Groundhog Day

There’s a groundhog that lives in a hole near the orchard. We’re don’t know its sex, but we’ve been calling it “Mr. Groundhog.” Mr. Groundhog, in one way or another, has produced at least two babies.

From the house, David spotted this baby in the front lawn. When it turned it’s back, I snuck up a few steps and when it looked my way I stayed still. Every time it turned its back I moved closer, and it didn’t seem to notice me as long as I was standing still. Finally, I got within five feet of it. It looked at me curiously, but clearly unperturbed, as I stood as still as I possibly could, quietly snapping photos.

Spring growth

After spending two weeks at Duke, I came back to a very different Acorn Abbey. Not only had the plants grown and greened considerably, but the chicks had entered some horribly grotesque pubescent phase.

Here’s a shot of Acorn Abbey. Garden on the left; orchard on the right.

David has a grass complex. For the past couple years, he’s been walking down the driveway and up the road to get to the garden and chicken coop, which is about 3x the walk compared to leaving the side door and entering the orchard through the lower gate. To keep us from trampling the grass I build a stone walkway. We were both surprised with how well it turned out (pictured below), but David still can’t bring himself to alter his walking routine.

Here’s a shot of his path in the woods.

The plants got huge in those two weeks. We’ve already eaten spinach, snap peas, and broccoli from the garden.

Grapes in foreground; broccoli, cabbage, and Brussels sprouts in background.

Spinach and snap peas.

Getting ready to sell the van

It’s time to sell the van. I’m not sure how much I’m going to ask for it. The Blue Book values for a ’94 Ford Econoline with 126,000 miles are as follows:

Excellent Condition: $2,275

Good: $2,100

Fair: $1,625

It is in really good condition, and I’ve recently spent an absurd amount of money on repairs, BUT I have that nasty dent/scrape on the driver side, which might severely lower its value.

Anyway, I thought it best to give it a thorough cleaning. Here are some “before shots.”

And some “after” shots. Here I am removing the hooks that held up my black partition.

And the hook that held all my dress pants and shirts.

For the past 2.5 years, I’d been paying a local to keep my middle pilot chairs in her garage. They’re in decent shape but there was a puzzlingly large amount of shed hair on them.

Here I am putting the pilot chairs back in.

Ready to sell.