Fire.
We've been making the most of each warm day by cleaning the yards and making large camp fires. This time of year is my favorite for campfires. The evenings are cool and breezy, which necessitate roaring infernos to keep things comfortable. Last night, I hosted our first (but certainly not last) Late Night Pallet Roast. Henry, my neighbor, works at the Farmer's Hen House, which evidently could also be called Broken Pallets Mart. He mentioned the Hen House's dilemma of pallet overload to my roomie Shane, who then offered to burn a sizable load of pallets if Henry dropped them off, and the rest is hair-scorching history.
Literally, the fire was so intense at one point, my poor friend Kendal got a little more heat than he bargained for and got some hairs scorched.
This is not our pallet fire. Our fire wasn't quite that large, but it WAS impressively large. Kendal kept checking Google Earth to see if our fire was being picked up by satellite, but unfortunately the government doesn't see fit to have a dedicated satellite for southeastern Iowa. A pity, to be sure.
Besides the pallets, we have a practically-unlimited amount of firewood where I live, thanks to the dense woods surrounding my trailer. We cleared 14 dead trees out of the yards last fall alone. But that sort of tree bounty won't last forever, which brings me to my next topic.
Trees.
Before the pallet fire on Saturday, Shane and I awoke with distinct projects in mind. Shane had just finished whipping together a massive, sturdy work table out of wood scraps and a large A-frame shelter for my 4-wheeler, but was still itching to be productive. He then set out to build raised garden beds. Meanwhile, I had just received a long-awaited package by UPS, and was ready to start my own project: planting my Giant Sequoia seedlings.
I've wanted to plant Redwoods ever since my uncle Gene put the bug in my ear a few years ago. After some extensive research, I found that our hot-summer, cold-winter climate isn't suitable for redwoods but it's just dandy for their tree-cousins, the Sequoias. I did all the necessary research and planning this fall and winter, and the moment I felt the first warm breezes of Spring, I purchased ten seedlings from a orchard online, who shipped them out to me with speed.
The seedlings, primed and ready for planting in their little custom growth pods. The orchard kept the moisture inside the containers through the crafty use of Saran wrap and scotch tape, which was antagonistically hard to get off without snapping the poor little seedlings in half.
I have great aspirations for my little sequoias, and I plan to give them encouraging pep talks to get them to grow to their full potential. But one can't encourage seedlings without first naming them! So I named each tree. Horace, Douglas, Constance, Sherman and Oswald are in the first row. In the second row are Kermit, Geraldine, and Hugo. The very last tree in the very last row I named Amaya. For those of you counting, that's only 9 trees. Due to lack of space (I have every confidence that these trees are going to be enormous), I gave the 10th tree to my father, who planted it at his place.
I could geek out about sequoias for quite a while, but I'll restrain myself to just telling my favorite facts about the species.
-Giant Sequoias (GS's) are the fastest-growing coniferous tree on the planet.
-The bark of a GS is fire-resistant. The trees will propagate (drop their seedlings) when scorched with fire. The fire tells the tree that the surrounding ground is free of competition.
-Given the proper growing conditions and plenty of water, GS's will grow 4-6 feet taller and 2 inches in diameter yearly.
-GS roots are very shallow and work best when they intertwine with fellow GS's.
With the proper amount of irrigation and peptalkery, my sequoias should be 100 inches in diameter by 2063. ONE HUNDRED INCHES ACROSS!
Of course, I need to be careful not to get too optimistic. I shouldn't envision 200-foot high tree houses while my trees have been in the ground for less than 48 hours.
I really enjoy trees. I'm not a tree-hugger by any stretch of the imagination, though. Even though, most of my enjoyment comes from climbing them or cutting them down, I have to admit that it feels good to get my hands in the rich soil and plant a few trees. I better be careful, though. Who knows where this sort of activity leads? Next thing you know, I'll be protesting technology and living in a foxhole.
Bible Study.
I've been enjoying the men's Bible study that I'm part of. We've had a lot of good discussions, and it's good to visit with men my age and talk about our Spiritual walk, struggles we face, prayer concerns, and current world events. I tell you, if our men's group replaced the current White House Cabinet, things would get ship-shape in a hurry.
We've been going through the books of II Kings and Revelation, one chapter in each per week. But we sometimes change things up and watch recorded sermons and talks. Last Thursday, it was Nevin's turn to host. He recently got married and we feared that it would be the end of his involvement with our group. To our great delight and surprise, he makes a dedicated effort to be at each Bible study, and when he hosts it at his place, his extra awesome wife Natalie makes us fantastic meals.
Natalie goes out of her way to make things gluten free so I can eat them. Because of this, there's a special section in Heaven reserved for her.
Birthdays.
My friend Christopher had a birthday recently. His dad, the pastor at my church, organized a meal at a restaurant with his son, not telling Chris that he ALSO organized to have several guys come and give his son some tips on becoming a man. I was honored to be invited along with some other guys that I believe are truly wise. (My sneaking suspicion was that perhaps I was chosen to attend so that there would be an excellent example on what NOT to become as you get older.)
We had a really fantastic evening, even though Chris had a stomach ache that prevented him from eating a single bite of his meal. After each of us men spoke about what being a man is all about, Chris's father handed him his gift:
For reals, we were all like NO WAY SO COOL AWESOME MAAAAN LUCKY UNFAIR!
Well, that should do for now. More things have been happening but I just don't have the time to talk about them presently, so they'll just have to wait their turn.
Do any of you talk to your plants? What do you say to them?
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