After a long wait and ignoring a lot of pain, my tooth has been worked on and is hopefully fixed. Today and tomorrow I plan to rest, right now I feel like a puffer fish. It’s been so long since I’ve really been to the dentist that just showing up there felt exhausting, like going to a new place. Thankfully there’s nothing to report from the procedure and now that it’s done I’m hopeful that there will be extended health benefits. I know this problem first appeared to me a couple years ago, I couldn’t afford to get it fixed then, so I ignored it until now. Since then I’ve had some lingering mysterious illnesses, that we suspect were related, that’s why I think this will improve my overall health. The weekend was good, got to spend lots of time with the family, I saw my neighbors for the second time and they told me about a good tree nursery not too far from here. That got me thinking on how I would go about transporting a lot of trees, especially since they will likely be in pots. Trees could fit in the minivan laying down, except I think I’m going to be getting more trees then would fit. Other options I’ve thought of were renting a truck or trailer for the day, once I’m done resting I’ll go out in the yard to measure for my tree plans. Currently my only plans are to plant two rows of peach trees leading straight from the house to the road. It’s hard to eyeball those distances, but I’m guessing it will take at least 20 trees to go the distance I want to cover. I’ll place a flag in the grass for every future tree and then get to work digging holes. Having the trees in pots will give me more time to put them in the ground. It’ll be Summer before you know it.
22 March 2024
Since we only use daycare four days a week Fridays are a normal dad day which I’m thankful to have. Even though it is a relief to have someone watch the baby so I can do work at home, part of me misses our time together. Another part of me knows how tiring it can be to chase around a toddler all day. Today is a rainy day, so I’m thankful for that, a nice relief to close out the week. Yesterday we finally closed on the sale of the old house, with all the craziness that place has brought us, even down to the last minutes, I’m glad to be away from that place. I don’t believe in this stuff much, but that house felt haunted the way it attacked my weak points. In the end it all made me stronger. The problem in the final minutes had to do with our paperwork to sell, we signed in our new house and the paperwork was mailed to the title company. The buyers were had to wait to sign their portion because of course their was a problem with the delivery. I checked the online tracking number and all it said was “delayed”, I’m sure the title company was loosing their minds trying to get more information on what was going on. The new house has already treated us better in the first days than the old house did, I’ll take that as a sign that I’m in the right place. Ending the chapter on the old place the same day I begin mowing at the new one seems fitting, it’s time to move on to our next adventure.
21 March 2024
The mower is alive, happy Spring everyone. This morning I did about three hours of mowing and might have done a third of the property, it will be hard to tell how much there is to mow until I’ve already done it a couple of times. When we were looking at houses I kept questioning if the acreage is right since the places felt smaller than the number. Our eyes have a distorted perspective on distance where our legs can learn the truth. While walking the property for the last month I’ve gotten a decent idea if the size, to be fair I mostly walk on one half and there are plenty of areas I can’t get to because the brush is too thick. There’s a wooded section of the property that doesn’t need grass mowing, but I was happy to go through to cut down creeping brier. Now I have interweaving trails in the forest and a secondary path to the pole barn, the barn is on the other side of the forest. There’s a feeling of at home on my mower, we call it Hector because my last property was a hectare, I was happy the new battery worked and maybe we can get through the season without any repairs needed. Last year I replaced the blade belt. While mowing I like to listen to audiobooks since there’s a lot of hours spent in the seat that I could also be learning. The latest book is the Chronicles of Narnia, a 35 hour series, I’ve never read the books or seen the movie. Having my audio books back is also a nice feeling, I was missing a bit of culture from my life.
20 March 2024
This morning I was able to get some yard work done, there’s one tree in particular that had been annoying me, so I cut it back. The tree was already too big for my liking and it was growing directly under where the electricity connects to the house. After I was done with the first tree I wanted to go around the house with the chainsaw and hedge trimmers making sure there are no plants touching the house. Perhaps it’s because people live so disconnected from nature that they desire to plant things right outside their window, I’m strongly opposed to this first because I understand a tree is as big underground as it is above ground. If a tree is rubbing against the house above ground, then its roots are pushing against the foundation looking to expand. I’ve yet to get back on the horse of mowing, I wanted to start with something smaller and more focused. Tomorrow I’ll plan to mow if all goes well, I’ve gotten some rest and told my wife I’ll rest until I’m feeling ancy. When I got home after dropping the baby off I immediately got to work even before I had eaten breakfast, I couldn’t stop myself. Working up a sweat in fresh air is my medicine, as I’d cut down a branch a cloud of pollen would explode, my nose is a little stuffed up. Accepting the pollen as it comes in nature is also my attempt to get over allergies. Moving from the north to the south, allergies used to knock me out hard, it seems to have gotten better each year. It’s been hard to tell with all the craziness that’s been happening the last couple years, now I’m settling into my new home.
19 March 2024
With the baby at daycare I still feel disoriented, I’m making rest my priority because I need it and should take advantage of the chance now. For all I know this daycare might not work out or they’ll call me in five minutes to pick up the kid, it’s been awhile since I’ve had time alone. Pet noises around the house send my brain running thinking, “the baby!” We’ve been kicking up dust for three months, now it’s time to settle in. There’s parts of the house and property that I haven’t explored or even thought about since I didn’t have room for it in my brain. I’m still not ready to think about them, but I’m coming to life enough to be aware I have uncharted responsibilities. Of course there’s the mowing, everyday I tell myself I’m going to do it then I rest instead. The reality is the grass isn’t in a bad position yet and I’ve been in a bad position, so taking care of myself is the priority. Mostly that means catching up on sleep, I’m still suffering from my tooth problem until March 25th, hopefully it’ll be solved then. Once I get all these weights off me and recover, I will be a new man, ready to take on all sorts of new weights to break myself off with. I have a beautiful life, that must be remembered, new goals are to keep me active not to beat me down. When an activity gets to stressful, then it’s time to walk away. We are forming a new beginning, I don’t try to force a plan anymore, what is meant to be will unfold. There’s a pool I haven’t touched yet, I had a bad experience with my last pool, this time I’ll get help.
18 March 2024
Last Friday I got some bad news that I couldn’t shake from my head, so I didn’t write my blog. Hopefully it’s nothing now, we signed to sell our old house today and the buyers sign on Wednesday. While signing I stared at this painting done by my grand dad. The whole process is a pain and won’t feel done until it is done, and I don’t know when that will be. Real estate feels like the buyers and sellers are kept in the dark as much as possible, that we never had the full story as to what was going on. There’s a closing date, all I can do is wait until then and hope all goes well. All the house stuff takes up too much space in my brain, I look forward to having a clear head again. I’ve also noticed an issue with my Youtube account that’s been discouraging where “shorts” used to get hundreds of views they’re now getting zero. There is a desire to DIY, the reality is nothing is ever done by an individual, we’re a strand on the web of life. The baby started at her new daycare this morning while we we signing our house away. Her last daycare was a more formal setting where the older kids wore uniforms, the new place seems more our speed. The daycare is a separate building on the property of the owner, the daycare building has several rooms I got to walk through when I dropped the baby off. I have a strange feeling after spending so many hours of my day in constant contact with the baby, that I’m off balance without the weight on my hip. She’ll be happy with all the friends she’ll make and we’ll go for a walk in the woods when she gets home. Today I will rest and then this week I will get a lot of yard work done.
14 March 2024
This morning was pretty rough, the baby woke up early and she’s been hyper, running all over and getting into everything. The dog misses his mommy so he’s been pouting the whole time and the cats are always making some trouble. The new house has some nice exposed beams, everyday the cats get more bold in their exploration. As far as work today goes, I was out in the front yard clearing up branches from some tall grass that I’ll mow later. While writing this my new “small” mower got delivered, I’ll see what I can assemble on that this afternoon. This morning I also updated our internet router, thankfully it seemed to have doubled our speeds, so the old router was a bottleneck. The old router was from 2018, which to me doesn’t seem old, but when we’re talking about technology apparently half a decade is ancient. The smart phone hasn’t even been around for 20 years yet, those things really took off. An old friend called me this morning and we were able to reconnect. In October 2023 I had to leave a group chat of old friends because I didn’t like what it had become. I’ve now reconnected with everyone in the chat and I’m not rejoining because I think things needed to change from that, now they have. We will establish new ways of friendship now in whatever way we will, I’m not worried about that. If we’ve lasted this long and put up with a lot of tough times, this is nothing in the long run.
13 March 2024
A fairly uneventful morning on the farm today, I decided to slow things down and get some rest. Of course there’s no rest with a toddler, but I can at least minimize my extra curriculars to get me through the week. On Thursday I’ll have to record the podcast and Friday I need to get flowers for my wife’s birthday. We went to the grocery store to restock some dog food and milk, going to the store every couple of days is nice to get us out of the house and off the land, plus it’s right down the street. I decided to wait until the weekend to install the new mower battery as my wife will be home and I’ll have some time to mow. My thinking was that I wanted to run the mower for a couple minutes to give back any charge to the battery, I’ll also be able to clear the path I was cutting at yesterday. There’s a spot on the property where the grass is already getting long, it would be nice to trim that back, first I’ll have to clean up a lot of fallen branches. Spring is definitely marching forward, there’s already a thin layer of pollen on my car. There are swarms of bees around the bushes, my bees won’t be delivered until the beginning of next month. I’ve been doing bee research and have made peace that there’s a strong chance things won’t work out for this hive, but I’m already learning how to improve things like starting with a “nuc” and not having them sent through the mail. There’s a local bee keepers association that I’ll look into if they’re still active and hopefully that will lead me to more resources. Getting to know local growers is the best way to start anything.
12 March 2024
Another good morning down and I can feel my fuel beginning to drop, when starting a new routine it’s important to not burn out immediately. Today is only Tuesday and I’ve been successful for two days, there’s still three more days of the work week. Mostly likely I won’t be as active in later weeks, this morning I took the baby and dog into the woods to blaze a new trail. The one path to my barn has probably been the only drivable path for sometime it’s crumbling in parts. There’s a deep red clay and water runs down it, water goes the same path every time and creates large cracks. The path that exists also runs the parameter of the property, I would like a direct route. What I was doing in the woods was cutting down a lot of young trees or bushes with my branch loppers, later I’ll be able to drive through the area with my mower. I was also able to get a new battery for my mower at the hardware, tomorrow I might be able to connect that, I might have to tie baby up in a stroller since I won’t want her crawling all over this time. Yesterday afternoon I had to go to some stores and it was an interesting experience. We live on a main road, so to go to the post office I turned right and drove about 5 miles into town. For my next stops I got back on the main road and drove 10 miles, 5 miles to my house and 5 more to the other shopping area. I’m happy that directions are so easy, it does mean when I miss my house there aren’t a lot of markers to let me know I’ve gone too far.
11 March 2024
3/11/24
Today marks a new beginning, my wife started training for her new job and I’m alone with the baby, dog, and two cats for the week. While in between jobs my wife was at home, I’ve only known the new house with her in it. Hopefully I’ll be able to get some work done this week as there is also the changing of the seasons, I can see new buds sprouting from the trees and the grass is growing. This morning I took the baby and dog down to the pole barn where my mower sits, I was removing the battery to get it replaced. My daughter was very helpful, or wanted to be, while I was getting everything free she kept climbing the mower to sneak a peak at what I was doing. When she’s older I’m sure I’ll be grateful for the extra set of hands, for now I’m mostly worried about her falling or throwing my keys into the woods. The dog was also good, the barn is on the back edge of the property with an unfenced boarder, so I’m having to teach him boundaries that might not be obvious to his senses. I got the battery out and maybe tomorrow we’ll go to ACE hardware to see if they have a replacement, I was told they’re a Husqvarna supplier, the brand of my mower. If the hardware store can’t help there’s plenty of auto stores and farm supplies. I’ve got to buy a new small mower since there wasn’t room in the moving truck for it. There’s a small fenced in area I won’t be able to use my riding mower in, plus I’ll need a bag to catch the grass clippings, I had thrown away the bag for the old mower. Everyday will be going down the list of what needs to be done.
Chris' Morning Pages 