a walk to the pond

After a long day last week, I ended up in such a bad mood. To top it off, Charlotte peed (accidentally) on my pillow and the bed, and then she (sort of accidentally) broke one of my favorite earrings. When Henry came home, I was frazzled and grumpy and really needed some fresh air and time alone. I passed off all parenting duties to him, and walked out the door.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As I walked down the driveway, I immediately felt better. All of last week was super cold out, so the chilly, humid air seemed to shock me out of my grumpy state. Being out and about on our place without kids in tow usually has that effect on me.

This is the privately maintained public road that leads to our home. A couple years ago, I limbed up a half mile of roadside trees with a handsaw. I worked on it a little at a time, but it was a huge project. I was just noticing the other day, that the same trees should probably be limbed up higher or cut down to enhance visibility for drivers. It’s not like there’s a whole lot of traffic on this road, but I’ve had a couple run ins with my neighbor walking her dogs, and if I wasn’t world’s slowest driver, it would not have turned out well.

On my walk, I headed down to our pond. This little refuge is almost a half mile away from the cabin. The distance means that it’s not a safety hazard for wayward children, but it also means that I don’t get down there as often as I would like to.

The pond has only been here for a little less than a year. A while back, I wrote up a whole blog post about it with all the details, but for some reason, it disappeared overnight (even though I’m SURE I saved it). I was too disgusted to rewrite it, so I abandoned the post and all it’s photos.  Sorry ’bout that, but I feel like there are few activities I dislike more than rewriting something that my computer consumed.

I’d love to say that it’s perfectly quiet at the pond, but actually there’s this loud vortex/sucking sound of the outlet culvert. It’s not unpleasant, and mixed with bird chirping, it kind of makes nice background noise.

We had some pretty serious rains over the winter, and Henry came down here many times to check on the dam and take steps to prevent a catastrophic failure as the waters rose.

Like I said in an earlier post, our whole world is greening up, including the area around the pond. It’s not just kind of green; it’s neon. I love it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here are a few random tidbits from my life over the weekend…

When my laptop was BRAND new, my dog knocked it off a chair, and from then on, it had a black spot in the corner. Shortly after the incident, I brought it in to the Apple store, and they told me it would cost $800 to replace it, and if I didn’t replace it, the whole screen could fail at any moment. I almost cried. Fast forward a year and a half, the screen hadn’t failed yet, but the spot had grown so that it covered all the icons on the top right (battery, volume, internet connection). I got a tip from a friend that the mechanic (John P.) at Gathering Together Farm might be able to fix it for significantly less than $800. I asked, and he delivered. Now my screen is fully visible, and I feel like I have a new computer. It’s a silly little thing, but it makes a big difference.

I read this post by Lynn of Satsuma Press. Though I’ve never officially met Lynn, but she lives in my community, and I recognize her son, Liam (or more specifically, I recognize his wheelchair). The way she speaks about Liam, his condition, and the effects that condition has on their lives is heartbreaking and touching and eyeopening and inspiring. I really appreciate her honesty.

Lastly, if you’d like to see/read more of my online work, I encourage you to follow the Gathering Together Farm blog. I know I’ve pointed it out before (many times), but I’ve gotta say that I am very proud of what I’m doing there, and you may find it interesting.