Sunday, January 08, 2012

Where's Cliff?

Lately I never know where to look for Cliff, once he goes outside.  The loggers left a lot of treetops laying around, enough to make plenty of wood for the stove in the shop for at least ten years.  So Cliff has been cutting those walnut treetops into wood, and also getting rid of the limbs and branches left behind when he's done.  As I've said before, he keeps this little acreage as neat as a public park, especially since he's retired.  
So the other day I stepped outside and looked around for my husband and his ever-present John Deere tractor.  I heard the chain saw and located him, and decided to take my camera down for a few pictures.  


 Well, the sound of the chain saw stopped.  But I saw the tractor in the distance, down there by the quonset hut.  


 Yeah, he's just standing there, to the left of the quonset hut.  Technically that isn't a quonset hut; it's half of an old grain bin Emmett Kolster gave us years ago.  But it makes a good storage space for Cliff's valuable junk lumber, metal, barn tin, and old tires that he might someday find a use for.


 Hmmm.  This is not an unfamiliar scenario:  When I see my husband looking intently at a tree, or group of trees, I know a tree will soon be falling.  When I got to his side, I asked what he was pondering.  He said he was thinking about taking all three of those trees down, but if he did, the one leaning toward the quonset hut would land on it.  Then he pointed out another tree he was hesitating about cutting down because it's dead, and dead trees are liable to snap and fall in a different direction that you expect.  In other words, they're dangerous.  However, he figured if he did it a certain way....
That's when I butted in.  "Cliff," I said, "you are really enjoying your retirement, aren't you?"
He agreed.  Honestly, I've never seen the man as happy as he has been these past six months.  
"Since you're having such a good time, surely you wouldn't think about doing something stupid that could kill you and end it all, would you?"  
He agreed, and walked away from those trees.  I try to remind him every day, "Don't do something stupid that could get you killed!"  
Hey, don't we all know somebody who retired just in time to die?  It happens all the time.  In fact, I just heard about another one today.    


 So after our deep philosophical discussion, we headed up the hill so I could take pictures of a farm implement to put on Craigslist.      





It's a spring-tooth harrow.  Cliff measured it so he could include the width of the thing in the ad.  So far nobody has called about it, but Craigslist is a funny thing:  You can have something advertised on there for six months and never get a call or an email.  Then you put the same ad on a few weeks later, and two or three people show up wanting it.  It's all about the right person seeing the ad at the right time.  
I'll leave all my readers with this word of advice:  Don't do something stupid today that could get you killed.  (Unless, of course, we're talking about riding a motorcycle.  Some things are worth a little risk.)

9 comments:

  1. Love the last thought. I want to ride but today is not the day.

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  2. glad you were there to reason with him! I'm so happy that he's enjoying his retirement!!!

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  3. I'm glad you are there to keep Cliff from doing something foolish...We are not as young as we used to be and it would be nice to enjoy life awhile. We never know for how long. I have made up my mind that there are a lot of things I won't be doing any more. Hope your Sunday is a wonderful one!

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  4. Lindie12:11 PM

    I love reading about you two. I am enjoying vicariously your retirement!

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  5. Behind every man is a woman to give good advice. You did.

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  6. Northern AB gal8:26 PM

    I would feel much safer cutting that tree down than riding a motorcycle, especially with the crazy drivers we have around here. But that's just me:)

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  7. Had to chuckle about the trees. Years ago, before I knew him. There was a windstormm that knocked a tree down on hubby's property, knocking out power. It got restored 3 days later. Hubby went out to cut up that tree for wood, but saw another one leaning. He decided to take it down, so something like this wouldn't happen again. But he miscalculated when he started sawing. It fell, not where he expected and ending up taking the Power Lines down again, but this time to the whole development he was living in. You know that old expression, "Leave well enough alone." Great wisdom in it. Glad you intervened and Cliff thought better of it. Take care.

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  8. nerves05 ( Nancy)7:35 AM

    I thought Cliff was still working 1 week a month. Is he still doing that?

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  9. Nancy, he's signed up to do that, but so far they haven't called him. Personally, I'm glad. We're doing fine without it. Cliff misses the gang at work and wouldn't mind seeing them occasionally.

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