It was such a short spring, and such a short summer. My frame of reference is our riding trails – early on, watching the ferns unfurl and the first of the wild geraniums appear. And there was the smell of the cottonwoods. Now, Monkshood is abundant, and the fireweed is topping out.

Mother nature bitch slapped us last winter when we had the windstorm. This was when the cottonwood tree blew across the trail. We ignored her entreaties, to leave the trees alone. This summer, some guys hacked the large limbs off, then later cut the logs into rounds. Some ATVers then created a trail around the tree.

A week ago, someone came in with a large machine (my machine IQ is low) and pushed the rounds to the left of the trail. Then they proceeded to widen the trail, knocking down trees and brush in an indiscriminate fashion.

Pete tying up tomatoes

I think that someone rented this piece of equipment, and since they had it for a day, figured they needed to get their money’s worth out of it. And so they thought, why not widen the trail?

Tonight, I noticed that the base of the trail is now a mud pit. Also, there are large vehicle tracks. The best is yet to come – the ATVers will, during hunting season, tear the road up more. Snow will fall shortly thereafter, and the snowmobilers will be out in droves.

I don’t believe in hope. Hope is an illusion if you live in the present. But it is looking likely that the fellow who is interested in purchasing Jim’s place is an ardent environmentalist. He might forego this option because he’s a wilderness guide. And the downside is that if he does purchase the place, he most likely will not be interested in spending a whole lot of time gardening, like Jim did.

I know how much time gardening takes – I watch Pete – it always seems to go this way – the growing season here is fast and furious. Now its harvest time, and this is a huge commitment of time, time we don’t have.

It’s a mad dash to take care of priorities. Yep, the bottom layers of hay are moldy, so we have to restack the bales. This is time that we might have instead spend harvesting the fruits and vegetables.

It’ll be interesting to see how new neighbor prioritizes the tasks that are ahead of him/her.

I would have loved to have purchased the place. Once again, I had stars in my eyes. I had the same response prior to our purchasing this place. And I talked Pete into it. This time, Pete, older and wiser, put down his foot and said no, absolutely not, don’t even think about it. He was right, yes, it would be for us like reinventing the work wheel. And his refrain, again was, “your projects become my projects.”

It would have been different if I was handy, but I am not. This, to me, feels like a major shortcoming.

Next: 210. 8/3/22: What now?