Archive for the ‘Chronicle’ Category
Spending Time
A zone of mental energy resonates when a jigsaw puzzler hits their stride and loses track of the world while reassembling an image, one piece at a time. I’m one of those who enjoy that mental resonation, yet I sometimes question the value of the outcome merely being a picture that will soon be disassembled and returned to a box and stored out of sight.
I recently discovered that I experience a similar mental energy reward by digging up weeds from the gravel portion of the driveway loop around the hay shed. In some ways, it provides a more powerful reward than jigsaw puzzling because the activity results are not then stored in a box on a shelf.
Every time I go past that weeded gravel and see how much better it looks, I enjoy a bonus reward from the previous effort. There is also a bonus brought on by time. The puzzle is never-ending because in no time at all, there will be new weeds available for pulling.
Actually, that image might make for a good challenge in a jigsaw puzzle.
On a rainy day when still in shock from an unanticipated dose of grief, losing myself in a repetitive routine task offers a welcome respite. It’s hard to tell if the body aches I experience at the end of the day come more from activity or sorrow.
When the heart hurts, a whole lot of the rest of us hurts, too.
.
.
Guitar Pal
I first met him as my friend’s friend. The Honorable H. Peter Albrecht. Only knowing him for all too short a time did nothing to soften the horrible shock of learning Peter died yesterday after suffering a stroke. The primary connection I was privileged to have with Peter was playing guitar and singing songs at our friend, Gary Larson’s “music night” parties.
Peter was fun, funny, friendly, gracious, witty, a jokester, I’ve heard prankster, and did I mention fun? He also was a collector of guitars. Peter described keeping an old empty guitar case at his office so he could purchase a new (to him) instrument and bring it home without revealing he had added another guitar to his collection.
He didn’t exclusively play and collect guitars. Some nights after dinner at Gary’s, Peter would pull out a gorgeous mandolin or less often, a banjo. As thrilling as that was for me to see the greater extent of his musical passions, it left me struggling to follow along without being able to see what chord he was playing on songs I didn’t know.
We all tend to struggle with remembering lyrics at times. When Peter clicked into a song, I found myself mesmerized by the many verses he was able to deliver with ease. Suddenly, he would nod my way and invite me to improvise a lead up the fretboard, jarring me back to needing to connect my head with my fingers.
I cherish the stories from Gary and Peter’s years together working as judges that I was able to hear over so many dinners. It was not enough though. I was playing my guitar yesterday to polish up my underused skills in preparation for the latest occasion of Gary’s music party scheduled for tonight.
Receiving that shocking message from Gary yesterday afternoon introduced a finality that I’m wrestling to comprehend. How can Peter be gone? Why didn’t I play more songs with him when I had the chance?
It has instantly made every memory of playing together with Peter and Ned Wahl on those music nights a pure treasure for me.
I wrote a song for Gary to commemorate his many years of hosting these parties. Peter was such an influence on me he made it into the lyrics, good-naturedly poking fun at him for his bad jokes.
look what Gary has created
he’s done it again
gathered all of us together
to feast among friendsthen we revel with some music
and lush sing-alongs
well maybe not so lush
we can’t remember the songsChorus: hail, hail our friend Gary
it’s a wonderful thing
he gets all of us together
and inspires us to singwe pause to remember
all the times come before
then relish this fine moment
singing with friends we adoresome say it’s penance we’re paying
for being so well-fed
or a way to forget the worst jokes
Peter has saidbut the truth is that we’re happy
to sing when it comes time
it’s a precious thing to be here
mixing with folks so divine
Into the light, Peter. I will think of you every time I flip the latches open on my guitar case.
.
.
Over Top
This is a test. For the next period of substantial rain, I will be testing a new downspout configuration from the gutter along our entry walkway. I have rerouted it overhead.
If it appears to work, I will continue with the next phase of creating an arbor to camouflage the aluminum a little bit. That work will probably commence after I tackle the masonry crack repairs and re-grade the landscaping along the foundation.
When I started contemplating a change in the way that downspout drains, almost everything I searched dealt with burying the drain beneath a walkway. The total lack of information about routing a downspout drain overhead had me assuming there was a functional reason that isn’t done.
However, like all online search exercises, you need to ask the right question to get the answer you seek. When my search refinements finally provided images of others doing what I was considering, I gained the confidence to take a crack at it.
I won’t take long to observe this new setup in action. Rain is in the forecast for the next five days.
Sure wish I’d gotten more mowing done before this next wet spell. There are areas where the grass really needs trimming but the ground hasn’t been dry enough to support the weight of the lawn tractor. I’ve been chipping away as time allowed, using the hand mower in certain areas but it will go much quicker when I can use the rider.
When the rain finally stops, it takes about three days here for the wet zones to drain enough to make mowing feasible. Meanwhile, during those three days, the blades continue to get taller by the minute.
It would be great if someone would design a flying drone that cuts grass in wet areas. Just need to figure out how to keep the propeller down draft from flattening the grass you are trying to cut. Oh, the drone could fly high enough that it wouldn’t affect the grass and the cutting sickle bar could hang on a long suspension line.
Look at that. We are almost done inventing it. Just a couple of minor details left to work out. What color should it be?
Okay, that’s a little over the top. Well, so is my gutter downspout. Do you think it will be a viable solution to get the water away from the house without obstructing the walkway? I’m favoring function over form here. It might look a little hokey at this point, but it is better than the (broken) plastic setup that it’s replacing.
Bring on the rain. This is only a test.
.
.
Budding Signs
We are beginning to see hints of color on the tops of certain trees on the horizon. Many shrubs and bushes at eye level are sprouting tiny new leaves. Looking straight up, signs of life appear at the ends of high branches of tall trees. It won’t be long before we have trees with leaves again.
It’s been a while since we’ve experienced any high-heat days. Recently, our mornings have hovered around the freezing point but I don’t think it has been harsh enough to kill new sprouts. Grasses are going gangbusters and will require mowing soon or some areas will get out of hand.
In yesterday’s glorious sunshine, Asher stopped in the middle of a walk to lie down in the shade and watch the natural world unfolding before us. I decided to sit down with him.
In less than 30 seconds, I spotted a wood tick walking across the front of my shirt. Despite that unwelcome reality, we enjoyed the spectacle of a bird in a tree over our heads that seemed to be practicing every call or song he had ever heard. I never once noticed a repeated sound. Up and down; high and low; trills, chirps, whistles, yodels, slides, chatters, singsong melodies… it seemed to have it all. The “Rich Little” of bird calls.
I guess the budding sights of spring were inspiring that bird to sing in the extreme.
.
.
Left Out
The day started mostly sunny but the forecast warned of a chance of rain in the afternoon. Sometime after Cyndie departed for a couple of days away with friends, I granted Asher a chance to walk through the woods wherever his nose led us, hoping to distract him from already missing her.
Before we set out, I opened a gate to allow the horses some time to graze grass. As far as we can tell, their bodies are adjusting to the gradual change in diet just fine.
While our neighbor to the south mowed grass along our property lines, Asher and I popped out of the woods and made our way between the horses in the field and the riding mower. It seemed like a perfect afternoon of spring sunshine.
The sky was partly cloudy, but it didn’t seem all that threatening. I hadn’t paid any attention to what the radar looked like. I’ve heard the phrase “popcorn showers” used for the dotted image of precipitation blobs that showed up when I finally checked.
Asher and I had made our way around our entire property and into the barn where I left him to kill time while I cleaned up manure and then prepared buckets of feed. I was planning to bring out the buckets as an enticement to get the horses to come in off the field. Before I made it out the door, they came racing in at top speed.
We couldn’t feel the wind at that point but the sound of the howling gusts that suddenly blew through the surrounding trees was downright spooky. Eerie enough to scare the horses back to the safety of the barn. I hung their buckets of feed as quickly as I could to get them focused on their evening meal while I scooted down to close the gate to the field.
I made it back just as rain started to fall. Then it started to pour out of the cloud with an ominous roar that rumbled the metal roof to maximum decibels. I looked out the half door at the horses and noticed why it was so loud on the roof. It looked to be equal parts rain and BB-sized hail.
Unfortunately, of the four spots the horses choose for feeding, Mia’s is outside the cover of the overhang. With enough warning, we can easily move her under but she was already out there when the deluge hit.
I could see the pellets of hail bouncing off of her. It didn’t seem to bother Mia a bit. Light turned around a couple of times to look out at the cloudburst but other than that, the dramatic precipitation didn’t disturb the horses from their feed.
The gusher ended as quickly as it arrived. Mia was wet but unfazed by it all.
Asher and I walked back up to the house under a fresh interval of sunshine and ate our respective dinners devoid of any further meteorologic theatrics.
.
.
Unattended Digging
Yesterday, while Cyndie and I were working in the front yard, she leashed Asher to a tree nearby. It just so happened to be in the spot where he had already been digging a few days before. I didn’t argue. We figured that he had already made a mess of things there, so there was nothing left worth protecting.
Cyndie was digging up ferns to transplant them and I was trimming a limb that was hanging over the roof. Asher was digging.
We started pulling up some of the flagstone slabs and stacking them on a pallet. We experimented with screening out river rock from dirt and debris.
It is all preliminary tinkering before fully diving in to seal the foundation and then re-grade the dirt before laying slabs back down and finishing with river rock.
As I was cutting off the branches from the limb I brought down, Cyndie hollered that Asher had reached a gas line.
“He what?!”
Oops. That’s not a root across that hole he dug.
I think he got a little carried away. We are going to need to find a better place for him to go wild with his digging. I’m thinking maybe the middle of the woods. We probably should have made that “call before you dig.”
I sure am glad he didn’t start gnawing on that copper tube like I’ve seen him do to roots that get in his way.
.
.
Fresh Greening
We’ve survived a few days when the morning temperature teetered around the freezing point with no noticeable damage to new growth sprouting everywhere we look. One of the early above-ground wild plants to show signs of leaves is the black raspberry bushes.
Here’s hoping it will be a good year for the berries.
The grass has gotten bushy enough in spots to warrant mowing. I pulled out the electric push mower to get after the back side of the barn. The ground is not yet firm enough to support the weight of the riding tractor. That exercise went so well, I decided to give the labyrinth a go.
It was my first time walking the labyrinth since the ground thawed. There were many stones pushed sideways and/or toppled by the combination of frost heave and burrowing rodent activity. Mowing was a bit of a hassle. It felt good to finish and move out to the much easier cutting of the area beyond the stones.
I’m expecting the growth of grass blades will pick up dramatically now and I will soon be mowing some section or another almost every single day until we happen to reach a stretch of very dry weather.
Mowing is easy compared to the landscaping project I’ve decided to do myself. The first order of business before improving the grading on each side of the garage will involve sealing cracks that have formed in the concrete blocks. That’s one more thing I have no experience doing but I will shop for materials and then fake it.
The other fresh greening happening is inside on the table in our sunroom where garden plants Cyndie started are bursting out of the dirt with impressive spurts of growth. I suspect they will be transplanted to the great outdoors very soon.
We’ll be eating fresh produce in a blink.
And speaking of things happening in a blink, in just over a week it will be one full year that Asher has been in our family. I think he has accepted us as worthy keepers.
In April, three years ago, the four thoroughbred mares arrived at Wintervale. At the time, we didn’t know if they would stay any longer than the summer grazing season. The fact that we are transitioning them onto green grass again for the fourth year makes it pretty clear we settled into keeping them here year-round. At this point, I dream of them never needing to ride in a trailer again.
It would be great if they would offer their opinion on the subject. I certainly wouldn’t want to keep them here if there was somewhere else they’d rather be.
.
.
Asking Nicely
It’s hard to resist clear communication from animals when they ask nicely. This morning, while I was doing some “housekeeping” in the farther reaches of the paddocks, Mia walked up to me to check if I might be thinking about opening the gate to the field.
I wasn’t, but when Cyndie noticed (with a chuckle because of the way Mia was standing almost on top of me) she suggested I could accommodate the request. The last few days we have been giving them afternoon time on the grass and then coaxing them back in by serving their feed. In this case, they were just finishing their feed so there wouldn’t be the same incentive to come in on our schedule.
Before I caved to the request, I crossed between the two paddocks by ducking under the board over the waterer to pick up one last pile of manure. On that side, Light came down and picked up where Mia left off in pressing up against me in an attempt to persuade their desired outcome.
I couldn’t resist. They were granted 30 minutes on the grass. Coaxing them back in took a couple of tries, but they eventually complied. Maybe they know there will be another opportunity later in the day. It’s all an exercise in gradually pacing the change in diet to allow time for their gut biome to adjust.
Based on my work as an Equine Fecal Relocation Engineer, things appear to be progressing well thus far.
.
.
Just Thursday
There wasn’t anything unusual about yesterday compared to any other Thursday. I got Wordle in 4. We did the morning horse chores after I walked Asher. Cyndie heated servings of an egg bake from the freezer for breakfast. Even though I was listening for the arrival of a truck to pick up the tractor, I never heard a thing.
When I stepped outside with Asher after breakfast, the tractor was gone. I think our house is soundproof.
Instead of getting one particular project started and finished, my methods of late tend to lean towards picking away a little bit at many tasks simultaneously. While walking Asher, I grabbed the hedge trimmer to cut down last year’s stalks of our tall Japanese Silver Grass at various locations around the property.
Later, I spent some time turning and reshaping old compost piles in hopes of reactivating the process that fell dormant over winter.
In a spontaneous decision, we suddenly decided to cut down an entire section of the lilac tree in our front yard.
The bark was peeling off the trunk. We tried wrapping it but that didn’t lead to the tree healing the wound. When the wrapping started falling off, we noticed a mushroom growing out of the side. Even though there were signs of new buds on the branches, we decided to cut the whole section off to avoid the tree wasting energy on the doomed portion.
That tree was there when we bought the place over 11 years ago and has continued to get taller and taller every year. I don’t know what to expect from it next. We’ll see what removing one of the five “trunks” does for the remaining portions.
While I had the chainsaw out, we headed into the woods to remove the latest tree that had fallen across one of our trails. I also brought down a medium-sized tree leaning against others at a 45-degree angle. We keep adding to the dead wood lying on the ground in our forest because trees fall more often than we can consume the wood.
One good outcome of the recent winds was that a previously snagged limb finally fell to the ground. It had been up there for years. It was just beyond the reach of my pole saw. I was able to cut down the rest of the tree, but this one section was hung up in the collar of another tree and we couldn’t shake it loose. Given enough time, it eventually came down without our help.
Toward the latter part of the afternoon, we gave the horses the next increment of time on the fresh pasture grass. Before our time limit was reached, Swings and Mix had come in of their own accord. I was doing some equine fecal relocation work in the paddock and Light came in to check on me. Mia stayed out gobbling grass.
When Cyndie presented their buckets of feed, I had to walk out and talk Mia into coming in.
It’s a special treat when a horse follows your lead without requiring a lot of coercion. My charm can be irresistible.
Just another Thursday in our little paradise.
.
.
Tractor Ready
Today the diesel tractor is to be picked up for a hot date at the service department of a nearby implement dealer. I hadn’t fired it up all winter, so yesterday, I figured a pre-check was in order before sending it off to the mechanics.
To my surprise, there was enough life in the battery to turn the engine over. It started without a problem. After wiping away cobwebs, I took a little time to remove all the acorn fragments piled up in the fuzzy grass seed debris trapped against the radiator screen.
Looked like a cozy spot for a rodent to hang out.
I’m sure tractor mechanics have seen that kind of thing before but I would rather not have our machine appear entirely neglected when they start digging into the working parts to do what they do. There are fluids to be flushed, fittings to be greased, and thingamajigs to be ameliorated.
Maybe they hydrogenate the hydraulics. I don’t know.
What I do know is that the grass on the sunny side of the barn is already in need of a trim. The mowing season ended late last fall and is starting early this spring. Color me not surprised about that new reality.
The labyrinth will need a visit from the lawn mower soon, too. In two weeks and two days, it will be World Labyrinth Day. It is always held on the first Saturday of May. We are on the verge of preparations for hosting an open house type of event that day. More of an “open labyrinth,” really.
If you are looking for an excuse to visit Wintervale, mark May 4th on your calendar.
Sprucing the place up in preparation for visitors is something I know how to do. The freshly maintained diesel tractor will be used to create a new batch of wood chips out of some of the endless piles of tree limbs stacked throughout our woods.
I won’t have any trouble trying to find something to do around here for the next couple of weeks, that’s for sure.
.
.
Relative Something 