Coming home to roost!

 

The two Canada Geese from the shots taken and posted in my 5/08 blog are back, this time with 2 goslings in tow.
The circle of life, the beauty of nature...the comfort of home. Long live the goose! LOL.... :)

Rooting Around....

 

Ran into this little hog while out Geocaching with Nick just last week.
Didn't particularly want us around with a piglet nearby, and it made that very clear. :)
All in all, we survived and didn't even end up with any nice ham or bacon.

So, I guess the hog is still happy too.... :P

Nothing Constant but Change...

 

All things change. All things come to an end and all things can bring us closer to sadness or happiness.
That is the problem with being able to feel, being trapped by your emotions. We all believe that one day, somehow, someway we will be happier. We need to develop the peace in our walk that puts us at peace regardless of our external events that transpire in our lives. I recall reading that success was as dangerous as failure --- I believe that it is entirely true. If we rely on anything inside of our own lives to bring us happiness, to fulfill our purpose, to make us believe that the world is perfect, then we are not believing in our faith nor in our walk.

We all enjoy labelling and marking every event in our lives with an emotion, with a feeling, with a powerful meaningful word. Sometimes, it is truly best to have no labels, no fear, no emotion...just trust and peace.

The tree does not cry when its leaves fall, nor would the river grow in joy when its banks rise with the rains, it is simply life and death, growth and decay, abundance & poverty, it cannot change...and we cannot affect the natural tides of change...the natural ups and downs of life.

Let it go, and just live.

Today, I trade in my car for something else...a change, a chance to just live life. I am guilty of building inanimate relationships with objects, a childhood sense of imaginary friendship & anthropomorphism. I have learned a lot about myself in the last 35 years, and I know the greatest freedom is simply living without regrets, living without fear, living with peace --- in spite of the reality nor the pressures of the moment.

I only regret not learning this earlier in my life, not realizing the pure pleasures of the present.

Some more carefully chosen words:

Success is as dangerous as failure.
Hope is as hollow as fear.

What does it mean that success is as dangerous as failure?
Whether you go up the ladder or down it,
your position is shaky.
When you stand with your two feet on the ground,
you will always keep your balance.

What does it mean that hope is as hollow as fear?
Hope and fear are both phantoms
that arise from thinking of the self.
When we don't see the self as self,
what do we have to fear?

See the world as your self.
Have faith in the way things are.
Love the world as your self;
then you can care for all things.

King Nick

 

Nick - 4/4/09 (Click on pic for large photo)

Nick wanted to be part of my blog story. Here is Nick today lifting a 20' pine branch over his head.
He had to struggle with this one and he is quite proud of his amazing strength. ;)

(simple joys!)

HAHA..

What a nice day. :)

Checking in....

 

Sugar Snap Beans - 2 weeks old


Well, 11 of my 12 Sugar Snap pea seeds germinated - 91.666% :)
These little guys are about 2 weeks old today and are ready to be transplanted to my bamboo trellis.

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Picked up my son this weekend...Here is a recent pic of Katey (13) and Nick (6)


Katey & Nick - 2009

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What a day....Planting and Planters...

Well, decided to go shopping for more flowers, mulch, soil & fun....(pretty much in that order... LOL) --- :)

Found an amazing Drake Elm and thought, "This would look awesome in the yard, good price, 20 gallons, let's get it." Got my trusty old simple, wooden handle shovel and went to digging. I say that because as I was checking out later in the day, I spied a truly amazing looking shovel --- it had a titanium spade, with diamond steel plating, heavy-duty frame and even a reinforced fiberglass handle. It looked mighty impressive, but a hole is a hole and at the end of the day, it doesn't dig itself.... :)

Dug the 3 wide by 4ft deep hole and set the tree in place. Being top heavy and large, I needed to go pickup some stakes, rubber hose and wire for a proper support system.

Here is a pic of our new Drake Elm tree:


Drake Elm - Planted 3/28/09


And if that wasn't enough, I decided to grab about 12 cedar fence boards and some 2x2 wood and build a nice vegetable garden planter. Nothing that my nice Dewalt compound miter saw & drill sets cannot handle! A few rust-proof deck screws & some pre-drill holes to avoid wood splits and we are done. This project properly took me about an hour at least. I had to pre-drill all of the cedar and double them up. (We don't have available rot-resistant natural wood like large cedar planks, or redwood here and I don't want to eat from pressure-treated wood boxes) --- Kinda defeats the purpose of growing healthy...spinach with a side of cyanide and arsenic....YUMMY! ;)

Pic of the Cedar planter box: (5'x3')


Cedar Planter - Built 3/28/09

Veggie Time!

 

What is that you ask in those orange plastic seed containers?

Ahhh, nothing but the finest Sugar Snap pea seeds that a quarter will buy.

Germinating, growing and producing organic goodness.

YUM, YUM

Your handmade bamboo trellis awaits your arrival into proper seedlings!