I hate Daylight Savings Time! I\u2019m a morning person. My finest hour is taken away and handed over to the slugabeds of the country, and I don\u2019t appreciate it. But\u2026what can you do? (Besides move to Arizona)<\/p>\n
I decide to the take the walk anyway.<\/p>\n
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<\/a><\/div>\nWhen Jerry walks with me we go around the perimeter of the Ranch, which is two miles exactly. But we frequently encounter big wild pigs<\/a>, and I feel safe with Jerry because, as he says, he\u2019ll protect me by grabbing me and holding me securely between him and the pigs. <\/p>\n So without Jerry I walk the Village Road<\/a>, which is 1\/3 of a mile long. Six laps\u2014two this way, two that way, two more this way. Two miles.<\/p>\n Abi, our little Maltipoo, bravely makes the first round, but on the second defects to Teresa House, where Sandy spoils her outrageously.<\/p>\n I venture on alone. At Gabriel House<\/a> Mike wanders out onto the porch looking sleepy. We say good morning. I ask if he\u2019s had his coffee this morning. Not yet.<\/p>\n The eastern sky is reddening now. A huge flock of grackles<\/a> flies overhead nattering and chattering away. I inspect a cedar elm and see tiny leaves starting to appear. At last! It seemed like spring would never come!<\/p>\n My fourth turn around the road I catch a sharp whiff of wild plum, rising up from the pecan bottoms where they flourish. I\u2019ll ask John to take the nature class and go tag them while they\u2019re still in bloom so we can find them later and maybe beat out the forest critters this year and harvest some for jelly<\/a>.<\/p>\n By now the PUSH<\/a> guys, sore and sunburned from their first full day of work yesterday, are filtering out to their work sites. The air is still crisp and cool, and the zing!<\/em> of hammers hitting wood is beginning to sing out. (I wonder what the PUSH guys think of our COM<\/a> volunteers, whose age probably averages 70, who do this work all the time and can work the britches off about anybody.)<\/p>\n<\/a><\/div>\n