Rough roads often lead to beautiful destinations

I’ve mentioned in previous blogs how we are sometimes faced with hiccups while on this journey from City Life to Farm Life.  Well, this trip was one for the books.  This past visit we spent about four days on 13DogFarm.  Thursday being half a day, we took care of the main responsibilities like water supply and unpacking the food and clothing, making the bed, etc. I was finally able to see our new lighting fixture Al made and installed on his last visit.   The evening was spent sitting around our first fire of the season and star gazing with the dogs. We saw the milky way! We met a new friend, Charlotte, a spider.  She had found her way to the corner of the RV and every night she would spin and by morning would have torn it down and be tucked up under a small awning on the window.  Creepy, I know.  But, so interesting to watch from afar.

The weather was mostly high 80’s and evenings in the low to mid 60’s.  Not as cold as I was hoping it might be but, at least it was dry. Friday morning Al and I, and of course, the dogs, took a walk to the barn. It’s always nice to walk the property.  You notice so much more when on foot. We have so many hickory nut trees! What we thought were fruit trees are actually hickory nuts.   I’ve got to see what all I can do with them.  Upon returning to the RV with the tractors I went in for a bit to clean up breakfast dishes.  I looked out the door and there was Honey with a rabbit in her mouth.  I had to radio Al to stop mowing and come get it.  I did not want to go out to mow and find it or her with it.  It’s a part of her I know but, it doesn’t make it any easier for me to not be sad for the rabbit. I finished up mowing the plateau while Al worked on the storage unit.  We are building this unit to house many things that we end up cramming into the RV when we leave.  Table umbrellas, chairs, bird seed, generator, etc.  It will be nice to have a separate place to house all of these things.  It will also save us many trips to the barn.  Eventually, this storage unit will house stuff for our fenced in area once the cabin is built.  I fed the birds but, then realized there were none.  I had yet to see any.  Even while mowing.  There were plenty of grasshoppers though!  We had another nice evening star gazing and enjoying a fire (from a distance).

Saturday we made breakfast with a bit of meditation music in the background. So peaceful and serene.   Then, a bird appeared!  They were no where near the population of past trips but, there were some, I assume, migrating through.  They cleaned out the bird feeder in about a day.  I guess flying makes you hungry. We had to do a bit of dirty work.  The black water needed to be drained from the RV. (Sorry, no pics of that!) The things one must do to maintain an RV.  Al got the sides up on the storage unit.  I helped some but, it was just too dang hot.  We, I, did not do much that day.  That evening we stayed in the air conditioned RV and watched a movie.

Sunday Al got the roof up on the storage unit and I pretty much had a melt down.  I’ve come to learn that when I am hot and there is no relief in sight, I get really irritable.  I’m basically just miserable. We moved down to the barn to mow that area and well, Wiley lost the front half of his PTO shaft.  You can’t use the bush hog without it.  So, I mowed with the middle mount.  And, I hit a stray piece of metal and bent the under carriage.  So, at that point, Wiley was out of commission. Al was literally two swipes from being done with mowing around the barn and then Pokey started acting funny. The shuttle shift would only go into neutral and reverse.  Al tried working on it with no luck.  We retreated to the RV hot and miserable.  We made a fire and cooked steaks over it to try and pull some positivity out of the day.  We eventually went to bed and let the air conditioning run all night.   (Once home Al contacted the tractor shop and the foreman indicated it is a broken shift cable, he has never seen it be anything other than the cable. They sent Al the cable, which he will be replacing this weekend.  We had to order new parts for Wiley.) 

We woke up Monday and started packing things up to return home.  I was tired of the heat and well, without tractors, we were very limited with things to do. I was inside packing the food, etc. and Al was going to head to the barn with one last attempt to fix Pokey when I heard a loud noise.  It sounded as if the truck hit something.  I ran outside and apparently Al had not seen a tractor implement in front of his truck.  He basically ran over it or rather into it.  It severed the power steering line on the truck.  I thought, “Oh my God, how will we get home”?  Al about melted at this point.  He managed to drive the truck to the nearest store which is that Marathon gas station that’s like a mini Walmart.  He was able, thank God, to repair the damaged line and fill the truck up with more fluid.  Per Al, driving a big truck on a curvy gravel road with manual steering is not the easiest thing to do. But, as always, my hero came through and saved the day.  We then spent some time trying to fix the tractor.  Again, with no luck.  So, we left for home.

Let me add that while away Hercules broke a toe at the kennel. 🙁

There never comes a day that I am not grateful, beyond grateful, for this property and the future Al and I will have there.  But, I will be the first to admit that maintaining two properties, with dogs at both, is hard! I am organized and methodical about getting things accomplished.  But, stuff happens.  I have realized that the number one thing you must have is flexibility.  You have to be able to revise your plans at any given moment.  Weather changes, things break and projects take longer than expected.  Whatever the reason, you have to remain flexible or it will drive you insane. This road we are on is new to the both of us so, we are learning as we go.  There will always be hiccups, mishaps, mistakes.  That’s life.  No matter the situation, our determination to get there trumps everything.

On a lighter note, here are some cute pics I got of the dogs…..