The "ladies of the club."
These bovines belong to a herd over on Center Valley Road.
Hardly a drive goes by when I can't resist snapping some photos of these very photogenic cows.
I did so during last night's early evening drive with Little Foster.
Bill and Bridie were fishing at Trout Creek, while the Young Loves and their guests had come by earlier in the day to load up the kayaks for an afternoon/evening at Round Lake.
It was a fairly laid-back day and welcome too. This month's calendar is dotted with things to do, so whenever the quiet comes, I'll always take advantage.
Also, yesterday when the gang showed up for the kayaks, I summoned Andrew to come and do a somewhat simple task that is no longer possible for Bill or me to do.
This project involved changing hoses on the deck water hydrant.
The hydrant is under the deck, and when I was younger I did come very close to standing on my head each day to turn on the hydrant.
For a while, I knelt, but one day one of my knees screamed it didn't want to do that anymore.
So, I resorted to a new daily exercise of doing the splits to reach that hydrant.
Last year, while needing to change a hose, I discovered that, even doing the splits, I could not reach the hose hardware where it was hooked to the hydrant.
So, I sat down (maybe just fell down), put one leg down the hole and somehow managed to change the hoses at the hydrant.
Once that task was finished, however, I quickly realized that a bigger challenge lay ahead.
I needed to get myself back upright again after removing my leg from the hole in the deck.
After much pondering, I reasoned that the only way I was gonna get up was to roll across the deck to the deck steps with their beams which I could grab hold of to pull myself up.
And, so yesterday when a hose (the section hooked to the hydrant) went bad, I bit the bullet and asked Bill to go to North 40 to get me another section of hose.
I knew there was no way, with my bad knee, that I would be going through the acrobatics needed for last year's hose-changing project.
So, I informed Bill, who immediately and emphatically replied, "I can't get down there to do that."
His knees don't work well either.
Plan B popped into mind.
Younger bodies!
Willie and the gang eventually came over, so while Willie helped Bill load kayaks, Andrew and the rest of the crew followed me to the deck.
"This is an incremental change into old age," I explained to them. "Not a big one but definitely incremental . . . neither Bill nor I want to risk getting down and not knowing how to get up . . . so will you please change the hose?"
Nice Andrew.
Even Andrew had to admit that the hydrant location did not present the easiest situation for a human body, but being 30 years younger than Ma and Pa Love gave him a distinct advantage.
Once positioned to make the change, he needed a wrench to undo the hose I had screwed to the hydrant a year ago, but within five minutes, the project was completed. We even did a test run to make sure water was flowing from one end of the hose to another.
So, off they went with the kayaks and I spent the rest of the day happy about the hose situation and doing leisurely things like puzzling and taking pictures of cows.
It was a good and relatively relaxing day after the party.
I'm anxious to get out there this morning with my long hose and to experience what it's like not to have to cuss because the damn hose doesn't work.
Thank you, Andrew. Nice to have a Boeing aviation engineer around when you need him.
Happy Saturday.
No way my body will do that anymore!
Kids having country-style fun.
This happy crew came by last night from the Meserve Preserve and used the Lovestead driveway for a turnaround.
Fun to hear the laughter, see the happy faces and remember the times of yesteryear when we got to ride on wagons pulled by a tractor or pickup.
These days 4-wheelers do the pulling.
A little bit of bull here.
First ripe blueberry 2024
Lots of picking and grinning coming soon. I've seen a couple of red raspberries and noticed several bean blossoms this morning while watering. Chard is ready to pick, and I've also seen a few tiny red spuds while hoeing weeds.
Though I dread the thought of the blistering heat wave over the next week, I know that my garden will really take off.
Busy times ahead, and delicious too.
Happy Saturday.
Below: first bloom from our "Becky" rose.
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