A bike trip to see Miss Pooch

First, HAPPY 40th BIRTHDAY to my good friend Tracey Erdmann, currently cavorting with some of our friends on the beaches of Antiparos, Greece! i am so there in spirit.

This week’s post has been delayed due to the absence of an internet connection last night. And Tuesday’s a long day for us. Most of my colleagues in Househealing have to work Tuesday morning; we all have class for four hours in the afternoon, and another two hours in the evening, ending at 9:15. So i’m gonna make this update a little shorter than previous ones.

The highlight of last week was my 2nd trip to visit Sandy, this one by bike on Friday. i was a bit surprised to realize that biking from Heartwood to the paved road was only twice as fast as walking: 45 minutes to cover that hot and hilly 4.8 miles. Part of it was that i just hadn’t gotten used to the 18-speed bike i’d borrowed. When i got out onto the paved road, it was a lot easier to experiment with efficient gear-changes.

i stopped at the New Harris general store – i just realized how that makes it sound like i passed through a town, but the NHgs is just a store that also sells garden stuff, lumber, hardware and piping for irrigation: basically almost everything a grower might buy, including fertilizer. It’s in the middle of a shady stretch of road, and is the only business of any kind for miles. Coffee is not ever served at Heartwood, so i availed myself of the opportunity to sip a cup while i sat out front and watched a coupla people come and go. And i bought 20 doggie biscuits at 15 cents a piece before remounting my trusty bicyclical steed. There were still huge hills to be gotten over.

There was a glorious view of mountain ranges, at least during the long stretches of road that were not covered in the merciful shade of huge trees. (Many of these great wooden giants are evergreen although not redwoods for the most part: madrones, sequoias, Douglas firs, oak.) i counted five ranges at one point, the most distant still wearing little caps of snow on its heads. While huffing and puffing up ridiculously long and steep inclines, i would slowly zig-zag across the road while attempting to enjoy the tremendous view.

it was a pleasure to run into one of my co-workers and new friends on the way, another Matt in my life! i’ve always liked Matts, for some reason! This Matt is a tall and handsome young guy from Alabama who is a part-time staffer also in Househealing, and the guy who showed me how to build the fire for the sauna. Shortly after we’d met i asked him, Matt how many times have you been told you look like Keanu Reeves? and he smiled this huge beautiful smile and after a second’s thought said, thousands!

So Matt is on his way back to Heartwood in his little jeep. He waved and jammed on his brakes, and i was happy to run into someone i knew out on the road. We chatted for a few minutes and when i told him my butt was gettin’ kind of sore, he gave me one of his t-shirts, which i thought was real sweet. You’ll be hearing more about this guy, and i wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if you don’t catch up with him on Idols one day. He’s got rock ‘n roll popstar ambitions, and seems to have the talent and the looks to go with it.

Jeff was at Mike’s place when i arrived at noon, and this time Sandy came a-runnin’! It was SO great to see her again, and Jeff and i took Sandy and the 2 other dogs who were there on a walk to a second greenhouse about a half-mile away up a dirt road on the property. It was pretty hot and the sun was directly overhead, so we took our time and went at Sandy’s pace.

Jeff told me a tale of coming back down once, when Sandy had fallen behind. It’s not just that she’s slowing down; she stops to sniff at something, but then doesn’t always know which way to go to catch up. He’d already gotten quite far ahead when he noticed that Sandy wasn’t with them, and he could see her going back and forth on the road some distance away. (Poor thing!) So he said to Clyde and Clover, “Where’s Sandy?! Go get Sandy!” and the Anatolian shepherd and the chocolate Lab ran up the road to get her, and when Sandy saw them they turned around and all came back together! Isn’t that sweet? i get a big smile just thinking about it!

Anyway, Mike wasn’t around that day, and i ended up doing six hours’ work: washed some dishes outside; uprooted some plants which had budded prematurely (don’t ask me to explain that one, i just do as i’m told!); measured, cut and stapled some chicken wire around the base of the house to keep the dogs out of the greenhouse; fed a bucket of oats to Troy and Diamond (the two horses at the top of the hill); and watched first three and later two dump trucks drive all the way down onto the property to dump their loads of rich, black soil. The plants in pots will be put into the ground, and there’s a bunch of work right there. Lots to be done at this time of year, as you’d suppose.

Yikes, it’s 11 pm and Nile’s gone to bed. I’m gonna get my butt back up the hill to post this, then back down to climb into bed. My day starts at 7 with yoga twice a week, and Qi gong twice a week. And there’s homework these days, some of which last week included reading an intro to human anatomy and physiology, starting with cell and cell function. When was the last time you read the words mitochondria, golgi apparatus or endoplasmic reticulum? And in one section of our massage class we’re learning about the chakras, which i’m totally excited about, never having formally studied them.

NOT ONE MORE WORD, except for
seeya!