National Walking Day

 This afternoon my friend, Amy, let me know that today is National Walking Day.  Thank you, Amy.  This was after I walked from home to Home Depot and logged four miles.  At Home Depot I got the poles I need to fix the post hole digger that we got last year at a Habitat for Humanity Restore.  There were a couple other things that we picked up, which is why Keziah came to get me.  Rather than walking home from Home Depot, I got a ride and was able to put more time into working outside this afternoon.  The four mile walk and the following are my happy things for today:

• There was one intersection that I was concerned about crossing on my walk this morning.  It was the one closest to home that has no walk signals or crosswalks. Thankfully it wasn't as bad as I anticipated. 
• Most of the walk was on a busy state route.  The prettiest part was going over a small river, the Soucook River.

• There were some budding trees that I did a quick walk-by picture of.  I don't know what they were... maybe I should have looked closer.

• After getting home and having lunch I decided to sharpen the axe.  It never got as sharp as I wanted it.  I got through about half the branch I wanted to cut and gave up.  Tried sharpening it some more and then decided that I needed to find some different tools for the job.  Sharpening axes and using the axe to cut branches (and not firewood) is a new thing for me.  Even though the result isn't what I hoped, I still feel a sense of accomplishment.

Before sharpening it was pretty rusty.

This is just a little bit of sharpening.

After sharpening I started chopping the branch off 
one of the fallen trees.

This is as far as I got before deciding the axe
needed more sharpening.

• Then I tackled the post hole digger.  Totally forgot to take a picture of the finished product.

• I also moved plants around, planted tomato seeds and marigold seeds, and weeded around the blueberry bush and strawberries a little.  I didn't do too much around the berries because there needs to be mulch or some other cover for the ground.
• Keziah got home from getting groceries and told me to go look at the sunset.  Apparently it was prettier five minutes earlier.  

Sunset.

☮

Currently reading: The Backyard Homestead, by Carleen Madigan.

   -- Learning about planting trees.  Did you know that nut trees can kill evergreens?

Wash your hands.