Musings On Country Life

Several months ago, we moved out to the country. Our home sits on 14 beautiful acres overlooking a river. Is this heaven or hell? As we adapt to country life, I find I need a creative outlet to share the trials and tribulations, as well as the joys of country life.

Ahh . . . . Country Life!

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

The Longest Day

My husband greeted me at 6:00 a.m. with the news that today was the longest day in the year. He was referring to the summer solstice, but who knew he was prophetic?
A neighbor has contracted out some work in the forest that surrounds our house. We had 150 mph straight line winds last summer that blew down hundreds of trees in his 90 acre forest, and he would like to open up a path for hunting vehicles. He has worked on clearing the path for a year, and has decided to pull out the heavy equipment to finish the job. We granted access along the field adjacent to our property to make it easier to get to. I laughed when I looked out the window the other morning and saw this backhoe parked just outside of my front yard. That doesn't happen in town!

Clearing seemed to go well for several days but it became apparent this morning that things weren't going well. At 7:00 a.m., a contractor showed up and parked his pick up, climbed into the backhoe and drove into the forest. At 7:30, a second pickup arrived and shortly thereafter, the backhoe came out of the woods and parked. I know the signs of when men break something. It starts with a huddle, followed by removing the ball cap and scratching of heads. Someone points, and someone has to climb under the broken object. 8:00 a.m., a third pick up arrives with a generator on a trailer. Yep, it's broken. At 11:00 a.m., the instruction manual comes out. Now we are having fun! I just barely resist taking their photo. Honestly, I wanted to but couldn't figure out how to do it without getting caught.

12:30 the boss arrives. You can always tell when the boss arrives. Arms wave, people shake their heads, someone waves the owner's manual . . . this is not looking good. I'm thinking about Youtube and whether I can get this on video. Men glance this way, I duck.

6:30 p.m. dinner arrives. Who knew you could get take out in the middle of a field? Tailgates appear to make wonderful picnic tables. At 8:00 p.m., they give up. I think someone is ordering parts. While I had an entertaining day checking on their progress, I think it is safe to say that today was truly the longest day of the year for these workers.

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