New Tricks
A few things I've learned about recently....
Weed whackers use a little plastic string! It just whips around and around destructively. I assumed wicked sharp blades, like a blender but more ferocious. Wrong.
I LOVE using a riding mower. I had all kinds of philosophical objections to them until May of this year: the waste of money on the mower and the fuel, environmental effects, Americans' ridiculous love of lawns....They're just way too fun to think so much about. Son #2 rides it without mowing, as often as I let him. (This is Son #1, actually mowing.) I could mow all day.
Oh, wait. I do mow all day.
Changing water filters is a little intimidating. I've done it, three filters now. But I'm still not completely sure what I'm doing all the time, and in one case the man helping me had to turn off the water to the whole house in order for us to change the thing. And I just realized there's what looks like another one under the kitchen sink, which hasn't been changed since we moved in 8 months ago. Hmm.
The rules about living in a small town are not always clear. I don't even mean the social rules! Just the practical ordinances: how long is our grass supposed to be? I'm sure it's written somewhere, but I only found out the answer is 10 inches because I was not keeping it there. Whoops. Research time.
Chiggers make mosquitoes seem friendly. I almost like mosquitoes now.
Foxes are just fun. I don't have any chickens to worry about - only indoor kittens - so they are just fun.
My life seems all about a small space right now, mowing, weeding, edging, clearing it. It occurred to me recently that the places I've lived in the past 20 years were capitals of states and countries, the legislative center for a whole continent, "small" towns of 3 million, and a city-state of over 7 million people. Here I am in 4 acres on the backside of a town of 10,000 (counting generously).
I am at the same time grateful for the time and space to just breathe, watch fireflies, play with kittens, and enjoy Hoosiers and their state - and a little restless at living with just that part of me. Trying to be patient, taking each day as it comes with the steps that are in it, trusting that the other 70% of me will merge back in little by little, as this part heals, realizing I can't paint a picture of what it will all look like in 5 years. So today I'm off to the farmers market, not in our little town (that's on Fridays) but in the metropolis of Indianapolis, with a friend from Strasbourg. And breathing.
Weed whackers use a little plastic string! It just whips around and around destructively. I assumed wicked sharp blades, like a blender but more ferocious. Wrong.
I LOVE using a riding mower. I had all kinds of philosophical objections to them until May of this year: the waste of money on the mower and the fuel, environmental effects, Americans' ridiculous love of lawns....They're just way too fun to think so much about. Son #2 rides it without mowing, as often as I let him. (This is Son #1, actually mowing.) I could mow all day.
Oh, wait. I do mow all day.
Changing water filters is a little intimidating. I've done it, three filters now. But I'm still not completely sure what I'm doing all the time, and in one case the man helping me had to turn off the water to the whole house in order for us to change the thing. And I just realized there's what looks like another one under the kitchen sink, which hasn't been changed since we moved in 8 months ago. Hmm.
The rules about living in a small town are not always clear. I don't even mean the social rules! Just the practical ordinances: how long is our grass supposed to be? I'm sure it's written somewhere, but I only found out the answer is 10 inches because I was not keeping it there. Whoops. Research time.
Chiggers make mosquitoes seem friendly. I almost like mosquitoes now.
Foxes are just fun. I don't have any chickens to worry about - only indoor kittens - so they are just fun.
My life seems all about a small space right now, mowing, weeding, edging, clearing it. It occurred to me recently that the places I've lived in the past 20 years were capitals of states and countries, the legislative center for a whole continent, "small" towns of 3 million, and a city-state of over 7 million people. Here I am in 4 acres on the backside of a town of 10,000 (counting generously).
I am at the same time grateful for the time and space to just breathe, watch fireflies, play with kittens, and enjoy Hoosiers and their state - and a little restless at living with just that part of me. Trying to be patient, taking each day as it comes with the steps that are in it, trusting that the other 70% of me will merge back in little by little, as this part heals, realizing I can't paint a picture of what it will all look like in 5 years. So today I'm off to the farmers market, not in our little town (that's on Fridays) but in the metropolis of Indianapolis, with a friend from Strasbourg. And breathing.
Yay! You got a picture of the fox.
ReplyDeleteIf it makes you feel any better, I still don't know the rules of this town after living here a dozen years. When a cop came by because of a complaint that our dogs had been barking, I asked for a copy of the noise ordinance. I never got one, so I still don't know what the rule is. All that to say that it's not because you're new here -- it's because it's a small town, I guess.
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ReplyDeletePattie, Our English friends think the American name for the tool that cuts down weeds and grass is really funny and very American "weed whacker". Their name for it is "strimmer". Seems too calm to me. I don't want to gently strim or trim my weeds I want to whack them and whack them good.
ReplyDeleteSounds like you're learning all kinds of useful things and enjoying the process. It's once again living. The thought came to me the other day with one of my hypochondriac friends that he's more afraid of living than anything else. He was a bit surprised when I said that to him but he, then, agreed. Enjoy l-i-f-e.