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A day of rest is good for the soul

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Last weekend we went in the heat of the day to explore a new place for riding.  We walked about a mile and melted.  Heading back to the car we planned to come back today, but early so that we could avoid the heat, and ride the trail.

The day started out at 78, overcast, and a bit steamy, but beautiful compared to what we have suffered lately.  We rode 11 miles and I remembered to bring my camera!  I tease Bob a lot because he over plans things, but in this instance I’m very glad of his zealousness where being prepared is concerned, because he got everything ready last night!  Including my camera!

The trail we took is paved and is called the Aldridge Creek Greenway.  It runs roughly about 7 miles round trip when you include the ride through Ditto Landing and then along the Tennessee River.  If you take some of the side roads it increases the distance a bit more.  We followed it all the way along the creek, under the bridge and into the Ditto boating facility where there is a lovely little campground.

So come on along and enjoy the scenery!

Canadian Geese, resting on an island of limestone in the creek, cast lovely reflections on the water.

Bob comes back to see “What’s keepin [me].”

Just over this crest is the Tennessee River.   It was a much more pleasant experience when it was cool let me tell ya!

Following in Bob’s dust I chanced to meet this fellow.  His name was Paul and he said he came from St. Louis in the 70’s, before the space program fizzled, and has been here ever since.  His interesting mode of transport is a Trikke.   (find out more by clicking on the word)

At the end of the trail we had reached the steep bank of the Tennessee River and found…

Kayak and Scull rowers…

A very large Heron… though I couldn’t tell you the type.  UPDATE: This may be a Great Blue Heron.  <— Click for more info.

Looking at Hobbs island to your left and the mountains in the distance, I somehow found this view satisfying  even though it is overcast.

On the way back I liked this view of the old train trestle…

Though Bob the ex-model RR buff preferred this one.

Like the artist Monet I am fond of reflections.  The creek was very calm and thus encouraged my photo efforts to capture these fine reflections.  Again, the overcast day did not seem to diminish the subject.

In this photo I have played a trick… can you guess what I have done?

And finally, a shot taken by Bob…

And although I look very hot I felt great and had a wonderful time!

No rain is a pain!

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My first summer here was very pleasant.  The weather stayed in the 80’s for the most part and we had enough rain to keep everything green, and unbeknown to me a three-year drought had ended.  Now last summer things heated up a bit but we still had enough rain to keep everything green and happy.

However, this summer it has been unseasonably HOT.  Temperatures are in the mid to upper nineties for days on end.  The humidity sears your skin and keeps you ‘glistening’ while you work… which by the way you get up early to do and try to be done before eight or nine AM!  That is unless you like feeling like the Wicked Witch in Oz when she shrieks,

 

 

“I’m melting, Oh!  What a world, what a world…”

There’s been rain and rumors of rain all about us, but our little enclave is dust.  We see the rain and occasionally get a tease of rain, but it is so dry that the scorched, and cracked earth just sucks it up before you even get to see a puddle.

The lack of rain has taken its toll on our lawn and gardens, but I don’t care so much about that.  I worry more for the farmers here who rely on the rain to grow their crops.  Cotton and soy are holding their own, but the corn is dying where it stands.  The leaves point up to the sky as if in prayer for rain, yet none is forthcoming.

Here on the Farmlet I have endeavored to keep at least the gardens from dying and have watered the grass out back to keep the geese in fodder, yet it is barely enough, and so costly.   Our water bill and usage doubled (strike that, Bob just said it…) tripled last month.

Now the good news is this:  We have a well on our property.  It isn’t running because the pump and tank need replacing.  This is needless to say expensive. The cost to have someone come and replace it is about $1,400.00 and we don’t want to dip into our savings for that expense.

So how is that good news? You ask.

Well hold on, I’m getting to it!  The new neighbor fella across the street from us works on wells for a living.  He came over this morning and confirmed what the well repair company already told us, “Yup, it’s all got to be replaced alright.”

Now the next part of this is positively Providential!

He went home, made a shopping list of every part I would need for the job –  pump, holding tank, pipes, wires, tape, glue, simply EVERYTHING. I asked him how much for the labor…

And then he said:  “I don’t want nothin for it.  I’ll help ya’ll out for free.” and “Just wantin’ to help a neighbor in need, doing the right thing, ya know? ”

I tried to insist, but he is refusing to take anything for it.  So, I guess my new neighbor is going to be in free eggs for the duration, and at least one of Bob’s smoked chickens in the near future!

What a blessing!

Meanwhile…

Our heat index for tomorrow is predicted to be 108 to 112 degrees.  Hotter than the day this picture was taken.

The rain came down in Madison, hit the pavement, and immediately went back up into the sky.  Remember in grade school those picture diagrams your teacher showed you in class trying to explain how the water cycle worked?  I think this makes the process self-evident.

Back in the chicken yard the hens are all lazing about and panting…  I am worried for them in tomorrow’s heat.

In the meantime we bake and wait for cooler weather to prevail.

News Flash: Chicken Lays Egg on the Farmlet

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Recently science has discovered that the answer to that age old question,  “Which came first? The chicken or the egg?” is…

the Chicken!

Well, of course it did!  Just ask any hen and she’ll gladly set the record straight.  It is also a fact that chickens will announce that they’ve  laid an egg,   and of course for the egg to have gotten laid there had to be a chicken doing the laying.

Are you following this?

And so it was on the Farmlet today that in the midst of my housework I heard the heralding of GRAYSON (?) telling the world that my Ameraucana hen had laid an egg.  Not the hen, nor her friends in the hen house who would normally join in cackling about her accomplishment… no it was Grayson my roo letting the whole neighborhood in on the blessed event!  What’a Roo!

The Little Red Hen is incredulous that Grayson’s upstaged the show.

Meanwhile, all the girls gather round in excitement to watch and wait…

while Grayson paces the chicken run like a new father in the hall at the hospital.

Bertha looks into the nest and can’t believe her eyes…  “Oh my, it’s so BIG”  she clucks!

Then I look,  and there it is… Miss Ameraucana’s first egg!

I’m happy to know that all the girls will soon be laying… because that means that I will be solvent in my chicken endeavors again!

Thoughts on Grannies and lost skills

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When I was little most of my friends had a Granny who lived at home with them.  It was great because Granny was always there to fix a boo-boo or tell stories about when she was a little girl.  She was  also a great cook.   She knew how to bake the best bread, cakes and cookies.  Why she even knew how to can and preserve,  although those skills were in less demand living in the suburbs.

However, there was one skill that Granny knew that was always in demand.  She knew how to mend.  She could and would take the time to fix a shirt  without a button, or put a patch on the knees of trousers that were ‘still serviceable.’  She washed and repaired, lowered and raised hemlines,  and when it wasn’t ‘serviceable’ anymore she’d cut it up and use it for quilting or dusting.  She never wasted anything and that included socks.

Now mending socks, well that was an art because you had to take very tiny stitches, placed very close together, in order for the mend to be smooth enough to wear comfortably.  The tools for the job were a needle and thread, small scissors, and of course a burned out light bulb.   The light bulb was pure genius because it was dropped down into the sock where it provided a curved and hard surface to deflect the needle, and thereby saved your fingers being stabbed.  The bulb’s  curved surface also allowed the new seam to follow the natural tube shape of the sock.

Yup, Grannies were indispensable!  Or so I thought when I was young.  Time has passed and few people know the luxury of having a knowledgeable and talented Granny living at home with them.  Yet, after all this time I remember those borrowed moments with my playmates and their loving Grannies.

So today I sit here by the light of my dinning room window mending a sock.  I look out the window and realize how much I learned from those borrowed moments…  and I smile.    Biting  the thread to loosen it from the sock I feel some measure of pride at making  it once again ‘serviceable.’