Anecdotes Of Amusement And Bemusement
Well, summer sure has salmon-slapped me this week.
For those who are wondering what the heck kind of descriptor "salmon slapping" is, let it be known that when I was a youngster in Alaska that it wasn't uncommon to get a smack from a salmon on occasion. The salmon-caused, consciousness-jarring could arrive via many different ways, while swimming, while fishing, or upside your head from your ornery kid brother when you least expected it.
Now that we have engaged in the creative descriptor explanation part of the post, I can now move on with what I have been up too. Lots.
Last week I mentioned that we are cleaning up the front part of our property so that we can let people camp with their RVs in the spot. That job is almost done, and none to soon. I think we all are tired of shoveling dirt, insulation, dry wall, and other destroyed house detritus.
During the cleanup we also had to haul our kids show animals to the fairgrounds for Tag Day. This year due to the Horrid Virus, 4-H like everything else, is a bit different. Usually the market animals are weighed in for fair in early spring. Well, shutdown squelched that, so we had to have a Tag Day as soon as allowable for reasons unknowable. Of course these tag days had to be right in a row, during rush hour, and oh yep, our state is also currently under a full invasion from people whose states are locked down. Trailering the steer and pigs through Coeur d'Alene was super fun!
I mean, everyone knows you can just jam on the brakes when you are towing a trailer with an animal in the back, so I am sure that is why the old dude in the green Cadillac with plates from the State That Shall Not Be Named jumped right in front of us, stopped while a 1/4 in the turn lane and texted like he was live streaming his latest meal. I was pretty sure that we were going to have a nice new hood ornament on Rufus, and I can tell you that my truck's horn works rather well.
However, it was the hauling of the pigs the next day, after spending all day in the heat shoveling, shopping, and mowing, that put things over the top. My son's show hogs are around 200 pounds or so, and they did NOT want to leave the comforts of the barn. I know this because I rode each one of them, backwards, down my barn hallway. Twice. It took my son, daughter, and I to load those two beasts. And by load I mean that we had to pick up the those little bacon-laced full backs and set them in the trailer. We smelled so nice.
By that point we were all a little weary and teary. It was then that a bit of serene knowledge floated through my brain, for we were to spend all weekend camping at our friend's place up on the Pack River. I'm going to do a separate post about that magical experience, for as horrid and trying as the previous few days were, the PacK River Camp Out was a restorative balm for our weary souls. I still find myself longing for my beach chair on the sandy river bar....
Anyway, there are a couple more things of interest to note from last week. I learned that my car cannot distinguish between a case of water and a human. With our area's Covid cases ramping up, I decided that I was going to run into town and grab what I needed for a while so I didn't have to go into town for a couple of months. My little car was relatively full after a trip to the restaurant supply store, so I placed one of the cases of water I got for camping onto my front seat. As I was leaving the store my car started making a dinging noise. I never thought I would ever be driving around with a case of water buckled up, but apparently that thing has now become a part of my story, as the weight of the water set off my car's seat belt sensors. I don't know why, but for some reason every time I think about it I giggle.
I also managed to find the time, barely, to Florida Weave trellis my tomatoes. I had an extra twenty-five or so tomato seedlings that I plunked in the ground a few weeks ago, and they needed some support let me tell you! So I scrounged some stakes and baling twine. Faster than you can say frugal farming I had weaved a bit of tomato support magic. Last night I went and checked my little nightshade friends and they looked much happier to have a bit of twine to lean on. Hopefully they will return the favor and bless me with a hearty crop. I am feeling pretty positive about their performance as I already have tomatoes growing on the plants in the greenhouse.
And on that fruit-tinged note I am going to bolt. This rather moderate in size, rambling missive is my attempt to delve back into my frequent posting, which is a tall order for me to fulfill in the midst of summer. Let it be known though, I have no complaints, life is great just a bit on the full side!
And as most of the time, all of the images in this post were taken on the author's really starting to fail iPhone.