The Mia sized version of the Boudreaux sized blog. This is mostly a BACK UP BLOG and a smaller version for smaller screens if the main blog is too hard to navigate. For complete posts, giveaways, corrected grammar and punctuation, the "rest of the story" and any additional posts that might not make it over here for some reason, please check the BOUDREAUX SIZED BLOG :-).

IF AT ALL POSSIBLE, PLEASE USE the main blog.


Monday, June 23, 2008

Spend The Afternoon...

Springtime is just so busy on a farm. Sometimes it seems we don't even take time to eat dinner, and if we do, it's 9:00 at night. We've had a rash of cool weather though (and we know how rare that can be in the summertime) and a friend and I decided to take an afternoon and canoe a small part of the Licking River.

We used an outfitter north of Cynthiana, Setter Ridge, and were treated to a nice boat, a shuttle six miles up the river and instructions on where to leave the canoe when we were finished. The route was estimated at 2-4 hours depending on how the water was running and how quickly we paddled, but we were encouraged to take and enjoy the whole day.

My friend had packed a fabulous lunch and we set off at around 11:30. Knowing how much I had to do that day, I got in the boat and mentally clicked off 2-3 hours depending on our lunch break, plus travel time, and figured if I was lucky I could be back to work by 3:30 or so.



Here's the thing.

WHY?!?

What on earth couldn't wait until that evening, or better yet, the next day? Who in their right mind would trade spending an afternoon with a good friend, listening to nothing but birds and the sound of paddles dipping in the water, trying to see if you could sneak past a heron without it flying away (not even once!), or watching a deer come down the bank, swim across the river and climb back up the other side without giving us a second glance?



I've used this quote here before, but it certainly bears repeating or re-pounding into my thick head.

"Spend the afternoon. You can't take it with you." Annie Dillard

No comments: