March 31, 2024
Flip Flops
It was Easter Sunday, and we slept in, waking around 6:30 AM. The morning started with coffee, followed by fruit smoothies for breakfast. After, we got busy with several chores, which included putting away dishes, washing laundry, and food prep. My wife prepared vegetables to throw onto the smoker. There were several tomatoes, onions, and Serrano peppers. Then she prepped a spinach and artichoke dip we would eat for lunch.
Once chores were done, we both moved outside to the picnic table in the pasture and sat down, my wife to study and me to write. We toted an entire pot of coffee and some half and half, giving us an unlimited supply of caffeinated fun. The only downside was that the trek back to the house was not short, so a trip to the bathroom took a few minutes, but provided a pleasant break.
The weather outside was beautiful and the ambient sounds of birds singing and wind blowing, coupled with the open space of the outdoors, made for the perfect writing environment. We worked for two hours before we headed into the house, ready for some food. The weather warmed as the morning progressed, so I pulled my flip-flops out of storage and put them on for the first time this year. There were very few shoes as comfortable as the trusty flip flop. They weren’t good for hiking and wouldn’t stop a snake bite, but that walk to and from the pasture, with the sun grinning down on my toes, was glorious. Long live comfort, even if impractical.
The spinach and artichoke dip was delicious as we scooped it out on toasted slices of baguette bread. My wife also prepared a side salad that tasted even better on a warm day, as it provided the hydration, saltiness, and coolness my body craved. After we ate, my wife worked on clipping dog nails. That chore required her to cut seventy-two dog nails off the impatient beasts without nicking a quick. I turned off the grill, which had smoked this morning’s vegetables for four hours and twenty-four minutes. Then I vacuumed the house while my wife threw the smoked tomatoes, onion, and Serrano peppers into a food processor, adding salt, pepper, and fresh cilantro. Voila; smoked salsa for the week. She set the salsa in a large container on the counter, leaving it open so the gases from the onion could escape.
We went back out to the pasture for another study session. My wife’s schooling required her to work and study for long periods. That meant hours of studying, even on weekends and holidays. I enjoyed working on my hobbies and spending time with her, so working in the pasture at the table next to her was something I relished. It was a pleasant surprise to see the Wi-Fi reached the pasture, and the internet worked perfectly well. After another hour of studies, we went back to the house and got busy with the big chore of the day, dog baths.
My wife bathed Kilo and took her outside to dry her with a professional dog blow dryer we purchased years ago. I was happy she bathed Kilo, because the girl enjoyed shaking several times during the bath as if to prove her point that if she was getting wet, then everyone else was too. I bathed Axel and passed him to my wife to dry. We ran the assembly line until Koda and Bodhi were done. Koda took a long time to dry, since his coat was long, so I took Bodhi, who had very short hair that dried quickly, to the front yard and let him run around in the sun.
Bodhi was happy to be out front and I was enjoying the weather in shorts and my flip-flops. After ten minutes, Bodhi and I walked back toward the house. The grass was getting long, growing after all the rain and sunshine, and there were small purple flowers scattered throughout the front yard. As I walked through them, something got caught in my left flip-flop. I raised my heel up to see what I stepped on. It was a honeybee, true to its form, working diligently to sting the underside of my middle toe. A sharp pain went through my foot and I limped inside, trying not to break off the stinger left attached to my foot.
When I got inside the house, I asked my wife to remove the stinger, and she laughed while pain shot through my toes. Was this what giving birth was like? Just kidding. My wife removed the stinger and for the next ten minutes, all the toes on my left foot felt like they were on fire. After twenty minutes, the pain subsided, and the stinger left a small, deep bruise on the underside of my toe. Knowing that the stinger ripped out its insides, I genuinely felt bad for the little bee. What a strange mechanism of evolution to provide a defense that killed the organism using it to defend. The fact was that the stinger did not evolve to protect the bee. The little samurai bees sacrificed their lives in the service of protecting their queen. I found this admirable, even though this little bee died in vain.
After the bee incident, we found ourselves back outside in the pasture, my wife studying as I read online articles saved on Instapaper. During a break, we decided we would reschedule the fishing plans. It was late afternoon and instead of rushing to fish and having a hurried evening before bed, we would keep the day moving slow. Besides, the fishing season was just beginning, and we were having a great time at home.
After our study session, we packed our things up and dropped them off at the house. Then, we each grabbed a small folding stool and cold beer before heading off into the forest for Beaver Tooth Rock. When we arrived, the elusive heron was in the area. It took flight before we climbed onto the rock, flying above us and then disappearing to the east. We also saw two deer in the ravine the large boulder overlooked. We climbed up the rock, set up our chairs, and after flipping the tops to open our beers, did our customary cheers, which meant hitting our cans together because we were best brahs, and then kissing because we were fierce lovers. There, we sat sipping cold suds, talking about how great the weekend was, and outlining our goals for the upcoming work week.
During the evening, we continued the fun. My wife scheduled her national PA exam, and I joined the North Carolina Writer’s Network. We couldn’t believe her two-year graduate program would be over in just four months. What a time warp. In the evening, we made a fire and sat outside together under the stars. As I slipped into bed, I felt thankful for having three days off work and wondered what the new week would bring.