It would seem I've spent the last couple of years complaining about the volume of raindrops falling on this mountain. My friends in Texas chastised me from time to time as they wished for just a bit of water on their parched landscape. My griping has come back to haunt me. We are experiencing a drought in the Ozarks unlike any since the dust bowl years. The little pond around the corner with constant level of water has dried up completely. The lake level is below pool and the anticipated spring rains were almost non-existent. All my neighbors are complaining about the heat and dying plants. Our morning walks have been earlier to avoid the heat.
The lesson learned here...be careful where you place your wishes, they just might come true. Now I hear myself wishing for rain!
Friday, June 29, 2012
Saturday, June 23, 2012
Road Weary
It was a long drive back to the mountain from the Texas Hills. Ol' Abner was really tired and the dog was a restless traveler, not a good combination for a fourteen hour ride in the summer heat. I spent the majority of Thursday moving very slowly alternately with napping. We weren't even pulling a trailer, so this trip should have been an easy one. It wasn't.
The weekend prior to our departure was spent preparing the back half of the property for staking out the new garage/shop/playhouse to accommodate Ol' Abner's toys and projects. Son has a project or two to add to the facility, so he was a willing accomplice. Removal of multiple cedar trees even with the help of a big excavator/backhoe thing was hot dusty work. Once they were pulled from the earth, the root balls had to be removed. Chain saws seem to be much easier to use in chilly weather. At least cutting logs makes more sense when prepping them for the fireplace. These big hunks of root balls had to be removed from the downed trees so the remainder could be toted over to the "Green Center" and turned into mulch. It's a nice service offered in our new town on the first and third Saturdays of every month. When we need mulch, we can go back and retrieve a load of our co-mingled wood bits. It was a very hot long day of manual labor.
The next day, Son and Ol' Abner gathered the root balls, loaded them on the trailer and hauled them out to one of Son's jobsites where a large pile of similar refuse is being gathered for proper disposal. Again the summer heat took it's toll on them. Monday and Tuesday involved yard work, repair, and visits to suppliers to prepare for the new construction. By our exit on Wednesday, exhaustion was looming.
Dog seems to sense tension and takes on the stress. She rode well for the first couple of hours then became agitated and restless. She whined, groped our arms and tried to climb into the front seat. Every little thing in the back part of the cab was fair game for shredding or stirring. When we prepared for a drive to the capitol on Friday, she showed no interest in coming along. She seemed to enjoy her day with the house to herself. I think Ol' Abner would have been perfectly happy to stay with her, but he couldn't quite send his mouth for insertion of crowns without the rest of his tired body.
It's good to be back to the house on the mountain.
The weekend prior to our departure was spent preparing the back half of the property for staking out the new garage/shop/playhouse to accommodate Ol' Abner's toys and projects. Son has a project or two to add to the facility, so he was a willing accomplice. Removal of multiple cedar trees even with the help of a big excavator/backhoe thing was hot dusty work. Once they were pulled from the earth, the root balls had to be removed. Chain saws seem to be much easier to use in chilly weather. At least cutting logs makes more sense when prepping them for the fireplace. These big hunks of root balls had to be removed from the downed trees so the remainder could be toted over to the "Green Center" and turned into mulch. It's a nice service offered in our new town on the first and third Saturdays of every month. When we need mulch, we can go back and retrieve a load of our co-mingled wood bits. It was a very hot long day of manual labor.
The next day, Son and Ol' Abner gathered the root balls, loaded them on the trailer and hauled them out to one of Son's jobsites where a large pile of similar refuse is being gathered for proper disposal. Again the summer heat took it's toll on them. Monday and Tuesday involved yard work, repair, and visits to suppliers to prepare for the new construction. By our exit on Wednesday, exhaustion was looming.
Dog seems to sense tension and takes on the stress. She rode well for the first couple of hours then became agitated and restless. She whined, groped our arms and tried to climb into the front seat. Every little thing in the back part of the cab was fair game for shredding or stirring. When we prepared for a drive to the capitol on Friday, she showed no interest in coming along. She seemed to enjoy her day with the house to herself. I think Ol' Abner would have been perfectly happy to stay with her, but he couldn't quite send his mouth for insertion of crowns without the rest of his tired body.
It's good to be back to the house on the mountain.
Friday, June 15, 2012
On the Road Again!
Windshield time has stacked up fast in the last couple of weeks. We drove home from the hill country to pack again for a trip to West Texas. We took PaPa to my sister's home and spent a couple of days visiting with them before checking into a motel for Ol' Abner's high school multi-school, multi-year reunion.
The Reunion was a raging success. With over 300 registered attendees, hugs, laughter and introductions were plentiful. I had never met most of this group, although I'd heard the names many times. The idea sprouted during a previous high school reunion when a few folks from the same junior high gathered to delve further down memory lane. During the sixties, the hometown was growing rapidly and students from one junior high might be split to another middle school halfway through that stage. Those same groups were later graduates of any of four, then five possible high schools. One man urged that a reunion must be planned, another told him to "go for it" and a co-ed from the era was recruited to help.
Ol' Abner first heard about it on a social network site and asked my opinion. When he mentioned names already on board, I told him to absolutely make our reservation. That was over a year ago, but the much anticipated date arrived with no less enthusiasm. Childhood friendships and teenage acquaintances were renewed and strengthened with mature knowledge of their importance.
As the evening wound down, we faced another twelve hours of drive time, only to sleep a night and send Ol' Abner off on a six hour journey to get a tooth repaired. One day to pack and load a trailer, then back to the Texas hills. With several medical visits in the near future, pressure is on to do what we can now.
Son brought one of his company's backhoes out yesterday and began to remove some of the cedar trees from the empty space behind the house. The goal is to have the monster garage (male type playhouse) ready for layout by the weekend, so plans can be prepared for requesting a building permit.
For now, we'll anticipate a bit more windshield time. More bugs will assuredly commit suicide this week.
The Reunion was a raging success. With over 300 registered attendees, hugs, laughter and introductions were plentiful. I had never met most of this group, although I'd heard the names many times. The idea sprouted during a previous high school reunion when a few folks from the same junior high gathered to delve further down memory lane. During the sixties, the hometown was growing rapidly and students from one junior high might be split to another middle school halfway through that stage. Those same groups were later graduates of any of four, then five possible high schools. One man urged that a reunion must be planned, another told him to "go for it" and a co-ed from the era was recruited to help.
Ol' Abner first heard about it on a social network site and asked my opinion. When he mentioned names already on board, I told him to absolutely make our reservation. That was over a year ago, but the much anticipated date arrived with no less enthusiasm. Childhood friendships and teenage acquaintances were renewed and strengthened with mature knowledge of their importance.
As the evening wound down, we faced another twelve hours of drive time, only to sleep a night and send Ol' Abner off on a six hour journey to get a tooth repaired. One day to pack and load a trailer, then back to the Texas hills. With several medical visits in the near future, pressure is on to do what we can now.
Son brought one of his company's backhoes out yesterday and began to remove some of the cedar trees from the empty space behind the house. The goal is to have the monster garage (male type playhouse) ready for layout by the weekend, so plans can be prepared for requesting a building permit.
For now, we'll anticipate a bit more windshield time. More bugs will assuredly commit suicide this week.
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