Tuesday, February 28, 2017

Walking on a Chilly Day


I was walking around the acreage this weekend enjoying the winter sunshine as I inspected trees and bushes for winter damage.  It still amazes me that I can pick up sticks in the fall and find more in the late winter or early spring that I had actually already cleared up.  The winds seem to get harsher every year or else the trees are just getting too old to withstand those winds.  This year part of my windbreak by the hen house also took a dive so that has to be repaired come spring.  As I walked and mentally stored away the tasks ahead I also used the other side of my brain to ponder philosophy.  Gasp!
I was thinking about how much I enjoyed walking around a piece of property that belonged to me and feeling appreciative of having 5 acres to trudge about on.  Ownership is a powerful feeling but it can also make one very vulnerable.  There’s this attachment thing which can trigger some very fierce emotions if that sense of possession is violated.  Attachment can also make a person stubborn or inflexible, change may be unwelcome.  These thoughts were reinforced by watching Robert in Downton Abbey struggle with change after the war. 
As I inspected my new apple trees I also felt a sense of frustration with nature in the form of deer.  They are pretty, I feel sorry for them getting shot at during hunting season but I do not like them eating the bark off my expensive Japanese Ivory Silk Lilac tree or chewing the young branches off the apple trees.  My mind went in circles as to how best to shield the trees from these hungry deer since the construction I currently have in place doesn’t seem to be doing the job.  Just as mice can squeeze through the tiniest of cracks so a deer can leap the highest fence or find the space between trees and bushes.
I remembered that the vineyards of my childhood had the sound of shotguns firing to keep the birds away.  Hmmm?  I’ll have to ask John if he can fix me a shotgun sound.

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