Men, Marriage and Managing 27 Homes

David recently lost 70 pounds.  In five months.  I pretty much want to kill him.  (I have lost 27...but to be fair, I refuse to give up wine!)

Part of his success has been via a LOT of walking with Red.  Those who have been following our shenanigans know all about the story of Red, but in the event you do not, he's an Australian Cattle Dog, a red heeler.  We found him, then we lost custody, then we regained custody, and then we lost custody, and now he's ours officially.  He's extraordinarily high energy and so David has been taking him for long walks in the late evenings.  When he's at the farm, I always ask him how it was, and he always responds, "Well, it's over."  When the blackberries started to come on, he was encouraged that he could 'graze' but noted that the berries were smaller this year.

As summer plowed on, his walks have kept getting longer, and two evenings ago  I asked him how far he was going.  "Same place," he answered.  "Oh," I said.  "It's just taking you so much longer.  Is Red running off?"

"No...I'm just grazing for longer periods.  The blackberries are awesome!"

I only bring this up because today we had a huge supply run to Atlanta planned.  It is rare we get a day out together and I know David was excited that I said I would go with him.  We left the mountain in the pickup, with Maxie and Red along as ever.  We stopped at Dream Catcher to make some lamp shade and window blind measurements and as we were leaving, David's eyes lit up and he asked, "Hey, you want to pick some blackberries?"  One lone bush with a few scraggly berries occupied the landscaping by the cabin and I looked at it skeptically.  "No, not there!  Look over here!"  He disappeared between the Leyland Cypress lining the east side of the property and I followed him to a massive blackberry patch.  "Look at them all!  And these are much bigger than ours at the farm!"

I laughed and teased him about being so excited over blackberries.  "Well," he said, "You can only get them for a little while each year."

In that moment I marveled at how "present" my non-yoga/meditation/new age husband was and stopped to savor the occasion to watch him, giddy as a child, reaching and stretching to get the best berries, blue/purple stains all over his hands and not a care in the world.  We carry a tremendous burden with our business and seeing him this relaxed was a rare treat.  We grazed for 15-20 minutes, and as we were walking back to the truck he pulled the branches of the trees aside to clear a path for me and gave "the bottom of my bottom" a little pinch as I walked by; a tiny intimacy between a husband and a wife, almost as out of character for him as being ebullient over blackberries.  When you've been with someone for sixteen years, you cherish the little things, like their happiness and a bit of frisky behavior on a warm summer morning...just enough to say, "I see you.  I still notice you."  A small thing that meant the world to me.

Apparently everyone else had made plans to shop at Costco today and we did our usual divide and conquer routine:  David made the first run with paper towels and toilet tissue while I stocked up on miscellaneous smaller items, and then he returned with the large cart for bath linens, mats, etc.

Microwave for Whispering Winds? Check.  New TV for the bedroom at American Idyll?  Check.  Towels, hand towels, wash cloths?  Check.  Wait - they have THE bath mat I've been looking for???  Load up every single white one they have - stat!

David mentioned possibly replacing the TV at the mountain house as the one there was circa 2006, huge, bulky and small screened.  As he lives there 3 nights a week, I was totally okay with it.   As we were in that department, he sheepishly asked if I thought it would be okay to get a TV for the mountain.  This is a man who denies me nothing, and asks for nothing.  I told him to get whatever TV he wanted.  We settled on a 48" Vizio and he is happily setting it up as I type.  I swear he almost skipped to the check out line.  Fun to watch....  I'm impressed that he used Pledge and dusted before putting it down!  Now if I could just get him to dust the rest of the house....

We hit up our favorite restaurant for Asian food, the absolutely fabulous "Ably Asian" in Jasper, on the way home.  Whether you want the finest in Chinese, Thai or Japanese, including amazing sushi, all in an elegant atmosphere with terrific service, this is the place to go.

While you're in that neck of the woods, check out one of my favorite antique malls of all time, Mountainside Antiques, which is just up (towards us) the road from Ably Asian.  As our truck was already full to the gills, we didn't stop at Mountainside because I don't seem to be able to leave there empty handed and we, quite literally, had no room for anything else.

Our last stop was to check out a new cabin for our program.  It would be our first off of My Mountain, but the location is great, the view is killer, the prospective owners are regular guests and I think we're ready to branch out.  It's still under construction, but it will be a smaller 3/3 (think on the size scale of Misty Pines or Whispering Winds) with lovely amenities.  The views are all the way to Brasstown Bald when it's not hazy, which, unfortunately, it was today.  Still, this is pretty spectacular...

Back at the farm, a bit of work watering and harvesting in the garden, a check on the mares and Birdette and feeding the dogs wrapped things up.  Four of the dogs got dog food.  Two got Campbells Chicken Soup, because, apparently, I need to buy dog food.  Duly noted.

Namaste, friends.  Have a lovely evening.

Waning days of Spring...

We're in the last two weeks of spring, and the nights are still cool and free of humidity, while the days grow steadily warmer.  Last night's thunderstorms provided much needed steady rain for the garden.

For reasons unknown to this newbie veggie gardener, two of my tomato plants have taken a turn for the worse, but the remainder grow on, with small green fruit on the vine.  It's so exciting to watch things grow as a result of your tender ministrations.  We now have little cukes, zucchini and squash, and flowers on the bean plants.  The herbs are doing very well.

I've been doing double duty as co-owner/President/chief of all things "back of house" and "cabin cleaner" for 10 days now.  I won't say it's easy doing two jobs, but it's rewarding.  I so enjoy leaving a cabin, looking back, smelling the smell of Pine-Sol on freshly mopped floors and...well..."clean," and knowing I've done a good job for the guest coming in.  It's tangible.  It makes what we do real to me. After all, we don't produce, make, or create anything...we sell space.  I understand that it is far more than that - there are memories, memorials, weddings, proposals, family time, etc., but to have something that I can look back on that is immediate and the direct result of my actions?  It feels good.

Tonight, after a long day for David on the mountain and a semi-long day for me at the farm, we eked out a bit of time to transplant 4 hostas and a hydrangea.  Sunday I transplanted 30 tomato seedlings that were ready to go into the ground, except I had no ground to put them into!  Don from Buds and Butterflies to the rescue!  He lent me 5 gallon pots enough to grow all my babies to adulthood.  Don used to be at Nelson's Ace Hardware Garden Center in Blairsville, but is now on his own and his operation is fabulous.  They have so many wonderful native plants, and they continue growing and stocking all summer long, which many nurseries do not.  I highly recommend them.

Abbie Rose has chewed off the bottom of cast #4, which I've repaired, twice now, with duct tape.  She has some swelling in her paw and is going in on Thursday when I take Hank, Loser, Max and Bobbers in for their annual exams.  Two hands, five dogs.  No worries.  I've got this.

Our farm is now a Certified Wildlife Habitat with the National Wildlife Federation, which basically means we get a cool sign to put out front, and are committed to conservation of habitat for a variety of animals.   We already do this, including maintaining a riparian zone between the pasture and the creek, and we have all of the wildlife areas already on the property that they suggest except a cave!  (And to be honest, we don't know that we don't have that since we haven't fully explored the property, but it's pretty doubtful!)  Seriously, though, the sheer number of bird species that inhabit the land here, in addition to fox, deer, turkey, bear, coyotes, rabbits, and many, many others made it a logical and easy decision.  Did I mention the cool sign? ;)

Tomorrow will be a long day, but I'm not dwelling on that.  I'm listening to the horses snorting outside my bedroom window, enjoying the cool breeze, the songs of the tree frogs, crickets and toads and the company of my family.  I'm in the moment, which is how it should be....