Hidden in some application questionnaire is my secret power, "chaosification".
I didn't choose the power, it was a gift.
Maybe it came in my genes since my whole family has the gift. We just go about minding our own business and "whump! There's Chaos, usually because somebody else jumps to the wrong conclusion.
It used to bother me before I found out that chaos brings growth. It's a scientific fact.
Chaos is a GOOD thing.
Sometimes I can outwit Chaos by planning ahead, sort of control the growth. That way I spend less time 'puttin' out fires'. I'm also attuned to when people start little fires just to distract me. They're easy to take care of, or ignore. So I have time for the real ones.
My secret power is also why I can make wood and paint look just like polished rocks. But that's another story.
Fire #1.
So, last Saturday I was happily painting color washes on the shell of a Sound Play Animal Drum turtle, when our house renter phoned to say both toilets were backing up. I contacted Crimes Septic and Landscaping and met them within the hour. We had to break the line to snake it to find the septic tank to pump it out. We were lucky that both Bobby Pritchard and his family's back hoe could come to the rescue to dig for the tank. (And for a consultation as Bobby knows the right way to do any hands-on thing.) Supposedly the system had been replaced just before we bought the house in 1981. But it was an old fifty gallon tank! And no drain field!!!
We hired Crimes S&L to put in an new system on Monday. And then found out we needed the County Health Environmentalist to design (on Tuesday) and inspect it, even though it was technically a repair. Thursday we learned it won't be finished before next Tuesday when the inspector makes his next Terrell County rounds.
Meanwhile, as long as the Crimes S&L's back hoe was here to clear off bamboo and shrubs over the new system, why not keep clearing until they hit the fence? It took the bamboo about fifty years to reach the pecan orchard Grandmama Tilley planted before 1920. It took it twenty five years to take over the acre after we bought it in 1981. We couldn't get Mr. Dalton Davis to mow it anymore because he didn't want his tractor tire punctured by bamboo. The walk behind mower we used to tip up and come down on the stuff got set too low by the teenager who mowed for us and not even our professional mechanic friends could raise it. And then we always wished we had time to cut it and actually use the resource.
I never expected what a joy it is to see all the pecan trees all the way to the back fence! Now that tractor tires are punctureless we should be able to keep it clear- mowing and blasting all the stray bamboo with RoundUp.
Fire #2 is threat from City/County Fourth of July fireworks in the new Recreation Fields next door to our family's farm. People come from surrounding counties. No alcoholic beverages will be allowed inside the Rec Fields. Therefore, stray spectators will make a tailgate party along the surrounding roads....where the three feet tall dry grass fills the ditch and the mowed right of way is an inch thick in dry cut stalks. And our newly planted long leaf pines are along the road, and our renter planted soybeans into the standing wheat stalks. Get the picture? Add sparklers, pop bottle rockets and roman candles and you have a script for real disaster movie.
Even heat from a muffler can set off wheat straw.
I gave our County Commissioners a warning letter. Our farm renter got the Fire Chief to say he'll tape off the road inside our farm to prevent parking on the crops and baby trees. And we had the ditch top harrowed for a fire break in case the ditches catch fire.
AND we're praying for rain.
Fire #3 is just plane aggravating- the fridge in my last blog. To hold the frozen containers of fabulous Bond made Beans, we borrowed the tiny box freezer from our house renters. It was full of mildew. Maybe our home fridge knew it needed TLC and everything will be ok now. The fridge freezer seems to be working. BUT the runners are icing up so it's hard to open the drawer; a consequence of humidity in our naturally cooled house. The fridge, in middle of the draft, must be collecting water from the air. We'll know more when the refrigerator repairman comes on Thursday. I hope he has lots on his tool belt.
Have I covered all four of the Chaos Elements? Earth (septic system), Fire (they're going to burn the bamboo in a controlled burn, NOT a straw fire on the Fourth ) Air (cold, humid air), and Water (frozen water).
THE GROWTH: we have fabulous soil and sunshine for a garden!!!
