Here I Go Again
I’m doing landscaping at my farm again! It’s been a lot of long days, hard work, and scrubbing mud out of my clothes, but it continues to be enjoyable, regardless.
Here I go again, turning it up to 11 since 1979!
Thomas W. P. Slatin
American Writer, Photographer, and Website Designer. Former career Fire and EMS Lieutenant. She/Her/Hers. Lesbian.
6 Comments
mydangblog
That is one huge rock!
Thomas Slatin
Surprisingly, this boulder was not the biggest one I have dug up and moved. There were two that literally filled the entire front bucket and were each the size of a desk.
Darts and Letters
What’s up in the hills, around your property? Are there places where you can walk or explore, a little? It looks very pretty! Working with the tractor, looks like a lot of fun. that’s a nice-size tractor, not too small, not too big. In your selfie from yesterday, you look like you’re enjoying yourself. Careful moving those boulders around, though. Not that anyone needs to tell you to be careful, you were an EMT. If anyone knows how bad a rock on your foot would feel, it would be you.
What did you do with the rock, anyway?
Thomas Slatin
What’s in those hills, you ask? Hiking trails, of course. I have a hiking trail that goes across the far side of the property that meets up with a network of trails on the neighboring property. We have a fantastic relationship with the neighbors; we allow them to hike our property, and they allow us to hike theirs.
I see you like the tractor. Yes, it is the perfect size to maintain the property. The equipment supplier tried to upgrade us to a larger size, which wouldn’t make much sense to us. This size is very easy to handle, and I can easily fit it into some places where a larger tractor simply wouldn’t go.
Vermont is known for the rocky soil. I have taken these boulders and used them to build retaining walls, and have delivered a few to the neighbor for their landscaping. And yes, some of these boulders exceed 800 pounds (362 kg), and in my career as a Paramedic and Firefighter, I have seen my share of crush injuries.
Thank you for your comment. If you are ever in this part of the Northeast USA, I highly recommend that you visit Vermont. It’s beautiful here. 🙂
Darts and Letters
That’s really wonderful, about the paths, right around you. I would love to explore Vermont, some day. My oldest son has a school chum whose mother is from Vermont. Last summer, they urged my son to tag along with them, to Vermont (they think very highly of him, he’s a good boy). I really wish he could have gone. But he didn’t feel he could go because of some prior school-related commitments and I think he was nervous about starting high school in just a couple weeks, at that time.
Thomas Slatin
I first came to this area of Vermont approximately 10 years ago. At the time, I was staying at a local Bed & Breakfast with my ex-girlfriend. I told her that one day, I would buy a house in town, and she forbid me from moving outside of New York. Ironically, the same house I dreamed of owning went up for sale in 2020, and after leaving my job and breaking up with my ex girlfriend, I purchased my forever home here in Vermont. I never had children of my own (lesbian), though I was a camp counselor for many years. So in that regard, I feel as if, in some way, I contributed to raising children, even if they weren’t biologically my own. In some ways, I’m glad that things worked out the way they did; I married the woman of my dreams here at the property, and finally I am living life according to how I envisioned my life would be when I was a little girl.