DC Day 5

Sabbath Day. Went to Church, personal study time, enjoy the rainy day, dinner, spoke to family, and bed.

Talked about the Allegory of the Olive Tree today. I don't know why it hasn't "clicked" before, but the discussion made me think about the time spent working in my grandfather's vineyard (see image below). For several summers, I pruned the vines, collected the branches that were cut off, checked for signs of pests (rabbits, gophers, squirrels), kept watch for "bad fruit" (places where the vine yielded the original "green" grapes instead of the small, deep purple Merlot variety that had been grafted into the root stock, and helped with the harvest. I'll have to share some thoughts about the process of being a "husbandman" in the R&E Ranch vineyards.

But the ranch offered other things for me during my teenage years. Our family had recently returned to California (after a 5-year or so stint in Eagle, ID) and was located close to the Ranch. One year, I received paintball guns for my birthday, so I would play with friends in the riverbeds and cattle pastures. One time, we wanted to have some "urban assault" practice, so we used the upper lawn as our playing field. The doll house, tree house, and open ground provided a challenge for taking and holding a building. We also played a "stealth" game as the afternoon got darker, where a team would take up certain vantage points, and then a "lone wolf" operative would try to infiltrate the camp -- creeping silently without a weapon, in a sort of reconnaisance mission. Unfortunately, some shots went stray and a few ended up making their mark on the white walls of the Spanish (or mission-)- style home. I went back early the next afternoon to clean up our traces, but the foreman had already seen them as he went up to water the horses, and told grandpa. I got a phone call for that...


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Besides the work and the paintballing, the Ranch offered a place to expend pent up energy and to find some quiet time (and place) to myself. On several occasions, I lugged my saxophone up a hill on the property and serenaded the cows, birds, and other wildlife. Other times I brought a rifle and practised some marksmanship.

[[Aside: I'm not a "lifelong hunter" by any stretch of the imagination. I went deer hunting in Idaho with my father and some friends once; none of us got anything. I've taken out some varmints--jack rabbits and ground squirrels--around the Ranch to keep them away from the vines. But most of my targets have been paper, wood, aluminum, or clay. In fact, some of my favorite targets as a young boy were wooden pencils stuck in the lawn that I would "snap" from a distance with my Red Ryder bb-gun, or aluminum cans that would turn to shreds (then placed in our recycling bin). I also really enjoy shooting trap, which I haven't done in quite some time. It is typically a part of our family Thanksgiving activities when we're at the Ranch.]]

But, often, I'd just go for a hike around the property and enjoy the quiet outdoors and be alone in my thoughts. I have lots of great memories of time spent at the Ranch.



Here are a few pictures from the backyard where I'm staying. Unfortunately, my Blackberry's built-in camera can't quite do the colors justice from a distance.

The sound of the rain was relaxing as I sat by the fire and read for the better part of the day.