Posted on October 28, 2011 by camhannan
Sara is leaving tomorrow. She has been here two weeks and arrived just as we started planting. Before that we were “maintaining” which involved the infamous TLGing and Vaporgaurding and pruning and checking irrigation… endlessly. And we were drilling holes and pinning laterals… endlessly. So when Sara came we actually started to PLANT! Yep, we began to put the little saplings into the ground. And now when we look back at those first plantings… well, we can’t really see them they are so far away! That’s a lot of plants for only a few weeks.
Now a lot of things happened while Sara was here. We had a storm, lots of wind, and for a while it seemed that everything was going to be alright. But then it happened: the power cut. In the middle of dinner, we were sitting talking, laughing, thinking, and WHAM! Well actually it was completely silent, no WHAM at all, just ______, and then darkness. We groped around until we found a headlamp, but the switch did nothing. Rob fumbled in the pitch blackness to open the battery compartment and rotate one of the cells, and then snapped it back together and it still didn’t work. OK, so we found a lighter and then the aromatic candles and lit them all up.
“It’ll be on shortly” they all told each other confidently.
Two days later in the middle of the night, some lineman somewhere soldered up the last joint and flipped a switch and the juice flowed again. But that was after several seriously chilly nights and a couple of very wet days. No power and cold rain. Mm hm, a perfect combination.
She taught us to say “tree” in Swedish – “Träd” is the word. And “planting” is “plantira.”
“That sounds like Spanish,” Sandra and Rob both said at once. And Sara explained that Swedish people learn Spanish more easily than most, so there must be a connection.
Sandra asked Sina how you say “tree” in German. Sandra said “bum.” “Bum?” Rob asked. “NO!” Sina scolded, “It’s Baum!, Der Baum.”
Sara reminded Rob to blog about the autobahn. We have a new track through the forest. Sandra wanted it to only be a walking track. But nobody walks anymore. We ride the ATV everywhere. So we made the track a bit wider so we can ride the ATV through the woods. Otherwise we’d never see them. Why? We’re on Type A schedules here folks. We gotta get over to the planting site and break yesterday’s record. Why not? Hey, we’re planting trees, right? That’s all that matters in the end. So we cut a track that let’s us get to work on time. It’s a nice commute.
“What’s the most interesting thing you learned while you were here, Sara?” Rob asked.
“Have I been here?” she asked.
Rob nodded.
“Really? Who are you?”
“Brad Pitt. Who are you?”
“Really?” she asked while everyone laughed.
“Why are you laughing?” Rob asked.
Everyone just laughed even harder.
“Seriously, the greatest thing is that I learned to plant a tree. And I know I will use it some time in my life and tell other people.”
Several days ago we watched the director’s cut of Bladerunner. Sina noticed that Pete the Digger Driver looked like Harrison Ford. We all agreed. And then Sandra decided we should tell Pete himself. First she told Rob he should tell Pete. But Rob knows how the Kiwi bloke mind works and he knew that if he told Mikey he looked like Harrison Ford (which he doesn’t because he looks like he is about 12) Mikey would say “Gay.” Yes that’s how Mikey’s mind works. So Rob was not about to tell Pete he looked like Harrison Ford.
So we were out planting and Sandra said to Rob. “Rob, do you want to tell Pete the good news and the bad?” If looks could kill…
So Sandra had to tell Pete herself. The good news was that Pete looked like Harrison Ford when he was far younger.
“What’s the bad news?” Pete asked.
“You look like Harrison Ford,” Sandra answered.
Later she said, “No, the bad news is that Rob thought that he looked like Harrison Ford.”
Sara asked Rob how many times he had seen the movies in the library. He said a couple. She said she should watch movies more than once and then she might remember them better. Sina said but then you wouldn’t remember … something. What was it? What was I saying? What is my name? Where am I? … Have you seen “Hannah?” Don’t worry, It’s an inside joke. Go to bed…
Blog out.