THOUGHTS OF THE PAST, AND PLENTY OF PHOTOS

 POST # 594

Last Tuesday, when I looked outside, the weather seemed conducive to finally attempt to re-climb my "favourite" hill that I had tumbled down back in 2012.  Bella appeared to be excited about this new adventure, so around 10 a.m., we started out on our journey.  Last Tuesday was April 9th, which happened to be the fortieth anniversary of my dad's death, so I probably could have chosen a more auspicious date, but be that as it may, with Bella leading the way, I started to climb, and before too long, we were both at the top, looking down.  The above photo is taken from the spot ( or close enough to it) that I had gone crashing down, all those years ago.  It looks a bit different from before, as the trees have grown up, so the path to the bottom isn't as clear cut as it was in 2012, but you get the idea.  We remained up there for about half an hour, and then began our journey back home.

Once we had returned to the bottom, I took the next series of photos.  The first photo, shows the place where I ended my tumble, right next to the orange coloured support wire of the power pole.  In fact, I do recall hanging my legs over that small dug out part of the hill, and that was when I realised that I had done some serious injury to my right leg.  Aside from the immense pain, when I moved my leg back and forth, my right foot just seemed to flop around on its own.  Not good.  So now what?  You can see the little shack in the photo, and that was where I decided to head, in order to see if there was anything at all that I might be able to use as "crutches" to help me back to the house.  It took quite a long time to make that short journey, considering I had to do it sitting down.  Eventually I got there, and found a long handled spade shovel, and a two by two piece of wood.  Ever so slowly, I managed to stand up on my left leg, and begin heading to the house.  Every few steps, Sadie my boneheaded friend of 2012, would pick up her tennis ball and drop it in front of me, hoping for me to play.  She was sadly disappointed with my lack of response.

But before I show the route to the house, here is one more photo below, that shows where I fell down the hill.  If one lines up the bottom of the orange coloured wire, and draws a line straight up to the tree at the top of the hill, that's about the best view of the area that I tumbled down.

Okay, so back to the route home. The following series of four photos, shows the route, which at the time was covered in about a foot of snow.  The sun was shining, and aside from everything else, I was overheating, but somehow, step by step, I made it to the end of this trail, followed by climbing up two hills, and finally to the steps at the house, which I had to go up on my rear end, and eventually into the house, where I managed to phone the neighbour for assistance.

Just to add insult to injury, when I arrived at the foot of the staircase, I fell over onto my injured leg.  That certainly didn't help matters.

So I guess that covers it.  I was going to try and make the journey again this week, just using my left leg and the same things as crutches, in order to find out just how long it took me back then to walk that distance, however I decided against it, which was probably a wise decision on my part.  

The remainder of today's blog is a variety of photos, to make up for the lack of them from last week, so here we go.

                          Arriving in Grand Forks for the start of this current house sit.

                         Bella sizing up her new human friend.

One of the many chipmunks taking advantage of the spilled sunflower seeds.

                          Bella enjoys a dip into the Granby river nearby.

A red breasted Nuthatch (Sitta Canadensis) on the deck railing.

Bella enjoys the view from the front deck.

I returned for a visit to the hospital.

Morning fog bank over the Granby river.

Happy horse by the river.

My current home.

A new structure since my previous visit in 2012.

A shrine to my former four-legged friends of 2012.

And finally, three photos of a Violet-green Swallow (tachycineta thalassina).  I love watching Swallows in flight, and I was out on the deck just yesterday afternoon, when all of a sudden I heard a clunk, and one dropped down beside me on the deck, after colliding with the window. It was still alive, so after a few moments, I picked it up, and placed it upon the deck railing, where it sat for about 10 minutes. At that point, I walked over to  it, gave it a few strokes along its back, and voila, it flew off like nothing was wrong.  I was happy to see that event.

Come this Tuesday, I will once again be on my way.  I have very much enjoyed my journey back here, to re-live some old memories, and enjoy spending time with Bella.  Perhaps I will have another chance to spend time here in the future, but if not, I am thankful for having had this opportunity.

grateful for every breath,

Paul

The Thoughtful Wanderer