That quote up there led me to read about Diogenes. Weirdo. Within the world of philosophers he's described as a cynic, which means he must have been really grumpy. He criticized almost everyone for almost everything and said he was the only one getting life right. Sounds like a jerk, not a philosopher.
Also from the drawer labeled "Really?", GQ magazine called the Bible "foolish, contradictory, and not worth reading."
As opposed to their magazine that tells you how to choose the right denim shirt and the best colognes for spring.
We had a beautiful day here with a high in the mid-70s and a pretty stiff breeze blowing most of the day. I did a lot of outside chores and a hard workout at the gym. It's difficult to get to the gym on Tuesdays because of the day's schedule so I try to do more on Monday so that if I need to take Tuesday off I can do so without feeling too guilty.
Which is, the say, part of a Calvinist's DNA - that ever-present sense of guilt over not getting it right. You're either not doing what you should or doing what you shouldn't. Total depravity in action. Yeah, I know that's bad theology in 18 different ways but that's not the point. It's a lifestyle not a theology. Calvinists are raised knowing there's a right and a wrong, our natural inclination is to do wrong, and for that and the actual doing thereof we should feel guilty.
Right now mostly what I feel is sore. As part of today's workout I did 75 push ups (NOT all at once).
But I'll still feel guilty for eating those two snickerdoodles tonight.
When we moved to Baker Rd. MoHo was set amongst the trees. Walk out either door and within 12 feet you were in the woods. Then we had to have a dozen big Douglas fir trees removed because of the beetle infestation and that changed the look and feel of this place entirely. Instead of forest floor we had slightly sloping ground with tree stumps.
Which is why our thoughts on how the place should look have changed. We determined there would be NO landscaping because God had done such a wonderful job. No planted flowers, no shrubs or decorative trees, and certainly no lawn. Just the forest God had placed here.
The engraver beetles stole the forest, or at least the part of it between MoHo and the creek. We really do NOT like engraver beetles. So what do we do with the suddenly open space?
The first thing was to build a goat pen and barn on the north end of the now-cleared land and nine fruit trees on the south end. What, if anything should go around the fruit trees?
I started by spreading the used straw that came from cleaning out the barn. But straw, whether wheat straw or rye straw, has a certain amount of seed in it (rye straw has more than wheat straw). So before long I had tufts of wheat and/or rye grass sprouting up, depending on which kind of straw the feed store had in stock when I needed more for the barn.
Old straw with tufts of grass looks pretty....ugly.
And then I put in the new paths. We needed those so that during the winter we didn't get all muddy going to Fred, or the barn, or the coop. The 3" round pressure treated posts I laid down as edges for the path and the 1.25" gravel I put between them look pretty nice and neat. That made the contrast with the straw/tufts of grass look worse.
So this afternoon I used my gas-powered weed whacker and knocked down all the tufts. Later this week I'll spread 25 lbs. of grass seed - rye and fescue - that Pam got at the discount store on her way home from doing laundry. Then, if we get the rain forecasted for this weekend we should have a more consistent spread of green.
I'll have to weed what it every couple of weeks but that won't take me long. We're not talking manicured lawn, just something that will look a little more intentional than the mess we have now. And it will make the paths stand out and look even better.
It's just that I feel like I've gone over to the dark side. (There's that Calvinist heritage again.) This feels like landscaping, like messing with what God provided.
Except the engraver beetles made a mess of God's creation.
Yeah, I know they're part of his creation too, but I'm choosing to think of them as a metaphor for sin in the world that corrupts God's beauty. And it's our job to do what we can to restore that beauty. In this case, with 25 pounds of grass seed.
How's that for justification?!
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