In The Trenches

With Americans celebrating July 4th this week, getting off to an early start I might add, I reflected on the meaning to and cost of our freedom.  Freedom comes at a great price, and should not be taken lightly.

While working on my drainage ditch (trench) I thought about the trenches built during war.  Those in battle, were 'in the trenches.'  But the most terrifying of places was no man's land, the area of land between two enemy trench systems, which neither side wished to cross or seize due to fear of being attacked by the enemy in the process.  It was often riddled with barbed wire and rudimentary improvised land mines, as well as corpses and wounded soldiers who were not able to make it across the sea of explosions and fire.  The area was usually devastated by the warfare and carnage (wikipedia).

Then I reflected on my past teaching days when we referred to being in the classroom as 'in the trenches.'  There really is no comparison... except that it is the front line were all the action takes place and, if well thought out and planned for, goes better than if not.  The 'in the trenches' idiom can refer to many places of battle (our police officers at a demonstration, in the ER, at a political convention, in a cancer treatment center, and several other workplaces actually).

I did all my 'trench work' early Saturday.  Again with two batches of concrete mix I worked on the wall and got four more pavers cemented in.  I was going to continue ditch work till mid afternoon, but during my lunch break discovered a bunch of messages on my phone.  Whiskey, one of the stable horses, died overnight of what they suspected was Potomac Fever.





So I went out to the barn to wait on the vet and make sure Amiga and Zorro got vaccinated for this.  All the boarders were out there and it was actually nice to catch up with everyone while we waited 'in the trenches' to get our horses cared for.


I groomed Amiga and then decided to go for a short ride while waiting for the vet.  I kept Amiga at a walk because I didn't want her getting too hot.  Once back, I was going to have someone take our photo, but forgot, so swung up on Amiga bareback and bridle-less for this picture.  I don't know who took the above photo... looks like I am concentrating.  Notice the finished mural in the background of the right photo and below is one of the long wall with Jean sitting on the bench in front of it.

Zorro also got brushed, hooves picked and treated, and a nice ten minute walk around the barn after he got his shot.  He loves the attention, and exploring/looking around.









 I was home in time to shower and then Joe and I were off to the Hebbertsburg monthly fund raiser.






We had a spaghetti dinner and enjoyed lots of dancing.  The Sweet T's performed during the two intermissions.  A fun time was had by all, and even Joe danced several songs, including The Tennessee waltz, remembering Britney's waltz lesson from last summer.

I was moving slow Sunday morning, just feeling lazy.  Our regular deer visitor was back for corn and the mineral block.

I can NOT get this photo to turn the correct way.  Ugh.

As soon as I did get moving (dressed), I went to the barn to check on Amiga and Zorro.  Zorro came right to me at the gate, from under his favorite shade tree (left), and Amiga was easy to catch.

I tied the two horses facing each other in the cross ties and gave them a looking over.  They both appeared fine and neither had any swelling or soreness from Saturday's shot.  I gave them a good brushing, botfly larva removal, hoof care, and ended with swat and fly spray.

Shirley and Terry were at the barn checking on their horses also.  As we were all heading to the parking lot together, I asked if Terry would like to show Shirley her property.  So we all went to Terry's house.  She drove us around in her golf cart to show us all the outbuildings and work they have done so far.  Seen left Terry with Donkey.

Once home, my jaw and headache hadn't gone away, so I took another aspirin and I was so tired that I took a nap.  A pouring rain woke me up 50 minutes later.  I got started on laundry and Stevie supervised as I made a salad for lunch.  She is so bad about being on the counters ALL the time.

I went out back to pick up the plastic that had washed partly off the drainage ditch wall and started doing some trench work, hauling sand and dirt up the hill to fill in behind the wall.

I moved another pile of rocks down to the bottom of the hill and in the process of moving them, was bound and determined to get this one (which ended up being like an ice burg, mostly covered by dirt) out of the ground.  (stupid blogger wants to post this photo upside down... ugh again.)





The photo seen right, compared to the first one in this blog I posted at the start of this week, shows the additional wall work and the removal of many of the rocks along the outside of the ditch wall.


I raked the new dirt nice and smooth, and you can see the large rock at the bottom right corner of this photo.
I had two ideas in mind for what to do with it.

While working, my deer friend came back looking for food.  She didn't seem to notice (or mind) me down in the woods.










But when she bent over to take a nibble at one of the new bushes I had planted, I spoke gently to her, asking her to keep her teeth off of it.  She then sauntered off into the woods behind Allen's house.

I was chased in by another storm, having picked up all my tools with the warning thunder first.  It didn't last too long, but I was done for the day, and everything was too wet anyways.

I went outside to check to see if the dirt had washed out from along the wall and look who was sitting on the big rock by the bench.

The woods are full of an assortment of these hoppers, especially after the rain.

I took Maggie for a long walk since Joe had gone golfing right after work.  He didn't get home until almost 8 pm because of a rain delay.

Monday, July 4th, steamed up quickly as heat and humidity moved in once the sun rose.  I worked out back again, thinking I would do a little work until the expected rain returned.  Things were still wet at first.

I hauled more dirt up from the creek bed (seen right) as I 'trenched' it out once again.  Sometimes I feel like I haul it up and the rain washes it back down.  This actually is a reality... I have more pictures from Monday posted in comparison to flooding seen Tuesday.  I also removed more silt (including cat-tail I could reach) from the edge of the pond by our bench.  I like to have a view of 'open waterfront.' :-)

I transplanted this section (seen left between the tree and rock) of some type of weedy ground cover that had been where I want grass.  I moved it in big, flat, squares like I did the sod.  Seen below, the area I removed it from, which will soon get seeded.

After all the excavating, I seeded many of the bare areas along the wall and bank of the pond and then watered everything, even though rain was in the forecast.

Shirley picked me up and we headed to Mirror Lake for the Blast.


FoxFire NewGrass Band played 50's and 60's music with blue grass instruments (video) and were lots of fun.

They did a great job impersonating several different singers, and were very entertaining, even though their sound system was a tad messed up. 



At one point it looked like we were finally going to get the expected rain, but the storm broke up and went around us.




Joe and Maggie joined us at Mirror Lake just before the band finished.  Then Joe and I, with the dog, went to Robin Hood park for more festivities.  This video was taken of part of the hula hoop contest.

Joe left with Maggie just before the fireworks started.  He later reported that she was quite frightened.  I watched (with Michelle) from the dock at Lake Catherine.  In this video I was looking out at the lights across the water... and then the countdown, and the firework show began.  The fireworks display was literally right overhead. 

I walked the mile home afterwards, and the rain actually held off until after I had walked the dog before bed.

It rained all night and continued through the day Tuesday.  I didn't do or accomplish anything of great significance Tuesday.  It was a rainy day so I went into town shopping.  I got wet going into Wal-Mart and drenched coming out and unloading all my stuff into the car.  Once home, since I was soaked, I went down to get photos of the flooding.


These six photographs are comparisons of my trench work the day before (on the left), to the high water 24 hours later (on the right).

Even the trench to the creek at the end of my drainage ditch was full of 'flood' water.  The lower photo was taken the next day, after the water had receded.

Oh, I did decide to get back into the trenches of the workout gym.  The last time I recorded my weights was May 5th... two whole months ago!
I managed to do a complete workout at my regular weight levels.

From the gym, Joe and I went to Legends restaurant to celebrate our 36th wedding anniversary.  Jan and Jean from the barn, and their spouses Mike and Bob were there, so we sat with them.  We stayed for some Karaoke, but left about 8:30, needing to get home to feed and walk Maggie.

At 5:00 Wednesday morning, Joe was up way earlier than usual and walked the dog, going all 18 holes of Druid.  So I lingered in bed longer than typical.
 
Britney's chair (Goldie) continues to remain with us, per her request, and is a favorite seat for Stevie to sleep on, relatively out of the dog's reach.


When I went out mid-morning to take the above photo of the trench, I noticed that again, our sod had been tore up down by the pond.  This is the most damage yet, and is like the forth night in a row it has happened.  I looked for tracks, now thinking it might be a wild hog.  But the foot prints had five toes and claws and appeared to be skunk or racoon.  "Raccoons will 'roll-up' a lawn while searching for grubs and other larval insects.  Skunks make small individual holes when they search for insect larva.  Usually they return to search a site that has had a plentiful food source." - Wegman's Nursery  We have had both small individual holes and larger rolls of turf, so maybe we have both skunk and raccoon.

The sun came out and dried things up a fair amount and I finally got outside to plant some grass.  I had bought more seed and a decomposeable ground cover cloth the day before, which will help hold seed on the steep slopes and where the water runoff carves a path.  Now I was ready to get the next section of yard seeded.  The dark patch seen left is where the layer of ground cover had been removed.




While getting dirt from my pile, to fill in the bank along the wall and in some low spots, I unearthed several grubs.  No wonder I have skunk and/or raccoon visiting.  I put these in the bird feeder and they quickly disappeared.


I didn't have near enough ground cover cloth, so put it where the slope was greatest and where the water tends to run.  The rest of the seed I covered in a thin layer of dirt, again un-earthing several more grubs.  It felt good to have finished off another section of yard and I can't wait to get the rest of the trench completed.

I cleaned up early and dusted and did dishes before Becca, a young lady in her early twenties who is a regular at the CC, came over.  We watched one of the three movies she had lent me, that her mother was in.  They were low budget Christian movies, so Becca got a bit bored with it.  We took an intermission to get her more pop and take a tour of the house.  Then, just before 7 pm, we went up to Legends where we met Sue (Peggy didn't make it), and the three of us enjoyed the chicken pasta buffet.  As always, I overindulge.  I just can't help myself at buffets.  (Joe was off at his weekly card game.)

Lots of rain overnight continued into the day Thursday.  During a lull in the precipitation I went out to check my seed.  I removed a large tree branch that had come down, and noticed that my nocturnal friend (becoming enemy) had returned yet again.  Look at this area I had seeded in May, now quite dug up.  This is going to become war and I am ready to take to the trenches.  First I will start by researching the problem.  We have a large live trap, but not a good idea if skunk is the perpetrator.  I am wondering if I can spray something to kill the grub, or maybe use Deer Off on the grass.

I ran to the Admin office at 8:30 to get keys, and was then on my way to the Dorchester adult pool.  This was my first morning to open out there.  It was a cool, cloudy morning and I doubted I would have any customers.
But, the first couple showed up 15 minutes before our 10 am opening.  I spoke with them about our opening time and rules, and then let them come in early.
Extra time was needed to wipe off tables and chairs that were wet from the rain.  As the sun came out, so did customers, and I opened up more umbrellas.  Near the end of my shift, it threatened to rain, so I closed most of the umbrellas back up.

From work at the pool, I went to the barn to ride Amiga and check on both of the horses (another livery horse had gotten sick).  Seen above, Amiga with her buddy Cash as I went out to collect her. 

Because Amiga's hooves were so long in front, I thought a short, easy ride was all I should do.  Once back to the barn, I decided to ride Zorro, since I had the time.  And, maybe it would help get him re-acclimated to the trail before Courtney comes in two weeks.  I took this video and the photo seen left while riding him.  He did well.

I asked Judy to take our photo when we got back to the barn but Zorro would not stand still.  It looks like I am really pulling on his mouth in the right photo, but it was for just a moment, to try and turn him.  Below is the best photo (out of several) that Judy could get.  Zorro is just too fidgety.




I had to scoot from the barn to beat this storm front that was quickly moving in before it unleashed on me.  It got extremely windy and started pouring just as I closed my car door.









Two minutes after I pulled out from the barn, this section of tree was down just a half mile up the road on Weschester.  Yikes!

I should have gone to the gym to workout, but instead, Joe and I went to town to pick up four pavers (I had run short for the 'trench' floor).  We also looked at some chairs for our porch.  I really like these that have the foot rest stored underneath, saving floor space when you are not sitting in them with your feet up.  But to be more comfy, a cushion on the back would be helpful.  Next we went to dinner at Ruby Tuesday's.  It was another gut busting buffet fiasco for me. 

Friday morning I got a great deal done on this blog while enjoying a slow start and an extra cup of tea.  It was heating up outside (humidity as much as temperature) and I had an agenda of work to do since there was no rain in the forecast.  By 10 am I was up, out, and soon sweating.

I spent a good part of my time getting the next rocks and pavers cleaned up and ready to be cemented in.  I moved dirt in over the tree roots and got it all tamped down and level.  The left photo was taken at the start of my work session.  Below, all the new concrete work is covered in plastic. 

I had made three batches of concrete and cemented in several rocks and six pavers.

Joe came home early from golf, saying there was a tornado warning.  Yeah right I thought.  There were some dark clouds off in the distance.  Ambrie from the barn called and said she was going to put Zorro in overnight since bad weather was due to hit.  And then when the Druid fog horn went off, I knew something was brewing.  So I set pavers at the top end of my trench, just above the wet cement, to use them to hold down the plastic.  When the tornado siren went off, I headed for the house and hoped for the best for my new work.

High winds and volumes of rain hit.  I looked out at the raging water gushing down the drainage ditch.  It was the worst I have seen it.  Rather than watch the destructing forces of flood water, I packed up and went to the gym.  I almost had the whole place to myself, and got in a great workout and a nice hot shower to follow.  Once home, the storm had passed and I went to check on things.  The two pavers holding the plastic, and three that had been cemented in on the left had washed down the hill, along with the plastic, cement, and dirt.  The remaining pavers had lots of cement missing from around and under them.  So I dismantled what was left and figured I'd try again another day.

Along the outside of the trench wall where I had just seeded, much of the dirt, grass seed, and part of the mesh ground cover had also washed away.  There was one low spot in the wall where the water had come over the edge and carved a path as it ran down hill.  The water level has never gotten that high since I built the wall.  Guess I will need to add to it at this spot.



While eating dinner out on the back porch, a pair of cardinals were going crazy, chirping, and flying up to the screen trying to scare Stevie, who was quite interested in them.  I went out after doing the dishes and saw this little one in the bush just below the screened porch.






I took Maggie for our after dinner walk and purposefully kept her away from where the baby bird was at.  We checked out some of the creeks that were running wild.


Mother Nature, in all her splendor and beauty, can also be one of our toughest adversaries.  I was feeling quite discouraged by it all: the new section of my ditch washing away, the uncertain agent causing sick horses at the barn, the existence of illness my friends and family are fighting and even the baby cardinal being displaced from its nest.  I am not sure we can ever defeat Mother Nature, but it would be nice if we could find a way to coexist.

I also was missing my fellow 'comrades' at the conference center.  I hope to join them back in the trenches there, this fall, as a sub and again in the spring.

Anywhere people are put to the test, the analogy of in the trenches can apply.  But war trenches, even though hell on earth, were also a place of safety, where soldiers took cover and rested.  In the legendary WWI Christmas Truce of 1914, there was a series of widespread but unofficial ceasefires, a brief pause in a violent and desperate fight between British and German soldiers.  In several areas, men from both sides ventured into no man's land to mingle and exchange food and souvenirs. There were joint burial ceremonies and prisoner swaps, and games of football.  If only all of us could always live in peace, there would be no more trenches.