I hope they love dandelions.

Dearest Blog Reader

I hope that this finds you doing well. I am fine. The world that I live in is a bit upside down.  We have been sitting here all day waiting for the big snow. The day started out promising. Waking up, the snow had started by 8:00 a.m. and by time for church we had a couple of inches on the ground. I was of two minds with this development. I am getting stronger every weekend with my training for the big ride. The one thing that I am having trouble with is the fatigue from the activity. Riding 50 to 75 miles in a day makes me sleepy. I wanted to ride today but was doing the secret happy dance on the inside. I secretly planning a snowy afternoon nap. Low and behold, two hours later the promised snow was delayed and the earlier accumulations had melted. So I got up and put on my riding cloths and road 26 miles, with 25 mile an hour winds. I didn’t ride very quickly for most of it. However, the miles are over and here I am.

I am sitting in front of a screen typing away as the snow starts in earnest. It is hard to believe that 6 Sunday’s from today I will be writing the first blog after the 1^st day of riding. Looking further into the future, ten Sunday’s from today, Grace will be married 24 hours. The die has been cast. The wedding has become this huge event at the end of spring that our lives have been pointed towards for a while now. The Sharritt’s, those intrepid do it yourselfers, have taken on a list of tasks in the hopes of trading work for money.

The first was freeing the wedding meadow from the thorny clutches of the honey locust trees. Eight weeks worth of cutting, cussing, and dragging cleared out the area surrounding the ancient oak tree in the meadow down over the hill. It will be beautiful. April showers and warmer weather will bring greener pastures. I will get out the new rotary mower and start manicuring the acre and a half along with the adjacent acre parking lot. There are three thorn tree piles that must be ruthlessly dealt with. I will show them the fires of hell and drive the prickly demons scratching and clawing into the very bowels of the pit.

In September, we began another fool’s errand. Larkspur was one of our favorite early summer flowers when we farmed. The 2 foot spikes of lavender, pinks, blue, or white are striking flowers. They are fairly easy to grow when you know the secret handshake. Don’t worry. I am going to share it with you. That way you will be tempted to go out and save hundreds of dollars for your daughter’s wedding. I know. I will put it out on PinInterest. The secret is to plant the larkspur in the fall, let it germinate and watch it grow on in the spring. June 1 is a bit ambitious. June 15^th is a pretty easy goal for these beautiful flowers. But who knows? Last year’s 80 degree days in March would have been perfect.

So last August, we bought a lot of seed. The seed takes 6 weeks of cold temperatures to encourage germination. So I threw them into the fridge with the hope of a mid September sowing. The rains had returned by then and I planted 8 rows of Larkspur in a little garden we have right off the back of the house.

Larkspur takes a lot of patience and faith. It will sit there nearly 3 weeks before it germinates. In order to improve our chances of success, a second planting in needed. Fall and cold weather was on the way. The second planting had to be made two weeks later before the first had even germinated. Successive planting, is the best chance for success in farming. Low and behold a week after the second planting the first planting decided to make its appearance. Two weeks later, the second planting emerged lush and green. That was great. All that had to be done then was wait.

Wait we did. Late October, November, December, January, all passed without undue frigid weather. The snow cover from time to time was helpful. February 2^nd dawned cloudy and gray providing the faint hope delivered by the shorthaired brown rodent oracle from Punxsutawney. An early spring was proclaimed and hope sprang within our bosoms. Why do we put such faith in our oracles? We all know that the overgrown rat could not and cannot predict the meteorological epochs of our time. However, over and over those six weeks, I believed that spring was just around the corner. The weather would turn, the larkspur would break dormancy and the race would be on for June 1^st. Now insult upon injury, we have snow on the 25^th day of March. At this rate, the daffodils and tulips will not have bloomed by June 1^st.

So stay tuned, it will be a race to the finish. We have a couple of tricks up our sleeves. There may still be time to get the larkspur blooming by June 1^st.  And if not, it reminds us that the wedding is not the marriage. Marriage is a series of hopes and dreams. Plans made and followed; some successful; others not so much. Most of all marriage is a series of successful compromises.

Hope they love dandelions.

 

Take care,

Roger