Highlight: Sunshine, finally!!

All children and grand children are safe and secure after the storms. One of the children has a basement that leaks and floods. This is never a happy thing.

Weather:  It started off foggy, damp, and cool this morning. This afternoon brought the first sunshine we’ve seen in days. (Detailed Summary – click here.)

Plantings: The vegetable gardens made it through the storm. Mr. Stripey looks a little out of sorts and some leaves don’t appear to be happy. We’ll keep an eye on him.

Harvest: Nothing to report.

In previous posts I said that I would explain our recent flurry of cleaning and other preparations. Now, I am going to tell you the background story on all this activity. But, before I do that, let me explain ‘ruffles & flourishes’:

Ruffles and Flourishes are sounded to render personal honors and precede prescribed music for personnel being honored. Ruffles (played by the drums) and Flourishes (played by bugle or selected brass instruments) are played simultaneously.

(To learn more about ‘ruffles & flourishes’ and to hear what they sound like, click here.)

Background Story: In October 1973, I discovered I was married to an ‘Admiral’. It was during the Navy Day Ball at Goodfellow Air Base in San Angelo, Texas. I was just a lowly Petty Officer and the events of that night caused me to think that I would never be promoted again. It’s a great story, but for brevity’s sake, I will spare you the details.

As I was saying, it was at that Navy Day Ball that I realized that I was married to an ‘Admiral’. To be sure, she’s never been in the Navy – yet, in terms of ‘authority’ my sweet wife is, indeed, the equivalent to any ‘Admiral’. Although I retired at a relatively high enlisted rank, the fact remains – I will never outrank my wife.

Yesterday, my wife’s sister arrived for a visit to Serendipity Farmhouse. Experience has shown me that my sister-in-law is also an ‘Admiral’. Her date of rank is earlier than my wife’s. That technically means she has precedence over my wife. Consequently, her arrival was observed with full honors and proper protocol. The official SFH marching band rendered the traditional four ruffles and flourishes. (In case you were wondering, our Maine Coon cat, Mr. Monte, is the band leader and the chief of the ceremonial guard. It is my job to carry out his instructions immediately and precisely during these ceremonial events.)

Now, there is another, far more important factor that motivates us to greet visitors to SFH with ‘ruffles & flourishes’. As we said when we started this blog, we are Oblates of St. Benedict and, to the extent to which it is possible in our married state of life, we try to live according to the Rule of St. Benedict.

Achieving true Benedictine hospitality as it is described in Chapter 53 of the Rule is a lofty but worthwhile goal. (See: Chapter 53 On the Reception of Guests.) Two quotes from that chapter sum up what we are really trying to do:

Let all guests who arrive be received like Christ, for He is going to say,
“I came as a guest, and you received Me” (Matt. 25:35). And to all let due honor be shown, especially to the domestics of the faith and to pilgrims.

And:

In the salutation of all guests, whether arriving or departing, let all humility be shown. Let the head be bowed or the whole body prostrated on the ground
in adoration of Christ, who indeed is received in their persons.

So, if you are a guest coming to visit at Serendipity Farmhouse, you can expect us to greet you with open arms and prayers of welcome in our hearts, just as we did my sister-in-law. Yes, you can expect to be greeted with what we would call a series of spiritual “ruffles and flourishes”.

Sometime very soon, we intend to test a new theme. Hopefully, it will be more crisp, informative, and user friendly. We want to make it easier for you to find information of interest and navigate from page-to-page rapidly. We will do our best to avoid any disruptions or glitches during the transition and we look to you to provide constructive criticism and helpful comments to improve this site.

Meanwhile, a lot has been happening here at SFH and we have a backlog of news, pictures, and commentary. Here is some of what you can expect to see in the coming weeks:

• Bluebirds make SFH their home,
• Making goat milk cheese,
• Clearing the south 40,
• The vegetable garden is ready for planting,
• First harvest of asparagus,
• The herb garden has color as well as flavor, and
• At least two blog reviews.

There, how’s that for a catchy, interest capturing title? It sucked you right in, didn’t it? Well, I had to use high-pressure tactics because there’s so much to tell you.

Humdrum Statistic 1 – D-Day +16: Yes, I’ve been moving dirt. In between windstorms, cold spells, infirmity, and a hundred other things that would have deterred a lesser man, I have moved dirt. Lots of dirt? Well, maybe not so much, but at least some dirt is where it wasn’t before. And I’m darned proud of the fact that I’ve only encountered one Lesson Learned in the process.

Lesson Learned 06: If a panel on your garden box is warped, don’t attempt to straighten it by applying undue pressure with your foot. Over time, these panels not only warp, they also become brittle.

Yes, dang it, I broke one. – – – Cost for replacement box $38 something.  Why buy one box when you can get two (probably my dumb idea)? What about shipping? No, it’s not free. Bottom line – my heavy, booted foot cracked the panel and it cost me $109.00.

Humdrum Statistic 2 – Multiple Hours of Sleeplessness: Wonderful, sweet spouse caught some terrible disease from yours truly. I’m recovering. She’s not. The other night she coughed for hours. I lost precious hours of sleep. Thankfully, wife finally fell asleep. I blissfully fell into a deep slumber … for about three minutes. Eighteen pound, spoiled, monster of a Maine Coon cat began to snore loudly. Zero hours of sleep for me that night.

Humdrum Statistic 3 – The Relative Weight of Dirt: The relative weight of dirt (mass is a different matter) increases when one is sick and sleep deprived. I have been both. Consequently, the relative weight of the total of six cubic yards of dirt to be moved is now roughly equal to what it would be on Jupiter. (That would be Weight on Jupiter= (Weight on Earth/9.81m/s²) * 24.79m/) Yes, when you’re sick, sleep deprived, and have to move a lot of dirt, you think about these things a lot.

Humdrum Statistic 4 – SFH 2017 Plantings: All of the above was a lead in for presentation of the official list of vegetables and herbs planted at SFH during 2017. (You can view this very humdrum list at SFH 2017 Plantings.) We hope to do better this year. The only way to gauge that, however, is by keeping a set of “Humdrum Statistics”. There, now you know why I really chose the title.