friday 5: hay in my coffee, politics, and other facts of life

ONE: Wednesday evening we were away from the farm for several hours. We arrived home around ten p.m. to find both of the horses and both of the cows loose, just calmly grazing and exploring. I found Scarletta Jones lurking behind the herb garden. Eyes big and liquid, broad jaw chewing, nonplussed. They all returned to the back field happily and without incident, whew, and we went straight to bed. The next morning after breakfast chores, Klaus and I took a walk around the farm to survey the day’s work plan, and I discovered hoof prints and poop all over the farm. I mean, everywhere, even along the curving meditation path up front. Handsome confirmed, via security camera footage, that the four adventurers did in fact have quite an adventure. The verdict is out as to who opened the gate where they slipped free, but my money is on Chanta.

TWO: My tiny collection of fruit trees is awake and happy. Budded out since February and now leafing out, they are, as far as I can tell, unbothered by the recent cold nights. The same is true for my perennials, and this year I am especially excited by everything that’s coming back to life in the shade garden. I love how the ajuga and moneywort look together! A successful gamble. The only hitch in my gardening giddy-up is that I feel way behind with vegetable seedlings. It seems I cannot quite get the hang of germinating seeds inside the greenhouse. The temperatures just swing too wildly. This week I moved that part of the operation back inside the house, where my luck has always been good, so fingers crossed. I hope they have time to grow lushly before outdoor planting week.

THREE: Lately I have been taking a second cup of coffee with me to do breakfast chores, and more often than not I discover that by the time I take a sip, it is tepid at best and festooned with bits of hay. The surprising thing is that this does not bother me at all. In fact, today it made me smile inwardly, because it’s a pretty good example of how few things in life I need to be perfect these days. Since January, our adjustments have been both numerous and dramatic. Not subtle, ha. Staying focused on a few key values has helped me gradually shed a need for perfection and optimization. Hay in my lukewarm coffee is either a temporary compromise during a softer schedule or a new signal that life is beautiful just as it is. Related: Do I even want to be a runner anymore? I really don’t know. Please advise.

FOUR: Our ten little Peeps are growing so quickly that yesterday we felt a sudden sense of urgency to have their outdoor flight pen ready. Twice this past week, I have found at least one of them “roosting” on the highest spots available in their little brooder. It’s so cute, the natural following of instincts. They have been staring upwards at our faces a lot more than down at the ground, too, which is so fun. And they are growing scruffy little wings and tails and spiky little mohawks. I adore this awkward stage. So yesterday, a certain tall, good-looking guy in a sleeveless t-shirt spent his whole morning building them a very safe enclosure inside the already enclosed yard of the chicken coop. By afternoon, they were scuttled into their new habitat, and we had added one sweet-natured hen to teach them how to be ladies.

FIVE: This week, Handsome and I drove to Muskogee for a town hall meeting called by the Corporation Commission to address the public in an ongoing crisis that has now drawn national attention. It’s an issue near and dear to my husband’s heart and therefore to mine, too; and over the past few months we have forged bonds with some of the people at its center. First, worth mentioning, I have lost the deep affection that has always led me to call the OCC the Commish. That’s over. What a disappointment. On our drive home that night, I told my husband that if that town hall meeting had been my first or only exposure to this government entity, I would be profoundly embarrassed for Oklahoma. Related to this, I was standing with my husband as he offered encouragement to a gentleman running for Commissioner. He was pressing the idea that the job, and in fact his own job too, before he lost it, is easy if you have heart, if you care. I understood what he meant, but I took issue with it and stood there biting the inside of my cheek so hard that a moment later I could barely say my own name to introduce myself. I understand fully the difference between political ambition and intrinsic passion to do good work and make needed changes. Often, people have one or the other, not both. But there is an inverse relationship here, too: The more you care about the job itself, the harder it all is. I have watched from the sidelines for many years and cannot be convinced otherwise. The people who skate through these jobs unhurt are the people who play games. They don’t care. They are the people who are happy to skip town hall meetings and take credit for work they didn’t do. They are the people who use their preacher voices, strange hand gestures, and weird facial contortions to make a speech “feel” a certain way, but there is no substance. Again, I understand what he meant, I do. And I hope this candidate stays his course, because the OCC and all arms of our state government need smart, industry-experienced people who care about doing good work and not just people who want to explore a political scavenger hunt as a career path. The last thing I’ll say about that night is how good it was to see a few former employees break ranks to come hug my guy, and how telling it was about the people who didn’t.

Happy weekend, friends! We have a full dance card and are excited about every detail. Talk soon.

“Fear is only inverted faith;
It is faith in evil instead of good.”
~Florence Scovel Shinn
XOXOXO