I Love To Go A Gardening
Growing Our Life in Northern Michigan
Enchanted 4th
We did not drive the long journey south to the old house this weekend. Not only did we not want to travel on a busy holiday weekend–it’s the USA’s Independence Day–but after all the weekends at the old house, we wanted to experience a quiet weekend at our new house. This is the very first weekend we have spent in the Enchanted Forest.
Unless EJ is asked to work, his normal schedule is to work four ten-hour days and have a three-day weekend. Yesterday (Friday) we enjoyed a leisurely morning. After JJ left for work, EJ and I drove to Home Depot. Whenever we go anywhere–even on just trips to the bank or a home improvement store–we are filled with delight that we live in such an area of incredible natural beauty. “How on earth did we manage to move up here?” we ask each other incredulously. But we already know the answer: It could only be God who gave us this awesome gift.
EJ had forgotten to change out of his old stained t-shirt so we stopped at Goodwill so he could buy a decent T-shirt. I also bought some jeans and pretty cups. We love thrift shops! We continued on to the home improvement store, where we used the gift card our realtor gave us to buy a vacuum cleaner. At our old house, we didn’t have any carpeting so we had only a little vacuum cleaner that didn’t work very well. We have lots of carpeting in the new house, and with all our pets it really was time I had a decent vacuum cleaner! We also bought screws so we could hang pictures and curtain rods. EJ bought a wire rope and a hook, light bulbs, and a few other small things. We were starving so after we left Home Depot, we went out to eat.
Back at home in the Enchanted Forest, we happily puttered around. I used EJ’s post-hole digger to dig a hole and put up the third birdhouse. I was wondering if any bird would be interested in the birdhouses when they have a huge forest of trees to build nests in, but this morning I was overjoyed to see a chickadee exploring the third house.
EJ used the wire rope and hook to pull out the old hot tub that was on our little deck. Besides the fact that we don’t care all that much about hot tubs, one of the guys who helped us move is a hot tub repairman and he said our hot tub was beyond saving. The hot tub blocked some of our view from the living room window and also took up so much space that it prevented us from enjoying our deck. So EJ pulled it out. After it was gone, I happily positioned the patio table and chairs and later EJ and I–and Danny–relaxed there. EJ saw his first mosquito here at our new home…and he killed it.
As we enjoyed the quiet evening, we watched Annie stalking a squirrel or chipmunk in the grass. Annie has had trouble adjusting to the north and has spent much of her time in the garage so it was good to see her out and about. Tesla has been very matter-of-fact about the change in scenery. Rikki-Tikki-Tabby disappeared a week after we moved here. The last time we saw him, he sat on the hot tub outside the window and sang an long unusual song. He was very old so maybe he was singing his goodbye song before he went off into the forest to die. We miss him.
EJ also pulled out an old rotting buckboard that had been used as a lawn ornament. (Click on the link in the previous sentence to see a video of it.)
We ended our evening by JJ setting off his fire crackers and bottle rockets while EJ and I enjoyed some of my sparklers. We could hear fireworks from surrounding areas. Some of them were so loud that they shook our house. We went outside but our tall trees prevented us from seeing any fireworks.
This morning EJ and I took our cups of coffee outside to enjoy the sights and sounds of the beautiful morning. We heard the pileated woodpecker–sometimes far away and sometimes closer–but we never saw him. We read and studied the Bible together. It all felt so right.
I made oven-fried chicken and potato salad for lunch. After we ate, EJ and I took a walk through our woods, searching for stakes that mark the boundaries of our land. We found three of the four stakes. This is the first time we have had an opportunity to walk our land. It was a lot of fun. I love our woods. I took a couple of videos of our walk.
Walkabout in the Enchanted Forest – Part 1
Walkabout in the Enchanted Forest – Part 2
JJ won’t get home until late, but EJ and I were planning to go watch some fireworks tonight. We looked on the Internet and discovered that the ones we were hoping to go to were last night–those were the booms we kept hearing. I don’t know why so many areas had their fireworks on July 3rd instead of the 4th. The next closest fireworks are in the Emerald City, and we don’t feel like driving all the way there and fighting the crowds of people. We decided we’d just stay home. We don’t really mind. After months of busyness, we are totally enjoying this very restful 4th in our Enchanted Forest.
I Love To Go A Gardening 