June 4, 2024
Bed And Breakfast
As usual, the morning arrived earlier than expected. Last night, when I finished my shower and headed to bed, I discovered my wife was still awake, studying. Despite planning to sleep in because we went to bed later than usual, our routine had us both awake and out of bed before twilight began.
My wife was off school today, while I was working from home. We drank our morning coffee together and then I showered and got ready for work much earlier than usual. This morning, a plumber would come to the house to fix an outdoor spigot and install a new sink and waterlines in my wife’s restroom. Since the water was likely to be shut off for a while, I decided being ready for work was the smart thing to do.
This morning, my wife carried fruit and vegetable scraps to the trailhead. When we crossed the yard, she discovered a small snapping turtle. She called me to come outside and showed me the small creature. While any turtle, like the box turtles I saw on the property, looked prehistoric, the snapping turtle looked especially ancient.
The entire body and its shell were a dark olive color, looking like an old World War II army jeep. I loved the back edge of the shell, which was not rounded, but had jagged spikes, probably to protect the amphibian from predators. We gave the turtle a small piece of apple, being careful not to get bitten.
My morning at work was busy, but in the afternoon I took off three hours from work. During this time, we took Kilo and Koda for their annual exams. Both dogs did great despite everyone’s nerves. Kilo didn’t enjoy going to the vet at all, panting and scratching to get out of the exam room the whole time we were there. And doggy mama and daddy were nervous for Koda’s check up.
Last year, two days after his annual exam, he woke up paralyzed from the waist down. He couldn’t walk, urinate, or defecate. We grappled with having to put him down if his treatment didn’t work, but alas, he made a solid recovery. While he would no longer be climbing any trees, he could walk and function normally.
Still, there were signs that his full coordination, especially any lateral movement with his rear legs, would never return. Today’s appointment made us worried that something might happen to him again. The vet worked with us and we cut out a few parts of the checkup that could have put him at risk of injury.
On the way home, we stopped at the UPS store to drop off Nespresso capsules for recycling. One of the many cool things about our new coffee machine was that the company provided UPS bags with a label for mailing back old coffee capsules at no charge. It felt good to mail off two bags.
When we arrived back home, I got back to work while my wife sat down to study. After I finished my workday, we took a walk into the woods together. The temperature was humid and hot. Beads of sweat formed on my forehead and on the back of my neck within minutes. In the grove, I showed my wife how all the food we laid out was gone. I also pointed out the empty corn husks that an animal carried off hundreds of yards into the forest.
Several species of mushrooms poked through the forest floor, prompting us to stop and inspect them. My wife commented on how lush everything looked, and we shared how lucky we felt to live here. Sometimes we referred to our place as a bed-and-breakfast, pretending we were merely visiting this magic forest from afar. I’d tell her we should buy a place like this one day, and she’d answer we should extend our rental and stay here a little longer. The truth, that this was now our property, always seemed too grand to be true.
Near a large mossy rock we used as a landmark, we worked to remove a large tree branch that had fallen across the trail. We moved north, stopping at the creek’s bank, breathing in the warm balmy air. Daily, the forest was turning into a steamy jungle. On the way back to the house, we took a seldom used trail and saw two different herds of whitetail deer. We both squatted down low to better see them between the open areas near the bottoms of the tree trunks, noting how majestic the animals looked as they moved through the forest.
Before starting our walk, my wife had picked a few blueberries from plants that grew near the grove. Now, we walked into the pasture where a variety of plants grew. We both picked wild blackberries, looking for those that were ripe. This was also a favorite stop for deer and birds.
Back at the house, we cooled off with a cold beer while sitting in the dining room, enjoying the air conditioning. A little later, we moved to the back porch, where we sat for hours. This evening, happy to be together, we felt talkative and spent the night outside barbecuing, listening to music, and getting to know each other, and ourselves, better.