Walk # 987 & Merry Christmas!

 

ONE THOUSAND WALKS is a big deal around here... at least for Millie and me, and we are oh-so-close to that number having made our 987th trek over this old hill this morning.  We've only accomplished that feat one time before, and that was back in February of 2021.  Here's the way it happened.

From my calendar pages, I wrote on February 14th. "Low of 14 degrees, High of 14 degrees.  Snow and oh-so-cold.  It was probably a dumb thing to do, but Millie and I walked the lower trail to the old Black Jack tree and back down the hill.  As a result I felt tired all day. 1,314 walks."

February 15:  Low 7 degrees, High 16 degrees.  Our walking streak is broken!  The weather was just too dangerously cold today at single digits.  And, the snow kept coming down, now measuring about 6 inches.  

February 16:  -7 degrees (Negative 7 degrees)  We had sunshine!  Millie and I walked the hillside trails.  We are now under a winter storm warning.  It is snowing as I write.  We aren't counting anymore walks...maybe never again.  (But, we did!)

February 17:  So, Mother Nature gave us another couple of inches of snow, making a bit more than 8 inches on the ground.  I tried walking but the snow was deeper than my boots were tall.  Besides, I worried that Millie might get out on the pond ice and fall through.

So, if the Lord is willing and if the creeks don't rise, as I used to hear people say, Millie and I will be out on this old hill doing our 1,000th walk on the second day of January 2025. We will celebrate a bit with Dan, and then the next day we will hit the old trail again.  Who knows, we might even make it to 2,000!   

Here's hoping your season is filled with joy.

Merry Christmas!

Mary

A Walk With Millie...

 

"Walk with me; don't just walk me.  Slow down and see the world as I do.  I know you've got things to do, places to be.  But out here, with the ground beneath our feet and the sky above us, there's a whole world worth noticing.

The autumn chill is in the air today, crisp and full of new smells.  It's different from yesterday, and different from the day before.  Every day is new.  The leaves crunch under my paws, and I stop to breathe in the rich, earthy scent of them.  To you, it might just be a pile of leaves, but to me, it's a story - one I can't help but dive into, nose first.

So, slow down.  Breathe.  Let the chill fill your lungs and the colors fill your eyes.  Walk with me, don't just walk me.  See the world as I do, if only for a little while.  It's all waiting for you, just beneath the surface."

~ Facebook, Dogs World 

I am working hard on this.  It has become a new rule:  Pay close attention to your surroundings.  Do not think about other stuff.  I had kind of allowed myself to slip into the habit of  doing just that - a time to work out problems and to make plans, etc.  How many times have I said to Millie, "I need to talk to you about some things."   What a waste it was to get to the end of the trail and realize that I had seen nothing of the woods and fields and sky.  I think Millie likes the new rule and I know that I do.  

P.S.  You should see how well the kitties are doing.  And, how big they are getting.  They love me now.  All four of them.  Even Elon, the wild tux kitten which you can see hiding behind the door.  He is still shy and very wary, but that may be a good thing when it comes to surviving in the great outdoors.  He loves for me to stroke him, and purrs like a motor boat.  Here he is with Margo waiting on food.  You'll notice that I still feed them in the cage, but it is never closed.  I thought it might come in handy to have Elon there when it comes time to take him for his vet visit.  I have never picked him up, but I hold and kiss the other three.  I think Elon wants me to hold him.  I may try that tomorrow.    

Kitties and a Pretty Picture...

 

Fall 2024

It's not a very pretty fall here because of the extremely dry conditions we have been experiencing for so very long.  The pond along which Millie and I walk every day has always been a reliable place in which to find a good picture in every season, but, even it, came up lacking this fall.  I did find a bit of color there, however, and using my iPhone mustered up a pleasing enough picture.    

The barn kitties are growing up.  It has been quite a challenge to tame these little wild critters, but, slowly and surely, I am getting it done.  The Tabbies were first to allow me to touch them, and now love to be petted.  Little Blackie was next, and has now stolen my heart.  The Tuxedo cat is a wild one, but even he, is finally allowing me to pet him at the feed dish.   

I still haven't definitely decided which kitties are girls and which are boys.  I actually googled for information on how to determine the sex of a kitten.  I found a good site with drawings.  Step l:  Lift tail.  Ha Ha!  I think I knew that much, but lifting Tux's tail hasn't happened yet.  I have just about concluded that the tabbies are both girls and that the little black one is a boy.  My guess is that the wild black and white kitty is a boy. When they are just a little older we will make appointments for them with our vet, then we'll know for sure.  

Tabby White Paws

Little Blackie

Tux

The following quote has been going around on Facebook.  It's so me that I just have to share it here.

"Above all, do not lose your desire to walk.  Everyday, I walk myself into a state of well-being and walk away from every illness.  I have walked myself into my best thoughts, and I know of no thought so burdensome that one cannot walk away from it.  But by sitting still, and the more one sits still, the closer one comes to feeling ill.  Thus if one just keeps on walking, everything will be all right."

~Soren Kierkegaard

It has been 934 days since Millie and I last missed our walk over the hill.  If I counted correctly we will hit the 1,000 mark on Jan. 2, 2025.  

A Garden Plan and a Typewriter...

 

Every garden needs a plan.  Right?  Or at least, Elizabeth from Elizabeth and Her German Garden thought so.  She once wrote, "I was forever making plans, and if nothing came of them, what did it matter?  The mere making had been a joy."  

What a blessing it is to love books.  Everybody must love something, and I know of no objects of love that give such substantial and unfailing returns as books and a garden. 

When I got to the library I came to a standstill. -Oh, the dear room, what happy times I have spent in it rummaging amongst the books, making plans for my garden, building castles in the air, writing, dreaming, doing nothing.    

~ Elizabeth von Arnim 

  

 

 The typing in my Journal of Quotations is being done on my electric Royal Scripter typewriter that I bought when I broke my wrist a few years ago.  I enjoy the typing, even though I learned the skill on manual machines in two years of typing classes.  These were my favorite high school classes, made even better since they were taught by my absolute favorite teacher of all.  

So, for quite a while, I have been watching typewriters on eBay.  The one listed below ended a few days ago.  I loved this one and it was just what I had dreamed of owning.  I didn't even place a bid, but now I almost wish I had.  Undoubtedly, I wouldn't have won the auction, but it would have been worth a try.  There were a total of over 60 bids, ending at $355.  The shipping was free.  

 

"If you are looking for a special writing companion, then this just may be your writing soulmate.  A stunning example of a 1937 Royal De Luxe (Model A).  The glass-topped key strokes on this Royal queen are snappy, confident and yield a consistent print in an elite font.  Obviously, this typewriter was not overly used as there is little to no wear anywhere to be found and it is near spotless inside and out.  A newly inked black and red nylon ribbon has been installed onto the original Royal metal spools.  There is an original user manual..."

"However, true love does not occur until the first keystroke.  It's something that has to be experienced to be fully appreciated.  For the serious writer, there are no disappointments with this particular writing companion.  It has been completely serviced, properly lubricated and is ready to write.  Its condition is as close to being brand new from 1937 as could possibly be for an 87-year-old mechanical writing machine.  This is a stunning example of this rare model from a most pivotal time in American history."

And, finally...  We have new barn kitties.  Four of them.  They lost their mother, so we took them all in.  They will be sweet, but not yet!  I love them, anyway!  (Note:  I can stroke, from the head to the tip of the tail, three out of the four.  The black and white one is still afraid. Another little black one doesn't show up well in the picture.)

A Cooler Morning Walk...

 

What a glorious morning it was for a walk up and over The Hill.  It was a cool 55 degrees when on this 844th consecutive day, we put on jackets and boots and grabbed the sticks.  How long it seems since we had temperatures  so cool!  My leaf-dyed trail jacket, which you'll probably remember from the previous year, was the perfect weight and thickness for the walk up and over.

Millie wore the same coat she always wears, but it's, never the less, a fine one that resembles my trail jacket somewhat, I think.  It has been a bit too warm for her on the oh-so-many long hot days of summer, but for today she seemed to think it was just perfect.

It's always fun to have company show up along the way.  This morning, we found our guy waiting on us near the pond.  He offered us a ride, but we declined, preferring the walk on such a beautiful day.  

 

A little cloth-covered notebook that my daughter gave me a couple of Christmases ago has become a book of favorite quotes.  I have included several quotes by Marcus Aurelius and other old Stoics, of which I will share here later.      

"It was full upon the Northern Hemisphere..."

 

"The happening was migration.  It was full upon the Northern Hemisphere.  The shorter hours of sunlight and lowering temperatures were telling millions of birds to go south.  The event had begun in mid-August.  The loons, geese ducks, and shorebirds had heard the message and had left the barrens of Alaska and Canada.  A few days later the swallows and swifts felt the change and left the Northeast.

And then it happened.  Frightful hopped from limb to limb until she reached the wispy top of the ancient hemlock.  She turned her head slowly as she took a bearing on the sun's rays.  She fixed on a longitude between ninety and seventy degrees.  After many takes, the direction was indelibly printed on her brain.  She pointed her head and body along the invisible line.  She bent her knees and ankles.  She lowered her wings"

~Jean Craighead George, Frightful's Mountain

Back to the Zinnia Patch & More...

 

Did I once say I didn't care for pink in the garden?  I hope not.

The hummingbirds were in a feeding frenzy at all the feeders and in the zinnia patch.    

The path was freshly mown (thanks to me) and the morning was a cool 62 degrees.  The wildlife was out and so were the cattle.  It just doesn't get any better than this!

"Live in each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influence of the earth."  - Henry David Thoreau

I was up early yesterday morning, before the rain began (for which we are so thankful), to finish chopping out the last of the tall grasses from the garden here on the hill.  And, chop I did, for just an ordinary crisp little act of hoeing would never get the job done.  But, done it is now, and I am feeling quite proud of myself.  

I have been rereading Elizabeth and Her German Garden by Elizabeth Von Arnim, which I recommend to anyone who likes to dig in the dirt.  I have quite a collection of her quotes scribbled here and there in my little notebooks.

"Well, trials are the portion of mankind and gardeners have their share, and in any case it is better to be tried by plants than persons..." ~Elizabeth Von Arnim

Elizabeth also once wrote, "If I could only dig and plant myself."  I find that amusing, but I suppose being married to an aristocrat, as she was, could be socially restrictive in some ways.  

"I wish with all my heart I were a man, for of course the first thing I should do would be to buy a spade."  ~  Elizabeth Von Arnim

The Summer Tanager did visit me one last time, perching on his favorite fence post, before flying away.  I am so missing that sweet, sweet song.  He really has spoiled me.  Safe travels to you, my dear friend!  

A couple of days ago, I saw a pair of House Finches perched on the orchard fence.  They have always been among my favorites at the feeders, but have been a no-show the past couple of years.  Even though I don't feed the birds during summer months, I rushed to put sunflower seeds in the feeder, hoping to encourage them to stay.     

"Well, she had had the most wonderful summer; she had got that anyhow tucked away up the sleeve of her memory, and could bring it out and look at it when the days were wet and she felt cold and sick."

-Elizabeth von Arnim

Dixieland Delight...

 

Today, I am missing the summer tanager.   I am well aware that the time draws near when he will be leaving, but am still hoping to hear just one more song.  I went to last year's calendar where I had kept daily notes on happenings throughout the year, and found that I had written on August 6, "The summer Tanager sang loud and long.  It was a stellar performance."  

On the 7th, I continued, "Lots of hummers around the feeders, but I saw nor heard the tanager.  Was yesterday's song the last of the summer?"  The final notation was made on the 19th.  "I saw the Summer Tanager, but he quickly disappeared into the woods.  I instantly knew that he was thinking about migration, and that there would be no more summer song." 

It may be that I missed his final show yesterday while we were out making hay.  That would have been the day, wouldn't it?  August 6th.  Oh well, it was a good year for him.  He sang his heart out almost every day and seemed to enjoy my companionship.  I know I enjoyed his.

I haven't kept calendar notes this year (not sure why) except for birthdays and my and Millie's consecutive walks over the hill.  Yesterday was walk #851.  That walk was made just as darkness settled over the land.  Had I been taking notes, I would have written, "It was a good day in the hay field, other than for being very hot - 100 degrees F.  We harvested 165 bales."

To make the time pass faster while I drove round and round the fields raking the hay, I listened to Big Country on the radio.  My favorite for the day was an old Alabama song, Dixieland Delight.  

"White-tail buck deer munchin' on clover

Red-tail hawk sittin' on a limb

Chubby old groundhog, croakin' bullfrog

Free as the feelin' in the wind

Home-grown country girl gonna give me a whirl

On a Tennessee Saturday night

Lucky as a seven, livin' in Heaven

With my Dixieland delight."

Wow!  That's good isn't it!  

The hummingbirds are giving it a whirl too, for they will soon follow on the tanager's heels.  Summer always seems to go so fast.

 

In the meantime, Millie is trying to keep cool.  And, I am needing to get some overgrown grasses out of the garden... 

August...

 

Here it is August...already!  My new computer is up and running, and I am slowly getting acquainted with it.  I have done a few trial-run posts over at my other blog, Linnie Butts & Company.  I thought I might sneak over there and no one would know!  :~)  

Actually, I am kind of liking it over there, and have been thinking I might just continue posting there.  After all she is named after my great, great grandmother, and it seems kind of a shame to let her go.  But, on the other hand, I have put a lot into Hill Top Post and would find it hard to put it away.  So...   for now, I am keeping both.  I need time to think... 

how was your day?

 

How was your day?

"It was a mess.  It was a fight.  

It was a war with the world 

and myself."

Who won?

"I'm still standing."

-Topher Kearbey

My daughter's daily text usually asks, "How was your day?"  I often find myself wondering how I should answer that question, so when I read the above quote from Kearbey, I tried this one on her.  She loved it!.  

It was a warm last week of February (until today).  One of those days, when walking the trail, I had to leave my jacket behind to be retrieved later.   It had been a while since that had happened. I loved it.  

Life is short.  Break the rules,

forgive quickly, kiss slowly,

love truly, laugh uncontrollably,

never regret anything that makes you smile.

-Toby Keith

(July 8, 1961 - February 5, 2024)

A Few Words about January 2024...

 

"May your coming year be filled with magic and dreams and good madness.  I hope you read some fine books and kiss someone who thinks you're wonderful, and don't forget to make some art -write or draw or build or sing or live as only you can.  And I hope, somewhere in the next year, you surprise yourself."  (unknown)

Now that's the way I wanted this new year to begin, but you know how it is..."The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry..." 

We did get our snow, and with it came the bitter cold.  Millie and I bundled up and trudged on.  It has now been 663 days since we missed a day walking over the big hill.  A day just doesn't seem complete without it.

Dust of Snow

The way a crow 

Shook down on me

The dust of snow

From a hemlock tree.

Has given my heart

A change of mood

And saved some part

Of a day I had rued.

-Robert Frost