(originally posted Mar 19, 2010)

(updated April 24, 2010) Had another nice walk up the mountain today. Cool clear skies so Bailiff and I walked briskly to the solar house and back. The damp morning brings out the smells so she had her nose working overtime, periodically sensing something that led her off crashing through the brush.

Larry and I made that trash run to the dump and, coincidentally, it was lunch time and there we were:  at Melba’s again. After a wonderful lunch of fried tilapia and the best hush puppies I ever had, we headed back to the Valley.  We had put locks on all of the new water spigots and had vowed to also block off the entrance to the upper road where people were going around the gate.

The Rock

It was a simple plan. Make a webbing with which to lasso a boulder out of the creek and drag it out with the tractor. After only two tries we freed a huge boulder from its watery grave and headed for that gate — Larry on the tractor with Bailiff and I in trail. Here is the famous rock. Click to see the larger photo.

Bloop! It rolls out of the webbing. Hook it up, drag, flips out, hook up, drag some more … several times. To here:

It’s about 30 yards from me, so you can see that this is no trival boulder. We had dragged it, we had cussed it, and we had even cajoled it. Finally, Larry grabbed it with the box blade on the tractor and got it to the designated spot.

We managed to get another one, almost as big, out of the creek but decided that J.D. and his front-end loader would be a much better idea.  Just a couple more big ‘uns and we’ll have an oilpan-busting-barrier!

Canoeing 101

Some of the “watercraft” had inadvertently been left in the swimming hole and I went after the canoe. It was behind the old dam and the nose was beached so it would be easiest to judge paddle it out of there. After all, not only did I get “Best J-stroke” at YMCA camp in 1957, but I’ve since become a rather accomplished kayaker (if I do say so myself). The trouble started when I was stuck on a rock or something and went to push off.

It ended with me in the 50 degree water! You can rest assured that I’m telling this story only so as to beat Larry to it!

Leaving

Headed home in the morning. Hope to see Joe Diffie who is on the way, and then head on. Have been missing Jen terribly, but this has been one of the best times ever. It’s a beautiful place in the early spring. I’m ready to get home, but not ready to leave. Catch-22.