Been pretty busy the last couple days – watching the little guy, cleaning our old house up for the renters that are moving in next weekend, cleaning our new house up because it’s just plain messy (and my grandma came to visit yesterday), working outside in between cloud bursts, and working on some shelves for the mudroom.
Things are still pretty wet outside so it’s hard to do much, but this weather has been great for the new grass. Unfortunately, the dog found a couple slow-draining puddles in the woods, so even though we haven’t had any rain since Wednesday, she still manages to end up totally filthy. Potatoes are all up, chard is starting to peek up, but no beans yet – I’m hoping the next two days (sunny and around 70? could it be?) warm up the soil and get them moving. I’d like to get some squash out there too this weekend, but we’ll be gone all day Saturday, which is going to be the nicest of the bunch, and Sunday they’re calling for scattered thunderstorms. One positive takeaway from all the thunder is that I think Sadie, who’s terrified of thunderstorms, may be becoming a little more acclimated to them. She still hides under furniture, but she hasn’t acted like she’s hyperventilating for the past several storms. Progress.
Get out and enjoy that nice weather, because you don’t know when it’ll end for another weeklong stretch.
I like living off the beaten path. Not that we’re at all out in the middle of nowhere (that could depend on who you ask), but we have a few acres of our own and no neighbors yet, so we’re moderately secluded. My wife and I both grew up in similar environments, then we moved closer to the city when we were married. It was a perfectly fine place to start out, but I think we both had a yearning to get back out into the country when we were able to.
This is our first spring in the new house, and I’m enjoying getting reacclimated to the changing of the seasons outside of the city. I’ve remarked several times to S over the past couple weeks how much I like having woods again. We had a couple massive oaks, a big ol’ willow, and some pine trees at the old house, but nothing that would be confused with a forest. I don’t even know if, by definition, you can even technically have ‘woods’ on a half-acre lot.
When winter was just starting to break, the first bits of green that appeared came from the forest floor – trout lily, umbrella plant (mayapple), and ferns. Now most of the trees are fully leafed out, and the understory is back to that perpetual state of green-tinted shadow. When you take just a few steps in, the air seems a little heavier, sounds are muffled, and every breath smells of earth. Inhale… it’s good to be back.
Jack in the pulpit
It’s also fun to see each stage of life – right next to a towering maple is a moss-covered rotting log that has been lying prone for years, which sits beside a sapling, just springing up from the ground and ready to take the place vacated by its elder. Not to mention the vultures and that poor groundhog…
Wow, that got pretty deep for talking about a bunch of trees. But, as I said, I really like having woods again. Though I do thoroughly enjoy having some cleared land to be able to garden upon 🙂
On a much more serious note, the other day, the first shot was fired in what will be a never-ending war with those white-tailed monsters – I found just a little nibble on one of my currants. And they walked right through my new raspberry bed. Seriously, the surrounding acre of emptiness wasn’t good enough; you had to pick the twelve feet that I’m trying to protect? Sigh, and we had coexisted peacefully until now. They left the tulips alone, and seemed to stay mostly in the field behind us. Somehow I knew that we were just living a dream that had to come to an end at some point. Game on.
Yesterday I attended the Get Motivated! seminar in downtown Cleveland with some colleagues from the office. For those unfamiliar with the event, it’s basically a traveling road show of notable speakers, who touch on multiple topics designed to inspire, entertain, and enlighten. The lineup changes periodically, but the presenters yesterday included Lou Holtz, Colin Powell, and Bill Cosby. I’m not sure what I was expecting going into it, but I came away pleasantly surprised. There was a little too much of the sales pitch (a $2000 class, basically on how to get rich quick, only $49 if you buy NOW!), but if you understand that that’s part of the bargain when it comes to most seminars and don’t get too hung up on it, then it’s not so bad. All in all, I rather enjoyed most of it, and feel a little more motivated to continue to better myself. I hope it lasts. Anyways, some of my highlights:
One of the first speakers was Lou Holtz. He was very down-to-earth, and had a good sense of humor. Some of his main points focused on attitude, having goals/dreams, and being excited about what you do. He closed with three bullets: 1) Do right, 2) Do everything to the best of your ability, and 3) Always show people you care.
Goldie Hawn spoke to the idea of happiness. Some of it was kind of cliché, like money and fame don’t make you happy, it’s you that makes you happy. I did like her point about how technology is stealing our intimacy (which is why I started this blog… what, you think that’s a contradiction? At least I’m not on Facebook :)). She also spoke of being family-f0cused and having a sense of gratitude.
Colin Powell delivered a bang-up speech on leadership, which frankly, I hope some of our office leaders were listening to, very carefully. He mentioned that to be a good leader, you have to give the people who follow you a sense of purpose. Basically, they’ll follow you anywhere if they trust you and feel that they serve a purpose. Leadership should be based on followership and selflessness, while still being tough.
Finally, Bill Cosby talked about having a sense of responsibility, something too many people lack. His main point, in a nutshell, was, if you want something done (or to improve your situation, etc.), do it YOURSELF. Don’t sit around moping and waiting for someone else (family, a neighbor, government) to take care of you – you are responsible for you, no one else. Amen, brother.
There were several other speakers, most of whom had some decent takeaway points – I also really enjoyed Krish Dhanam, who I had not heard of prior to this event. I guess I’d recommend it to someone else, as long as you don’t get too worked up about the many sales pitches.
