Some weekends the barn, where Daughts lives, is hopping!
Spring break was no exception, there were a couple of young college friends who came to de-stress in the peace of the countryside.
They opted to sleep in a tent alongside the barn…
Not that there isn’t a spare room inside, but what’s the point of being out in rural Texas if you don’t go the whole hog and cook, eat and sleep under the stars?
By the time Sunday rolled around their well chilled and fancy-free spirits led them to fly a kite!
They could have had a go at target practice,
Or joined a wild-pig baiting party,
They could have stalked deer with bows and arrows,
Shot a few brace of dove, or
Fished in the nearby lake…
But kite flying won the day.
They launched it, and sat back on their blankets to watch as the kite climbed to 2000 feet.
All was quiet and peaceful.
I was gathering brambles, Hubs was sanding the refectory table and the dog was dozing.
The barn dwellers were mesmerized by the gentle soaring of their kite as it dipped and flew to the rhythm of the wind.
They relaxed anchoring the two lines of string to the ground with a rock.
Soon they began to grow drowsy lulled by the gentle rustling of the trees and the sound of insects droning softly in the dandelions.
Suddenly a gust came up out of nowhere and everyone jumped to attention as the reel broke loose of its mooring and was whisked out of reach…
…way up high…
…lost…
Released from its tether the kite rapidly climbed…
Until the green plastic spool became ensnared in one of our stands of trees and the prevailing wind lifted it, unceremoniously, onto the power lines running along the perimeter of our property.
It spun once around the wires bringing them together and successfully calling a halt to the unchecked ascent of the free-flying kite, now only a speck in the beautiful Texas sky.
Green handle caught up in our power lines
The boys scratched their heads and went in search of ladders tall enough to attempt a rescue.
Luckily Hubs appeared on the scene
with a maturity and reason that curtailed any further talk of heroic rescue missions involving interference with Grayson County’s equipment.
He took a measure of the situation and went into the barn to flip a light switch. Nothing!
He managed to get an operator on the phone who told him,
“We’ve already had several reports of an outage in the area. The technicians are driving around trying to locate the compromised line…we’ll get you back up and running as soon as possible…sorry for the inconvenience.”
“Well, I think I know where the problem is,” Hubs said quickly before she could hang up.
Before long three men and a couple of trucks arrived at our front door, assessed the situation and took safe and appropriate steps to disentangle the yards of twine from the disabled lines.
They reached up and cut one of the kite strings freeing the spool
which tumbled to the ground.
Happily the three men were in good moods and when Hubs apologized for bringing them out on a sleepy Sunday afternoon they said,
“Save your apologies for your neighbors…and make that story about your cat a good one,” and off they went down our driveway.
It took an hour of gentle coaxing to bring the kite down…through a stand of trees, back over the power lines and slowly through a gathering of junipers.
Finally it landed, none the worse for wear, not a rip or tear on it!
“Next time, ” said Hubs, “wait until it isn’t such a gusty day, stay in the centre of the land, keep away from trees and avoid the pylons at all cost!”
Boys will be boys…
They launched it again the following day this time with a Go-Pro camera attached.
Apparently there are some wonderful pictures of our house and property!
We’ve yet to see them!
Well hello there! My name is Vivienne McNeny.
I am an empty nester exploring life as a Boomer…you could say I'm happily Boomering along!
As a homeschooling Mum I have finally quit the job of role model and mentor to my four children. I do what I want to do, eat when I feel like it, enjoy life with my blue eyed cowboy and clean my house once a month or so whether it needs it or not!
In true English form I write about the emergence of my true identity now that I can no longer hide behind my children as their Mum.
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