I neglected to mention in my last post that Deb and I stopped by her cousin’s cabin yesterday afternoon for some good old-fashioned porch-sittin’. It had been ages since we’d done that, and it was the perfect day to gaze out over the valley and catch up.
We were walking back to the truck when he ducked into his garage and came out with a gift for me — a 15-inch (with tire) wheel, shod with a never-flat (hard rubber) tire. Brand-new, too, with the packaging still on it. This was exactly what I thought I’d bought last weekend when I mistakenly grabbed wheels with pneumatic tires.
It had been given to him, and since he has no use for it, he passed it along to me.
It’ll become my second spare. It’s missing its axle bearings, though, so I’ll pick up a set of 3/4-inchers for use with the Ranger cart. (Last week I salvaged 5/8-inch bearings that’ll fit the wheelbarrow axle.)
Best-laid plans for my Tuesday fell apart. They were hitched to an item that should’ve been in my hands today, but now won’t be available ’til tomorrow or Thursday. In perspective, it’s not a big deal, certainly not a problem.
And so I puttered and enjoyed an early autumn day at Home in the woods.
It’s no longer t-shirt weather. Not this week. This afternoon, temperatures danced around 60°F and a steady 15mph wind from the north, gusting over 30mph, made it feel like the mid-50s.
The next two overnight lows will be 33°F and 32°F, they say. I love this time of year.
I decided that I’d better harvest the heads from two volunteer sorghum stalks that came up at the edge of the driveway. I think they’re ready, anyway — I truly don’t know shit about sorghum. I’m taking my best guess based on what I’ve seen and read.
The color seems right. As for the texture of the seeds, we’ll see.
After harvesting the heads, I slipped them into a Ziploc bag and dropped them into the freezer. There they’ll stay for a week or so, to kill any pests before I thresh and winnow the grain.
And then? Well, I’ve heard that it can be popped like popcorn. Gonna try that.
The rest of the volunteer sorghum I’ll let go to seed. Some of it still is so immature that it may not have time. I’d like to (one way or another) seed the north end of the lower level, both for wildlife and for us.
The Arkansas Division of Forestry no longer designates any of the state’s 75 counties to be at low risk for wildfire. The northeast corner was moved yesterday from green to yellow (moderate wildfire danger), and this morning, Marion County (along with Baxter and Izard to our east) went orange — we’re now officially at high risk.
That was inevitable.
Deb and I are disciplined and careful with any open burning we do on The Mountain, whether it’s disposing of combustible trash in our burn barrel (which is illegal, by the way, though “everybody” does it), making brush disappear in the burn pit, or enjoying a campfire in one of the fire pits. We don’t need an official color-coded map to know that it’s dangerously dry ’round here. Regardless of season or conditions, we choose and manage our burns the same way — as safely as possible, mindful of wind and humidity.
I’d be shocked if the Marion County Judge doesn’t impose a burn ban, and soon. There’s no meaningful rain in the forecast for at least two weeks.
If a ban does come down, we’ll abide by it. I think we’re far enough ahead right now that it won’t affect us much (if at all).
(The animated GIF shows the changes in wildfire danger and burn bans since Thursday, October 3rd.)
Where do you go when you get to the end of your dream?
Dan Fogelberg, from “Nether Lands”
It was yesterday when the lyrics of “Nether Lands” popped into my head. The melody followed. It stuck and it stayed. I’d like to offer an explanation of why it happened just then, but I can’t. All I can tell you is that it’s not the first time.
Back when I was immersed in music and performing occasionally, Dan Fogelberg was my musical North Star. I pushed past the songs that got airplay and made allowances for his penchant for death-by-orchestration, digging deep into album after album. I was rewarded with the discovery of a complete and consummate musician, an unapologetic perfectionist.
I saw him in concert only once.
The last song I performed in front of an audience, now almost a decade ago, was “There’s a Place in the World for a Gambler” from his 1974 album, “Souvenirs.”
But getting back to “Nether Lands” — the studio version presents as opus-grade stuff, with an arrangement to match, and in my opinion, that’s a poor fit for the lyrics. Stripped of hall-filling grandiosity, it’s a totally different piece. Check out this 1979 solo performance at Carnegie Hall:
Piano and voice. Simply remarkable. That reveals the essence of the composition, as it should be.
Of the lyrics, the closing lines resonate most with me:
Once in a vision I came on some woods
And stood at a fork in the road.
My choices were clear, yet I froze with the fear
Of not knowing which way to go.
One road was simple acceptance of life,
The other road offered sweet peace.
When I made my decision, my vision became my release.
Those words — reminiscent of Robert Frost, whom Fogelberg credited — have held meaning at every stage of my Life.
They’ve never meant more than they do now.
In 2017, ten years after Dan Fogelberg’s death, a tribute album was released. It includes “Nether Lands,” performed over the original orchestration by an artist who said she’d long used the song both for inspiration and to exercise her voice before concerts. If you want your mind blown, seek out and listen to “Nether Lands” sung by none other than “Queen of Disco” Donna Summer — at the age of 62.
To wrap this post, here’s what I consider to be a very useful video — Dave Whipple (aka Bushradical) does it again with “How to Build a Shed.” Typical of Whipple, it’s informative, clear, and easy to watch.
At the heart of his presentation is a rustic philosophy of “building-in-place” with “no measuring” and “no math.” He does very little of either over the course of the 30-minute video, and when he does, it’s only to confirm square or to make sure that similar things are positioned or spaced in a similar way.
“That’s about right.”
By the end, he had himself a sturdy and appealing three-sided woodshed.
To say that Dave Whipple makes me want to build a shed is only part of my reaction. He makes me believe that I actually can.
Take care of yourselves, Patriots. Stay calm. Stay sharp. Stay free.
#WiseUp #LibertyOrDeath #Ungovernable
#LetsGoBrandon #FJB