After a busy, hot day of working outside mainly (garden for me and the shop for my brother), Jacob and I decided to go up to the pasture for a cool (literally) adventure. We knew there was a duck-boat that our hunter friends left up there a couple years ago near the flowing-well and which, when the water rose so tremendously last year, got left for lost in the murky lake (it's name is officially Stink Lake and it sometimes lives up to that name). Andrew had said he'd seen it near the waters' edge a while back, so we decided to go in search for it and to see if we could bring it home to fix any leaks which might be in it....
We walked along the waters' edge only a short time when we saw what looked like a shiny triangle directly North of where we were standing. We went to investigate further. Sure enough, it was the boat----one corner sticking up out of the water and the rest submerged under a layer of green mossy slime. It was about 10 feet out in the water, so Jacob and I took off our shoes and socks; Jacob rolled up his pant legs and we stepped into the icky water, which Jacob described as the same look and texture of rhubarb sauce! :) Thankfully, the water was only about knee-deep where we were. First, we got the boat flipped right side up again, then took it ashore to dump out all the mud and moss. We wanted to find out if it had any leaks before hauling it home, so into the water went the boat and we decided, after not seeing any noticeable leeks, to hop in and take it for a spin. We did not find the oars and figure they must have floated someplace else, so we tried paddling with our hands. That didn't work so well! Jacob remembered then that we had 2 shovels in the pickup we'd brought, so (as I had the slip-on shoes), I went and got them....
We had fun! We paddled over to the flowing-well island and then made our way to shore, as it was getting close to supper time and we still had to get the boat loaded. (I'm guessing it's 10'x4', being approx. 1 1/2 feet deep, with a flat bottom---basically a big box.) We got it loaded and home without too much difficulty. We never did find any leaks, PTL!
That was the most unusual part of the day, although we did get a call from a neighbor this morning, saying that 5 of our bulls had walked into his driveway this morning! Thankfully, he was able to get them in a pen and Dad went with the trailer and hauled them home. It's getting to be that time of year when the bulls don't like staying put. Uggg.
Please pray for all to go well in the morning, as our Organic Inspector is coming to, well, inspect. This is kind of short notice, as my dad had to call our Inspection agency this morning to tell them of a problem we now have so they could come out and investigate, so she'll just do the regular inspection at the same time. The problem? Well, a big farmer (meaning he farms thousands of acres!) who farms next to our field sprayed his field on a windy day and some of the spray drifted into our field, damaging about 10 acres of crop. It's not just this years' crop though, because now those acres won't be certifiable for 3 years again! Not good.....
Even with difficulties, we are so blessed!
1 comment:
The duck boat adventure sounds fun. In our early marraige Tim and his father made a duck boat from a kit. Tim didn't use it for hunting but did take it out fishing as it was easy to load and put in the water anywhere. One time he took my great aunt, who loves to fish, out on a little dam near here. He heard a noise, turned to her, and found she had tipped backwards into the water with only the bottom of her legs still in the boat. He imediately pulled her out. We have and still do laugh with her about that incident.
Glad your inpection went well. Love,
Kimberly
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