A fine day in Maine

The other day we had some old friends visit the farm, and we all had a fine time showing off the apartment/garage, the garden, the fields, and the new building project. For the past few mornings two dump trucks, an excavator (which I always call a steam shovel in honor of Margaret Wise Brown’s Mike Mulligan), a bulldozer, and a roller have all been in place in our front yard. Our machine shed/barn is now well under way with at least 15 truck loads of gravel already spread and packed down. When we found that 6 year old Daniel was coming, I exclaimed, “You picked the perfect day, it is construction central around here!”

My favorite scene was seeing all 4 boys lined up against the garage doors for over 30 minutes staring at all the equipment in use. First the dump trucks took turns backing up and letting go of their load, the bulldozer scraping it all smooth, followed by the roller smashing it all down to a shiny finish.

Later all the kids played on the swing set, picked huge bouquets of wildflowers, and erected a rope swing in an old oak tree. Will got out several saws and the boys hacked down enough saplings from the edge of the woods (I wanted them down anyway) for everyone to have their own. For the next 20 minutes they raised them up to standing, only to shout, “Timber!” and giggle as they crashed to the ground. Amazingly enough, no one lost a finger from the sharp saws or an eye by the plethora of falling branches.

Our little guest very politely walked up to me next to the garden and said quietly, “Thank you Katherine for the nice time. I liked playing on your farm.”

Anytime Daniel, anytime.