Saturday, July 28, 2012

Working Around the Work

To Do List:

1. Get up
2. Make Tea
3. Write To-Do list
4. Pick up branches at the front of property
5. Mow the grassy parts at front of property
6. Rest
7. Remove deer carcass from the back of the house
8. Pick up more branches in the long grass behind the grassy knoll
9. More mowing
10. Suck up gross spider stuff in the studio with the shop-vac

The Boyfriend went home this morning to work on his own list.  So I have a couple of days to myself.
I enjoy quietly putzing around and planned to get a lot done....miss him when he's not around though...


We have a term we use when there is some chore that needs to get done but is just a drag to do.  You know how it is,  you find yourself sorting out your closet instead of painting that ceiling.  Perhaps there is a need to organize the knitting patterns before those toilets get scrubbed or maybe the fine washables need to be done before cleaning the stinking grunge from behind the stove.....
We call it 'working around the work".



So....I started with numbers 1, 2 and 3 on my list....planning to put as many chores as possible between number 3 and......7.

Ya, 7!  Tried to throw it in with all the other stuff to give myself the false sense that number 7 is just another chore that needs to get done...and maybe it is.....or not....

Yesterday,  I was clearing a bunch of grass and ferns and brambles away from the back of the house in preparation of eventually getting a new deck.

Between this huge fern and the wall I came across a bunch of fur.  Dead Cat?  Dog? What the hell is that?



My heart sank when I saw the soft ears and hooves.  One of my deer twins must have been hit by a car and wedged itself  into this tight, secure little space to die.

Crap!

I just walked away. " Tomorrow", I thought.

So before Starting number 4 on this list, I stood over the dead fawn and started thinking about how I was going to pick it up (would it fall apart?) and how I was going to move it and where I was going to put it? 


Between numbers 4 and 5 on the list I went back again for a look having decided that the flat shovel and the wheel barrow would be the tools of choice.


Between numbers 5 and 6 on the list I scouted out locations, deciding finally that a little dip, under a tree, way at the back of the property would be best.  There was already a dead sheep from the previous owners there and it was a quiet place and I knew Mama deer wouldn't stumble upon it there.  "One should be thoughtful about these things"  I thought.


While performing number 6, I had a stiff drink and a good cry.
"Shut up and be a Man!"  I said to myself.. "Or a woman!"  "Now grow some balls and get this thing done!" My inner Drill Sergeant coming out now, "Your'e the one that wants to be the nature loving farm girl....so stop being a princess, put on the gloves and Get r Done"!!!!


                                                                       FUCK!

I kind of left myself, the dead baby and I making the slow funeral march through the freshly mowed back yard,  across the little wooden bridge, out to the back, and the stand of trees on the edge of the land.
I didn't cry.
I put it in the little dip and covered it with grass dry grass clippings.
I walked away.


Friday, July 27, 2012

Ghosts and Gumboots

It just struck me, now that yet another Birthday has come and gone, that this blog is now over a year old!

This summer started with another epic battle between me and the Giant Hogweed.  I am holding my own but in no way winning.

Early July produced another resident Doe with twin fawns.

For my Birthday, my folks came over to the Farm for a couple of days.  My Pa plopped down his bag, grabbed the keys for the shed off rack and went straight out the door towards the lawn tractor.
I don't think we saw him for several hours.

I think this is truly the secret to a happy man....full stomach, a beer and a ride-on-mower.

My Mom is the quintessential Garden Girl, we walked all over the property looking at,


the beautifully stacked wood, that the Boyfriend spent days working on.
In February we had about 9 huge trees taken down, some to provide more light and others because they were leaning or unhealthy.  There were trees and branches everywhere and it seemed like we would never even make a dent in it all.  I started dragging large branches out to my witchy burn pile in the center of the property while the Boyfriend stacked and stacked and stacked.....


I think right now we are up to 8 piles and counting.

During our little tour of the Grounds Mom and I marveled at some giant mushrooms, plush blankets of bright green moss, birds, and then we came across something unusual.


These weird little clusters of glassy mushroomy things that neither of us had ever seen before, translucent and pale white, so fragile that they break if you look at them the wrong way.

Later I looked them up, they are called Ghost Plants aka. Indian Pipes.  They only grow in very particular conditions...rotting deciduous trees, under evergreen trees in mossy shaded areas. They have no chlorophyll and that is why the are white, and parasitic.  Very rare! We were both thrilled....
 
                                                   Happy Birthday to Me!

The morning of my Birthday I got up early and had coffee with my folks and bid them farewell as they headed back to the mainland.

For dinner I secured a table outside on the deck at Silva Bay Marina and waited for the Boyfriend to arrive by float plane....so fun.... it never gets tired....



We had a wonderful meal, the weather was fantastic and I received the perfect gift.....


Gumboots!

Cheers.