Monday, April 17, 2006

Short-lived success


It was great while it lasted ... that feeling of accomplishment, that feeling that we had done something really necessary and worthwhile. That feeling -- and our bridge -- lasted less than two days. It started raining yesterday, and you can see the result.

I have this theory that if "they" did it 100 years ago, we can do it today. They've been building bridges for many years, so surely we should be able to build one, right? Well, this was not our best effort. We never expected it to last forever, but we did expect it to last for at least a few weeks, maybe a few months.

Although I am the type of person who worries far too much in the human world ... worry about what people think, what they mean, why they do things, how I should do things differently to win friends and influence people ... I worry very little about things on the homestead. There is absolutely nothing I can do about the weather, and that seems to dictate a lot of our success and failure out here. Although some people might go insane from the lack of control, I find a certain amount of comfort in knowing that all I can do is my best. I do my best, and I don't worry about it. If my best isn't good enough, I'll have to try harder next time or study harder or find a smarter mentor.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi just found your blog, i will read it every day.You are probably aware of it but "Mother Earth News" has a wonderful website with archives going back to forever, lots of help there.Also check out "Far Out Farms" a couple like you have a farm, realy cool. Keep up the delightful writing, Ty...June

Anonymous said...

More, just read a lot more of your postings. Article in Mother Earth tells how free ranging chickens, guinea hens, ducks etc are excellent for keeping down ticks and fleas.Also how to keep them in a moveable circle of chicken wire. Do a different area of yard each day...June

Deborah Niemann said...

Hi June ... Glad you enjoy the blog! We thought we had totally gotten the ticks under control by last year. We've got ducks, guineas, geese, chickens, turkeys running all over the place. Each year, the number of ticks went down. We have no idea what happened this year, but they are BAD! I think they're even worse than they were four years ago when we moved in.

I love Mother Earth News! I read every issue cover to cover, but I forget about their on-line archives, so thanks for the reminder. It's absolutely necessary for city slickers moving to the country.

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