i made it to the East Fork in may, june, july, august and september to continue my trend of once a month. i have a planned trip in october and i couldn’t be more excited about it if i tried. two of my favorite old, old friends are joining me. the leaves are already starting to change and there were iridescent gold and lime aspen eaves at every turn of dirt road. on the way in we caught a cow moose and her babe just hanging out above the beaver ponds, having a salad. i can only imagine the amount of green calories that are needed to maintain an animal of that size. brian found the moon going down about 8pm on saturday night and grabbed his high power scope. it was a sliver but it seriously looked like swiss cheese. all that propaganda we read as children appeared to be true.
i played with the dogs, read on the porch, hunted agates and played in the river. i tried out my new chainsaw on some deadfall and my new hydraulic log splitter on some of the biggest stumps in our 14 year old woodpile. it felt great to move my body until i was finished, and then it felt like a very old and creaky body. the bottom line is that it did the job. i won’t be able to safely use my chainsaw for long periods of time yet, but as my comfort level and and muscles grow, i will be able to do the work i need to do. the campfires to come will be my reward for a hard days work. staring into the flames until my eyeballs melt. campfires erase stress in some diabolical way for me. i think i become thinner and better looking, too. the longer i stare.
mom was a champ, as always. she cooked, organized drawers and cleaned cupboards. i dragged her out to the river for at least a minute, and made sure she appreciated the night sky. we were surprised by clear skies and bright stars after several thunderstorms throughout the day. some clouds rolled in after dark and i set mom up to lose $20 thru a baited bet that the big dipper disappeared completely from the sky. i took her out to witness the missing constellation (conveniently obscured by a temporary cloud). she paid in cash.
back to real life, my 40 hour/week desk job is exhausting lately and takes almost every inch of motivation i have. i managed to can peaches in september, but the blackberries i finally found were a bust. it’s been a just over a year since my mom moved in with me, and we have settled into a pretty good routine. most nights i get home from work and lay on the couch for an hour (or so) to decompress while mom frets around me and offers me icewater and dinner. about 7 or 8 i realize that time is limited, so i jump up and throw in laundry, mow or water the lawn, clean out the car (always!) from the last trip, and head downstairs to binge netflix until i fall asleep. it is a vicious cycle.
bluebird skies 