A good day

Today was a great day, actually.
We woke up to what sounded like a car door slamming shut next to our house. We blew it off. Perhaps the paper is coming late.

After lazing about til about 10, and then furthering it with a lackadaisical breakfast of pizza english muffins over Internet, we finally got into gear.

My plan today was to weed the flower gardens and edge the yard where my man would mow.

When I finally got out of bed I saw a green BMW in our driveway. "HEY! The gardener is here!" Wow, he finally made it. The slacker said he's show up last week and I said I'd give my man 5 bucks if he actually did. I still have those 5 bucks.

Anyway, it feels so good to hear the sound of him working in areas of our land that are too much for our wimpy tools. He weed whacked the fish pond area, as well as our hang. The grass was hip high.

Oh I forgot to mention, yesterday our hay guy mowed, so our entire pasture is lying down in the sun. And here is a pic of my sprinkler going in my front yard, that I played in tonight. My sister and I love the sound of sprinklers cuz we grew up in South Park next door to the Community Center field, where sprinklers were going nights all summer long. The sound of sprinklers is the sound of home for us. This is why I want a loud ch-ch-ch sprinkler in my yard. It was so refreshing tonight.

This morning at 8 am our hay was tedded (is that what it's called, after a tedder is used?). It smells like heaven here.

And it's hot out, hot enough that when I started mowing around our pasture fenceline, the grass cut easily. This is the first time in 2012 I've mowed DRY grass. Woo, what a difference.

But I realized that the tedder had tossed a lot of hay onto the borders where I normally mow, so I couldn't do much out there without munching up hay.

By this time our gardener was done and I asked him to tackle a part of the pasture that the equines had not trimmed under a particular fenceline, where the grass was shooting way up into the electric wires.

He did that, and then I found my man super vacuuming his Yaris. I knew I'd be washing it this day in completion to this fancy treatment. (And rain-x on the windshield of both cars too.)

Then my man and the gardener guy leaned against our fence and talked for over an hour. I washed and detailed the Prius as they talked. Oh, how I longed to know what they were saying, but my hose was too loud.

Since it was bloody hot out (don't tell me, the information makes me suffer more), I made iced tea and brought them two glasses full, with too much ice in each glass because of the cursed weather. I don't know if the gardener had ever had homemade American iced tea before, probably not. One thing for sure, it was cold enough. (Ice cubes in drinks are not used here except for the rare cocktail that involves that. Germans do not have an appreciation for ice cubes.) I have a whole freezer drawer half full, and working, preparing for the hellish days ahead.

Finally he left and my man said he'd be back in an hour with a friend. Wha - huh?

I guess he's interested in our trout ponds.

One hour later he brought Herr Bayer over to see our ponds, along with his girlfriend.

I'd already met this attractive girl and she totally does not fit in on our land. Especially when she wears a miniskirt and 4 inch heels ----walking down our hang? Over the hoof-convoluted landscape? I was in awe. She seems nice though. Both she and the gardener love donkeys. I caught him trying to feed or pet Bellis twice. I thought he was faking it because he wanted to appear animal-loving, but she admitted he has always wanted a donkey. The donkey was dubious of him, and Baasha was downright standoffish, for a change. I told her if Bellis gives us a foal, I'll sell it to the gardener.

But Bellis let herself be fed freshly whacked grass by him. (She's not showing milk, and nothing is moving inside her, I check daily. Perhaps the former owner is right - she's just fat.)

***

The two guys want our ponds.

This is such good news.

Especially cuz they don't have dogs and don't indend to party here regularly. I admit I did not want Herr Koch (Coin's owner) to take over our fish ponds because he wanted to bring his two big dogs, and I was worried about my cat.

But Mr Bayer does not have any pets at all. This is good! He just wants to have a place to keep fish. And the gardener wants an easy-access fish operation too. They have to walk over our pasture because we don't want them (and they don't want to) walk right next to our home every time. Not especially easy, but better than the alternatives around here, I'm told.

So tonight my man gets a call that they'll be here tomorrow to empty out pond number one and start smoking that last trout.

Part of me is sad - this is the end of it for us, for our very last trout.

But pond number two has recently shown us some sort or miracle - baby trout. Yah there was one adult in there recently, but we'd heard that trout do not reproduce naturally in Germany. I'd believed it. But here they are, our miracle fish. We'll see what happens.

I am so happy that we have this responsibility claimed. Really, a fish hobby is not our thing. I'm much more keen about scooping horse manure than tending fish. Honestly I'd rather this house came without ponds because you cannot imagine the amount of work involved. (The banks are collapsing, the pipes are clogging, the ponds are diminishing due to sediment coming in, and the freaking Canadian invasive weed plant, oh my, it's choking out each pond.

This is such great news. I went back to the Yaris to clean the dash board and dust the controls when a little purple car pulled up.

***

I recognized Herr Socha immediately, he's the old guy --an endurance rider in our neighborhood --who owns Ibn the Arabian and Star Island the trotter on the other side of the woods from us (200 meters). I'd phoned him a few weeks back telling him I'm looking for an Arabian --JUST LIKE IBN-- I said. Ibn is an incredibly big boned, big hooved, sturdy, gaited!! Arabian. Not typy, but big and robust and can go all day. He paces!

So this old guy gets out of the car (Herr Socha brought him to us) and says he has a gelding for sale. He said he sold Herr Socha Ibn!! I asked if his sale horse was related, well, no, but he's 5, he's under saddle, and he's just out of my price range.

My man approached and I said, "Oh please translate!" because I wasn't quite catching all the old guy's dialect.

My man said, "Does the horse have trail experience?" (God bless him.)

The guy said, "Yes, I take him out often."


After he told us the price, I said, "I'm sorry, I cannot afford that. That's just out of my range."

My man said, "Wait - where do you live? Can we come by and see him?"

I thought, "What...really, why is he doing this?"

Maybe my man thinks he'll come down, or maybe he thinks that the guy will accept payments because we're aquaintances with Mr. Socha. *shrug*

SO --- Monday is a holiday in Germany (and in America, how nice). Pfingsten (Pentecost). My man said we'll be coming by to see this horse.

I don't know why I'm so excited except that this is the first time someone has actually come to me physically to sell me a horse, and with knowledge of my terms ..

Oh,...my terms?

No greys.

***

Finally I set up a little table and chairs where our old propane tank once stood soring eyes. It's nice to have a place to eat outside if we want to brave the bugs and relentless sun. The good part is the animals participating. Bellis tried chicken breast today and only spit out the second bite. See, she eats first and deliberates later.

The little bottle on the table is my Worchestershire sauce. I love that stuff to death. I think every meal can be improved with some Worchestershier sauce. I've felt this way since I was a little girl. Thank God I can get it in Germany, albeit in XS size.

For me a good day is when I get lots done, and we did. But getting someone to take over our ponds is awesome, and this horse for sale has me hoping. I'll let you know what happens tomorrow.