Today is the fall equinox. The sun rises due east and sets due west. Day and night are equal in time. It is the official start of autumn in the northern hemisphere. Learn more from the Old Farmer's Almanac.

Today I noticed...Sunshine and warmer temperatures

Sunshine and warmer temperatures seem to make everything better after the cold, bitter, sloppy, freezing days we had last month!

The hubs had a smile on his face every time I talked to him today, too. So, the temperature is not all that warmed up. Somebody's happy meter seemed to warm up as well. 

Wise Words!

 If you choose not to find joy in the snow, you will have less joy in your life but still the same amount of snow.

I choose to have joy!

Fall Project Number 1

 It seems like there is always a project in the works around here.  If we don't think up one, Mother Nature will come up with one for us.  A couple of years ago we put in a new driveway.  We had been sharing a driveway with Mike's family but when his mother sold her house and moved in with us, we decided to add our own driveway so that we didn't need to deal with an easement.  When you live on a farm like we do, you generally have a gravel driveway and it is a part of your property upkeep. 

Now, we had a major flood here in 2010.  Then, we got another gully-washer in 2013.  However, since we put in the new driveway, we've had three major flooding rains which washed out our driveway.  The driveway was completed in September of 2018.  Then, in early October this happened:

So, we added more rock and made repairs.  It was frustrating and it was quite expensive following on the heels of just completing the building of the driveway. Every time it rained, we worried that it would flood.  Then, in February of 2019 it did.  And again, we had this:

So, Mike hired a guy to come in and shore up the sides of our culvert with concrete.  That way we knew that it would hold the pipe in place and should hold the rock in place as well. 

Yet, every time we drove across the culvert, we could look off into the creek and see all the rock and gravel that had been washed away just sitting there staring at us as if Mother Nature was mocking us.

We sort of became like folks on the coast during hurricane weather.  We would watch closely any time that a heavy rain or flooding was predicted.  In August of 2019, we had a big rain and there was some washing.  So, Mike and a neighbor lined the entire top of the driveway across the culvert with bags of concrete mix.  That helped and there wasn't nearly such gully washing nor loss of gravel when we got a major rain in March of this year.

Then, along comes September of this year. At the beginning of the month, we got a major rain.  A flash flood. Major flooding.  

It broke the fence that was across the creek holding in the neighbor's cattle.  It washed our gravel away almost as bad as it had almost a year before.  It was frustrating and heartbreaking.

Deep ruts were left in the driveway at the culvert. Loads of gravel were deposited in the creek joining the other small fortune of gravel that was already lining the creekbed instead of our driveway. Once again, we added a couple of loads of gravel to smooth out the surface so that we could drive across.  Then, only a dozen or so days later, we got a downpour.  Three to four inches fell within a matter of forty minutes. It was devastating.

This time the neighbor's newly repaired fence wasn't just broken.  It had washed down the creek and could not be found.  The picture below shows the drainage that comes off the hill and beside our house before traveling down the field to join the creek.  I've never seen such a rush of water in my life.

Mike and I felt defeated.  Not only had we poured thousands of dollars into our driveway, we had seen it wash down the creek and line the creekbed where we couldn't obtain it till the weather was chip dry like it gets sometimes in July or August.  We also needed to repair it once again so that we could enter and leave our home. So, that meant pour more money into this driveway.

We knew that we should be counting our blessings and lifting prayers of thanksgiving that our home is fine and nobody was harmed.  It just seemed really hard to do consistently when it felt like we were getting kicked in the teeth.  However, we took a deep breath and did just that for a temporary fix.  Yet, we know that we had to do something more permanent rather than keep throwing thousands of dollars down the creek.  We prayed and gave it some thought.  Tomorrow, I'll show you what we wound up doing.

Swimming Lessons

I don't remember ever taking formal swimming lessons but I do recall being fearful of the water and a very hesitant swimmer.  I didn't want that for my children, so they were enrolled in swim lessons at a local pool when they were quite young.  One of them needed the lesson experience to overcome fears much like I had and the other needed the lesson experience to learn technique even though swimming seemed to come naturally at a very early age.  

Recently, I visited with some of the grands as they were wrapping up their last day of swimming lessons for the summer.  They had been in a two-week course to learn techniques and gain confidence as a swimmer.

Linley's class was first.  Because she is two, she was enrolled in a Mommy and Me class.  If you ask me, the Mommy part was just for the security of the teacher where Linley was concerned.  I don't think she really felt much need for her mother!

As soon as we arrived, it was pretty clear that Linley was ready to get going!  She was the first in the pool and began her swim-time almost immediately.

She thought it was her duty to stretch the rope across the pool to designate the shallow from the deep end of the pool.

The teacher worked with her a wee bit and then she was off splashing and kicking toward her mother.  She was quick as a flash and I almost missed the instruction part of the lesson!  The teacher had a short conversation with Jessica and Linley and left them to practice while she worked with other children and their mothers.

Soon, she was pushing a pool noodle across the pool and it looked to me like mom was having a hard time to keep up with the little splasher.

The teacher came over for a bit more instruction and, once again, Linley and mom practiced.  Then, it was time for the fun part...

First, she practiced her sitting dive technique.  She was in such a hurry, that mom hardly had time to back away to give her room to jump into the pool!

Next, came free-form jumping from a stance on the side.  Each time she would instruct mom to back up a little further and so she could swim to her.  At one point, we heard her say, "You can let go, I've got this!"

She enjoyed herself and splashing and moving around in the water so much that I had a really hard time getting a picture of her face because it always seemed to be in the water!

Our little fish at the pond that day really had a big time at her final swimming lesson.  She was rewarded with a blow pop but I think mom was exhausted!

Then, it was time for big brother to showcase what he had learned.

Harris and his group started with a quick push off the side, keeping hands out front and swift kicks to propel them across the pool.  He and a little girl were constantly working on the deeper side of the rope.

From one side to the other, each child would push off and swim with the teacher watching and giving instructions.

His group practiced floating on their back and used the pool noodle to warm them up for the sitting dive and swimming across the pool as well.

Next, they practiced a sitting dive, swimming across the pool to the other side, and swimming back to their original spot again.  Harris was smiles all around.  Then, it was time for the big finale - jumping off the board!

The first time required a little extra to screw up the courage.  However, once he got to the ladder, he was quickly headed back to get in line for another attempt!

Summertime fun!  Ah! There's nothing like going to the swimming hole!