What’s been happenin’

            Well folks, things are pretty slow. Fortunately, there are plenty of things to keep me busy around my parent’s place…

 keeping the yard nice

watering the cattle

cutting tree limbs

 

I also do other miscellaneous activities that dad needs done around the homestead. For instance, the other day after a grueling morning back workout, I got home only to be commanded by the old man to dig 5 post-holes in what has to be the rockiest soil the world has ever known. My back is pretty sore. Thankfully my hands are still calloused enough to endure the punishment I delivered to the rocks with the crowbar. I’m also thankful to the Frye boot company for making quality durable products. 

        Now on my property we keep about four cows, and we, therefore, have barbed wire fence. We also have a white vinyl fence. Needless to say, I’ve dug a lot of the holes for the corner posts. When I was digging the post-holes the other day, it took me 20-ish minutes to dig one stinking hole. There was a rock that had the roots of a 100 year-old oak. When your crow bar looks like this you know you have rocky soil. 

 

            Doing work like that makes me feel like I’ve accomplished something though. Whether it be finishing the yard, digging post-holes, or running down the driveway after a loose horse with a feed bucket because my sister isn’t competent enough to tie a good knot around the fence post. 

This place has been my sanctuary lately.

Whenever there’s a still night, I light up the fire pit, light up my pipe, sip decaf, and contemplate things. Every now and then a friend or the old man joins me, and we discuss random thoughts, and share old war stories.

 One of my best friends got married last weekend. 

There he is attempting to get through the song he wrote for her. He dated her for 6 or 7 years or something crazy. It’s pretty cool really. I’ve always had this theory that if you have a significant other and your friends enjoy his/her company…he/she is probably worth keeping around. Make sense? I think so. So my friend really scored with this chick…no pun intended. She’s great and I love her! He’ll probably read this at some point. Here’s what I’ve learned watching their relationship over the years…I should’ve found some 8^th grader to date when I was a sophomore in high school. Turns out it can be a pretty good investment.

 

So I found this under a rock the other day. Cool huh? Yeah…that’s right…I’m not afraid.