Happy big day to a dear friend. 😊
Got up a bit later, and did some morning routine stuff.
Helped Heather a bit with River (one of the horses), until Heather had to go to work).
Spent probably an hour vacuuming up flies. 🙃 There were so many flies all over the side of my van, so I just… started vacuuming them up.
Fewer flies to bother the horses. Fewer flies to get in Rover. Fewer flies to bite us.
I mowed the lawn and some strips along the road. Something isn’t quite right with the mower, so it takes about 80 trillion passes to be able to mow down the grass and make it even, but it’s decent looking at this point.
After that, I spent pretty much the entire day at JH Keith Park. The plan was to ponder and work on my book while I did mindless manual labor, but… I can’t. I want to be able to think and do that kind of thing, but no dice.
So I just worked on the little soaking pool, digging it down further. It’s super slow going because it’s digging through super hard packed rock into clay, and I’m doing it in water.
Because I had the whole thing dammed up, every time I would dig up some rock, it would unleash a cloud of dirt that would make it so I couldn’t see anything else, so I ended up tearing down my dam in one spot to let all the water run out, or at least a lot of the water run out.
I had chosen that spot because it was going to be out of the way and not visible from above from anyone who might look down, but I realized after demolishing my dam at that part of the soaking pool, that the spring was several inches lower at the other end of my soaking pool, so I ended up tearing apart my dam right at the part of it that I was most proud of.
Why? Well because I remembered that in times past when I’ve made a damn in a place that’s got water running into it, eventually, the sediment starts to build up. I don’t know if that would be the case with the spring bubbling right out of the ground, but I wanted to hedge my bets and be prepared, which meant that I would need to make a drain at least relatively near the bottom, so each time people got in and stirred up what hopefully would be just a tiny amount of sediment, it could go out the drain and not build up in the bottom.
So I tore out the most beautiful part of my dam, which was actually really cool. 😅 It was the part where they really big stone steps are.
Oh well.
I need to get a couple of 10 ft sections of 4-in pipe. Maybe even three of them to act as sediment drains.
So… Instead of looking almost done, it’s… a destroyed mess. But I’m better prepared now to make it really good, and I’m a lot timelier manner, now that i don’t have to wait for the clouds of dirt to settle before I can see briefly again. So that’s something.
Unfortunately, The jig Is Up as far as it being hidden away. The banging with shovel and pick to try and dig it down got the attention of at least one and I think two different people, one of them a local teenager, so… My little secret spot might not be so secret anymore. 😕
Oh well. It’ll be what it’ll be.
Heather made me a lovely ginormous smoothie that was ready when I got home, which I gratefully and happily drink, and now here I am. I messed with some poison ivy. Hopefully, I’ll be ok.
I didn’t realize the bush that I was pushing myself against was a poison ivy bush. 😅
I took a bath, but I guess we’ll see what happens.
I also messed with a bunch of Virginia creeper, which I’m also allergic to, I believe, like poison ivy. Different chemical, but similar reaction.
Hopefully, I’ll be okay. 🤞
Gratitude:
- Grateful I was able to get the lawn mower going.
- Grateful I didn’t become allergic to anything until pretty much the very end of mowing. That was actually the impetus for my going to the springs, as I didn’t want to go inside the trailer covered in allergifying plant matter, nor did I want to just change, so I figured a dip in the creek would wash off anything of note allergy-wise. I just ended up staying all day. 🙃
- I’m grateful that I’m able to have internet connection in my little, not-so-secret-anymore, spot.
- I’m grateful for uplifting music.
- I’m grateful that toward the end of my efforts today, when I scraped some rock away and a particular spot, a very large spring bubbled up, probably the most powerful of all the springs in that area. Originally, I had thought there were four, but I think there’s more like six or seven, all in this little spot that’s probably only maybe a 12-ft diameter? That spring is bubbling straight up and powerfully enough to have the water bubbling above the rest of the level of the little pool.
Success:
- Not sure there’s anything to speak of.
Improvement:
- When I realized I was not able to think and dig, at least not without someone there to talk to, I should have stopped and headed back after rinsing the allergens off. I didn’t, and I wasted the entire day. I just…. want a getaway to think where there isn’t anyone to distract, and it would be nice to have a more private spot for Heather and Hans, should they do desire.
Thought of the Day:
Israel, Israel, God is calling—calling us to live the gospel of Jesus Christ personally in small ways as well as large, and then to reach out to those who may not look or dress or behave quite like we do, and then (where you can) go beyond that to serve in the widest community you can address.
~ Jeffrey R. Holland
Hand of God In My Life Today:
Hmmm… Didn’t really give much at all to the spiritual today. I did listen to a bunch of videos and music and scriptures and whatnot, but I was multitasking, so I didn’t get a lot out of it. 😕
Loves 😊
Lift the world.
Bring it on.
~ stephen
Lift the World 