Posts Tagged ‘images’
Flying Moments
I really don’t want to be that guy that always marvels over how unbelievable it is to be the date that it is, …but, how the heck did it get to be August 26th? Seriously, I don’t think I am getting the gist of living fully in the moment. I too easily get focused on the future, and can’t believe we’ve reached the present date, while feeling that events from May, June, and July just happened last week.
Time certainly does fly when you are having fun. Obviously, it has flown a lot for me this year. Cyndie’s nephew turns 6 today! Happy Birthday, Beck. How’d he get to 6 already?
Kids growing up is a classic example of time flying. We had the gift of an opportunity to spend some time with the kids for an overnight at our place over the weekend. Non-stop energy. Time flew, but I think we enjoyed every moment. Hopefully, we gave them a few memories to carry with them.
I felled my second tree while they were here, and got it hung up in the branches of other trees. A situation such as this is called a ‘widow maker,’ but I avoided putting Cyndie in that predicament. I tossed a rope around it and started pulling with a come-along. When it seemed like it had reached an impasse, we decided to leave it for a while, and went to do other things.
After the kids had been picked up, and a short nap in the cool of the air-conditioned house, I watched some videos of techniques for bringing down a tree that is hung up. I then headed down to check on our specimen and gave one strong pull on the rope hooked up to the come-along. The tree came loose and dropped straight down to the ground. Mission accomplished.
Upon cutting and stacking the logs, I discovered there were some fascinating patterns in the cross sections. It is hard to imagine what was creating such fantastic figures. They look almost angelic. I’m going to have a hard time choosing to just split this and burn it. The way I see it, there are a variety of potential art projects to be made out of these. Wouldn’t they look great sanded to a fine, smooth finish, and then oiled?
Grand Day
It was a beautiful summer day yesterday for us to showcase our place for friends. Delilah got loads of attention, and was a charm the whole day. I walked our trails several times, guiding tours. I noshed and nibbled all afternoon, to my heart’s delight. Unfortunately, I didn’t pull the camera out more than once or twice, because I was so occupied with having a wonderful time that I kept forgetting to capture all the fun in pictures. Here’s a collage that samples some of the atmosphere of our grand day.
Evening Excitement
There was a little excitement in the Wintervale house last night, after Cyndie and I got back from working on the labyrinth garden. Actually, Cyndie was still down watering the plants when Delilah and I came back to the house. I was getting ready to shower and spotted a bat flying circles around our spiral staircase. I turned on some lights hoping I could keep an eye on him, and stepped into the garage to grab a broom.
The cats were visibly interested, but basically useless as predators. I thought it was going to be up to me, except the bat had landed and was now out of sight. Since Delilah appeared to be totally focused on her food and water, I decided to get the shower out of the way. When I came out, I heard Delilah’s bark and figured the bat was airborne again. Cyndie had returned and figured out there was a bat, so I pointed out the broom, and reported sighting the critter perched on a beam.
Cyndie took over from there, drawing on her years of experience evicting bats from the cabins over the years at the lake place up in Hayward. She grabbed a small step-ladder, and conked him to the floor. By this time, Pequenita was showing interest in finishing him off, but Cyndie would have none of that, and bagged the remains for disposal.
Order was restored. The labyrinth continues to gain definition, and we again filled every last moment of the day. Before the sun got too low, I walked the trail we worked to clear on Monday, hoping to get some better pictures with my camera, instead of my cell phone. Here are a few…
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More Fence
Yesterday, our fence crew pounded the last posts for the paddocks, and put up a lot of boards. After boards, they will mount one line of wire along the top, which will be able to be electrified. This will discourage horses from chewing on the wood of the fence. Next, they will attach gates, and then complete the installation of the automatic waterer, and we will be out of excuses for not having horses here.
I guess it is time to take care of all the little details we have neglected to worry about until after the fact.
This afternoon, Cyndie is expecting a visit from a person with the local extension service who will review our situation and offer advice on best practices and available resources to support our efforts here. It’s another step in our effort to learn more about what we have gotten ourselves into, even as we forge ahead with plans to establish the infrastructure from which we will operate.
We have stumbled here and there, seeming to get ahead of ourselves sometimes, while allowing a few important details to fade into the background, but the progress we make is part of the way Cyndie works. It gets us moving toward our goal, and forces us to learn on the fly. It creates a bit of mental stress for me, but I can accept it, because if it were up to me, I think we’d be stuck before we even started.
I’d be hung up trying to answer the practically unanswerable questions, trying so hard to avoid a misstep that I’d end up not taking any at all.
Here’s to Cyndie’s brilliant capacity to bring our dreams to life, and our amazing progress thus far!
Progress Applenty
We had a lot of progress yesterday, and one big failure. My favorite little pocket camera has failed me. I did a little research and discovered a Product Advisory was issued that defines the exact failure that I experienced, and I hope to be able to have it repaired at no cost to me. 
Unfortunately, I didn’t get all of the images of progress that I would have liked. Some shaky cell phone images will have to suffice.
I finished getting all the roof panels attached to the wood shed. I hope to be stacking wood in there soon.
We assembled a dog run for Delilah. She spent a little time in there yesterday, 
seemed at ease in the space, and she appears to be doing well, following her surgery last Thursday. She has been a bit more vocal the last two days, barking to get our attention. We were a bit distracted yesterday, so she was justified in trying to redirect our focus back to her.
The crew arrived to finally make some real progress on raising the hay shed. It looks like a game of pick-up sticks. All the vertical posts are buried and braced.
Some Snapshots
When you find yourself under a heat advisory, this is the kind of place you want to be. Location makes such a difference. At Wintervale, in the summer, the shade of tall trees is the best we can do for respite from the oppressive heat. Last night I had the pleasure of being a guest for dinner with friends at Gary Larson’s house on Christmas Lake.
It was a wonderful way to beat the heat.
I stayed in town for the night, sleeping at Cyndie’s parents’ house, to save me a trip between home and work. Cyndie was kind enough to send me some pictures she took, so I wouldn’t suffer too much for missing our place and our pets.
It had the opposite effect. I miss them all, even more.
Delilah has definitely won our hearts in the very short time since we brought her home. Here she is with her rubber pig toy that oinks when squeezed. Then there is Mozyr, lying upside down in the tube on the new cat playground Cyndie bought them as compensation for putting up with a dog now living in their midst. Finally, a shot of some of the raspberries that are in abundance all around the woods of our property.
Thanks, Cyndie!
Brush Hoggin’
After the excitement of having our hay-field cut by a team of 3 horses last week, we were very happy to learn that our neighbor got 1 and 1/2 wagon loads of bales out of it. That is a good result. He has inspired us to consider keeping the front field for cutting hay, instead of using it as pasture. He said it would save us a lot of money if we are able to produce our own hay.
He only cut the front field, so I needed to knock down the uncut growth on the back portion. There used to be a fence between the two, but that is now gone, so I was able to make a clean line by cutting straight through, making the fields look like one. By cutting the back field, we can get rid of the weeds, and let more grass come through. Hopefully, we can include that portion when it comes time for the second hay cut of the season.
I also needed to trim portions of the front field where he wasn’t able to steer the horses precisely enough to avoid missing spots. Now it is all ready to grow into an excellent second crop.
We have learned that the second cut is a much better hay, for our purposes. Not all hay is alike, and what we have growing on our property should be just what we want to have. The first cut commonly includes more grass that has grown tall and develops a woody stem. Some of that won’t grow back a second time. What will grow in after the cut will be more of the soft, wide blades.
The key to how much of our fields we cut for hay in the long run will be, what portion of our fields do we need for pasture. If we are lucky, and manage things well, we should have just the right balance to support our goal of keeping 4 horses. I don’t think we’ll really know for sure until we get them here and see what they eat.
I’m looking forward to that, because then I won’t have to do so much dang brush hogging. You know how much I dislike cutting grass!
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