The back 40

A crazy day today. Was summoned up out of a comatose sleep at 7:30 am and told by my wife that her dad was calling because the cops had cited the in-law's rural and un-occupied property up in Parkton for a bunch of violations after a neighbor complained.

Arrived at Parkton property still groggy 45 minutes later and set to work clearing brush and spraying poison ivy. Took a team of four of us 8 hours to clear the required overgrown plants: brambles, kudzus, sticker bushes, poison oak, ghetto palms, raspberry, blackberry, and mulberry bushes. I displaced several bird's nests, and the former residents were none too pleased about it either. A mockingbird set up a ruckus when he returned to the bush which previously housed his now downed nest and found only a pile of old rubbish in a burn-pile. I also displaced many toads, snakes, frogs, and at least one opossum. And butterflies. The berries were really tasty, however, and I picked and ate them before cutting, slashing, and stomping them to hell.

Any time I think to myself I might be getting tired of City life and be ready to head on back to the peace and quiet of country living, I shall put in a good eight hours clearing brush and raking and bagging dried grass and getting bug-bit 'n such.

Now I'm off to band rehearsal with actual blisters on my fingers from the rake, the shears, and the hedgetrimmer.