his tires when trying to back away from the pallet and got himself stuck in the barn. Between the two of us, we used a couple of tricks to get the rig unstuck with minor disruption to the dirt floor.
That delivery shenanigans happened just as our streaming program of “Boomers vs. Zoomers” by Jane Fonda’s Climate PAC and MoveOn was beginning. We donated money to their cause which provided a ticket to watch celebrities struggle for answers in a trivia contest.
I joined the program already in progress.
Their contest might have worked well enough as a fundraiser but it didn’t prove to be a knockout for entertainment value. The inspirational talks by a few key people, of which Jane Fonda was one, were another reason they were doing this program but I felt it was just more “preaching to the choir.”
It’s hard for me to feel the efforts of people and organizations trying to rally support against the ongoing destruction of our government are accomplishing anything that actually interrupts the nefarious activities underway. It seems like they are just collecting money, which is what the crooks currently in the White House are busy doing as well.
Bad air just keeps going into this balloon and all that happens is people talk about how bad it is and maybe we can slow things down or in a couple of years make it harder to inflate. I’d prefer someone just put a pin in it right now and pop the damn thing.
It is not crying wolf to say that there is a fox in the henhouse, the sky is falling, and the Emporer has no clothes.
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Ani Concert
We were out on the town again last night, hustling to downtown Minneapolis after feeding the dog and horses to see Ani DiFranco performing at First Avenue.
Cyndie purchased the tickets last September and then choreographed getting us there in perfect timing to select a spot where we wouldn’t have tall people standing in front of us. I just had to show up and enjoy the show.
Ani was in fine form and the crowd showered her with love.
It made for a very pleasant night. I’m a bit out of practice for a concert performance that requires standing for the entire night and for a venue where the volume makes earplugs advisable. I had no hearing protection and regretted it.
We are fans of Ani’s earlier albums, having discovered her at an outdoor music festival at Hyland Lake Park Reserve in the early to mid-90s. It was obvious that the crowd last night shared a similar appreciation for Ani’s music from that period and we were all treated to a variety of our old favorites.
Ani mentioned a recent interviewer asked if she was still singing protest songs. Not appreciating being labeled a protest singer, Ani said she performs to bring people joy. She certainly achieved that last night, and from the look on her face, I think the warm responses from the audience returned the joy right back to her.
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Taxing Effort
It took a toll on our patience and stamina but yesterday, we finished installing barriers to all the rafters under the overhang to stop pigeons from roosting there. Our hands took a lot of abuse from the stabbing ends of hardware cloth we cut into short pieces we attached to the beams.
Amid the clatter of banging aluminum ladders, two cursing adults, and my noisy power driver, the horses accepted all the racket as white noise to help them nap.
I quickly realized how much of a total body workout it is to work overhead while standing on a fully extended ladder. I had switched from a staple gun to driving screws to secure the pieces of metal mesh. Reaching above my head meant I barely had enough leverage to put sufficient pressure against the head of the screws. That forced me to flex every muscle in my body to stiffen up enough to keep the driver engaged with the screw head.
Meanwhile, the bottoms of my feet on the ladder rungs kept getting increasingly irritated from needing to hold all my weight on such a narrow portion of my sole. When I climbed back down to solid ground, my right knee let me know it was unhappy with the stress of standing on the ladder.
All that abuse sure better produce the result we are seeking. We’ll soon find out if the pigeons will get the message we are sending. I’m looking forward to working on our next project with my feet on the ground.
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More Splashin’
If there was ever any question about how Paddock Lake seems to keep getting deeper and deeper over time, the following video provides a pretty clear demonstration of what it’s like when the horses decide to play in the water.
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When we first heard the ruckus, all three of Mia, Light, and Swings were kicking at the water at the same time. That was quite a sight. By the time Cyndie was able to pull out her phone to record the action, Swings and Mia were yielding their time to Light.
Light went at it with gusto. I am curious about whether she was trying to accomplish anything or just splashing for the sake of splashing. She certainly was achieving at least that much.
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Public Protest
Sitting beside two women I didn’t know, I asked them if they ever imagined this would be happening in our lifetimes. The response from the elder of the two was that it was her second protest of a President because she previously took to the streets in objection to Nixon.
I didn’t know what to expect in terms of numbers but it seemed a little thin at first. We had no difficulty finding a place to park our car. Walking a short distance, we found a line of sign-carrying folks coming down the sidewalk toward us and chanting.
As they reached us, we fell in with the marchers while passing cars honked on our way to the small park where a soap box would be presented for people to speak their minds.
While people robustly expressed their deep dissatisfaction with everything the current administration has been doing, passing cars continued to honk in support of the “Hands Off!” theme. This occasionally triggered those gathered on the other side of the road to start chanting, which drowned out some of the words of the speakers, but we always got the gist of each message.
The small gathering in River Falls drew people from Minnesota on the other side of the St. Croix River, from Hudson, and from Red Wing. It was inspiring.
I learned of the somewhat subtle silent protest of “8647” on a sign, which I think is clever. There were plenty of other witty and creative slogans I found entertaining, as well. Among the many spoken messages shared by citizens, I was particularly pleased to hear one gentleman describing having just returned from a trip around Europe. He shared that the people of several countries they visited were not thinking poorly of us –sympathetic, maybe– but their beef was with our leaders, same as us.
“How are those cheap eggs working out for ya?”
The most moving speaker was a Hispanic immigrant who talked about working long, hard hours milking cows and searching for work that others don’t want to do. She just wanted a little compassion amidst the callous aggression being doled out by masked, plain-clothed ICE agents who are “disappearing” people with no acknowledgment of whether or not violations had actually occurred.
Most of the people who stepped up to the microphone were retirement-age so one guy put up a challenge to the crowd that the next person to speak needed to be under 30. It worked, and soon we were hearing the opinions of several from younger generations.
A lot of people expressed pride in our country and that is why they are protesting. I’m more inclined to admit I was protesting because I’m not proud of my country at this point.
At least, for now, we were still granted the freedom to assemble and exercise our right to free speech. No AI bots and no fake news. Just real people telling it the way they see it. It was cathartic if nothing else.
Rating: 10/10. I’d do it again.
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Relative Something 