It was kind of a quiet 4th this year... Mostly due to wearing earplugs much of the day. I drove down to Graham to spend the day with my brother.
Terry recently bought a home on 5 acres and it’s a beautiful place. The earplugs were for me while driving the Toro tractor lawn mower. With 5 acres, there’s a lot to mow! I’ve forgotten, but well reminded this day, how much there is to do when you live on a large property in the country. I’ve been a condo dweller in the city for about 12 years now.
It was about 90 degrees so armed with my straw hat, sunglasses, and downing 2 big Gatorades and 3 bottles of water I mow a little over an acre or so. I did my best to cut the grass in an orderly fashion with straight (or at least uniform) lines and I hope I don't look too much like a total urban bumpkin.
(I got skills!) I did pretty fair, only stalled it twice, hit just a few rocks, and only knocked off the grass baskets in the back once when I got too close to a boulder and snagged the bagger tube.
We knocked off around 4 and decided to stop, clean up and find a place to eat. Not much open today on the 4th of July around these parts but we found a little Teriyaki place in Graham. It was cool inside and we had a good meal then went for a drive. My brother wanted to show me a few of his favorite sites.
It’s about 8 driving down a thickly treed country road when Terry say’s just around this bend we’ll pull over. This is Clear Lake in the Tanwax, Kapowsin area. Oh my oh my did we time this one right. It won’t be dark until almost 10 but the shadows are growing long over the lake and the sun is still bright way up there on Mt. Rainier.
On the way back to his place, we cut down a small back road. This is about a mile southwest of his home and I just had to stop and take a long look. The colors are changing as the sun dips in the west and this time of the evening on a clear summer day is when the mountain starts to pick up the yellows and pinks.
After I dropped him off the sun is down. It’s still really warm out but I’m enjoying the evening with the windows down, listening to Bach, Brandenburg Concertos, and gazing up at the stars when I can. All the way up the valley freeway the sky is full of fireworks everywhere I look. There’s some serious celebration going on this evening. It was quite surreal.
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