As usual, a photographic top-off to a busy day soothed and exhilarated my soul last evening.
There's never a shortage of supreme serenity out here in Selle once the sun begins to dip behind the Selkirks.
And, when the flower garden here at the Lovestead features a few new faces for this season, that adds a lovely touch to the splendor.
Yesterday turned out to be a bit frustrating for a time and a bit laborious at other times.
That rain, which was supposed to come before 8 a.m., waited until a time when I had just concluded that we would not need to worry.
This morning, I'm thinking that Mother Nature wanted to fill up the clouds a bit more before giving them permission to drop their contents on our hay.
A pretty persistent rain lasted about an hour.
Marianne's bad mood at watching the hay bales in the field get wet lasted a short time, happily coming to an abrupt end when Harvey showed up with the bale loader, scooped up the bales and took them to a big shed at his home where they could remain somewhat dry.
Thank you, Harvey. It's gratifying to know that people truly care about their service and do everything in their power to make it right.
The rest of the day was spent cleaning and organizing in preparation for our absence when Elisabeth will come to watch the Lovestead.
To ensure that Elisabeth won't break her leg while summoning doggies to and from the run, I filled Liam holes.
Have I mentioned before that Liam likes to dig?
Well, even after shoveling a pickup load of pea-gravel into the run and filling the major holes, still others remain. Plus, the shelter inside the run, looks like an indoor mine field.
So, part of my afternoon involved filling the cart with more loose hay for the shelter and more gravel for the outdoor holes.
I'm pretty sure Liam will not let the holes stay filled during the next few days, but, at least, now I'll simply have to transfer any gravel flung from the holes back it belongs.
You see Liam is not gonna be under Elisabeth's watch. He'll be going to the pet hotel where it's won't exactly be the Ritz in Liam's mind, but he'll be safe AND I don't think he'll dig a hole in the cement floor.
Preparing to leave home reminds me of getting ready for a substitute teacher. The job for the substitute/housesitter is generally easy, but those hour-to-hour unpredictables involving animals, which we deal with second nature as they come, can cause someone relatively unfamiliar with the system some frustrations.
So, I try to plan for every possibility, especially such things as having to note that "You may break your leg in the dog run, so be careful where you step" or when Foster sees a deer running through the yard and starts chasing it off the place "Foster, come . . . come back here, Foster!" does no good.
Instead, yell---and I know it's against doggie rules but it works for Foster--- "Foster, BAD . . . 1-2-3!"
Usually, by "3" Foster has decided to turn around and come back. Plus, Foster usually turns around when the deer is off the place.
Such situations do go better when we deal with them on a daily basis. Nonetheless, I try to prepare for potential frustrations by down-sizing or putting regulations on the culprits.
In this case, a not-quite-trustworthy Liam will spend our vacation in a fairly bomb-proof-for-youthful, busy Border Collies environment.
Enough about frustration. Back to serenity. Yes, my Saturday was filled with projects but interspersed with watching some Olympic events and definitely topped off in a nice way by the relaxing drive with Foster through the Shingle Mill Road area of Selle.
Seeing and capturing scenes like those observed last night in our little country heaven certainly go far to diminish the weighty concerns of any day.
Happy Sunday.
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