this must be the end because I can't feel much

There needs to be something said of this past summer and the project that consumed me. In the very least, it was intense.



My family has owned 5 acres of land here in Orange County for about 90 years. For a long time it was a meek, yet fruitful orange orchard amidst hundred acre monsters and very wealthy land owners. According to my uncle, after the second world war and the introduction of Disneyland, it all "went to hell." Now, not much more than houses and freeways exist round here and every now and then you see a person. In spite of intense change and lots of pressure, my family has refused to sell their property though it's worth millions.

And, they are getting older. With age comes some awesome things like ear hair and wrinkly skin but there also comes some not-so-awesome things like not being able to walk easily. So, the amount of maintenance on the oranges has been in steady decrease for the past 10 years and the amount of weeds has grown exponentially. So, this summer began with a rather intense bout of weed abatement. The one thing that stayed at the back of my mind was the fact that weeds grow every year and I would probably be working my ass off next summer as well. What to do...


So these ladies came over a month into the summer and suggest I make a horse pasture along the back slope of the property and the horses would eat all the weeds. Not such a bad idea. A little more work I'll finish with a month left to work on my car. HA! This project proved to be almost more than I could handle...almost. As to the amount of work it took, all I can say is that it consumed me. I am in much better shape, physically, than when I began.

The one thing that almost sent me over the edge is that it was hard to get people enthusiastic enough about it to help out. Ernie helped for a few weeks and my dad came out for a day and I had a few other days when Danny and others helped. Other than that, I was very much alone in this endeavor-which, I found, wasn't really a bad thing for a time. Pick-axing is the best way to deal with feeling low. I could work until I collapsed of exhaustion and laying there, unable to move, that is some kind of unique bliss and most things are forgotten.

I finished a few weeks ago and I still have trouble believing it. The electric fence drained my school fund and I lost part of my pinky driving the ground rods in (it's growing back fine). But I have this awesome feeling when I walk into the back and see these horses hanging out with each other. So, I thought I would take pictures of this thing. There are no before pictures because I really didn't think I'd finish at all.

Anyways, I think I am going to put my computer in the closet for at least a few weeks because it is driving me crazy. Well, I am driving myself crazy and the computer is doing anything but helping.











What I like most about the horse is that their nose is huge and it's always the firs thing they stick out to greet you.


Only thing is, a horse cannot pick their nose. It's a good thing I'm not a horse.


This one is the awesomest horse I have ever met. If I was a horse, this would be my horse girlfriend.



The view from up top. That's my fence and then anaheim hills in the background.













wha???


This is a road that goes down this steep hill so horses can walk down. This road was not there when I started and it was all done with the trusty pick axe and some shovels.


the road from the bottom of the hill





My grandma made this. she is awesome.


I think a storm is on its way. Rainy days bring back feeling of Berkeley in January when I was in a strange place indeed. tomorrow it will rain all day.


So Long..