Yesterday, we had two units to clean and, Man, we rocked and rolled. Neither unit was too bad and we blazed right through them, getting home long before dinner time. Lance, of course, took the dogs for a walk right after we got home. I had planned on carving my pumpkin this weekend, but I have a job this weekend, so I carved my pumpkin last night.
my pumpkin’s guts…
After cutting off the bottom of the pumpkin, something I have never done before but was recommended by the carving kit I picked up, I saw that I had quite a bit of pumpkin guts. I so hate throwing these in the garbage. It seems like such a waste. I could have just thrown them in the compost pile but that still felt like such a waste. If you don’t know already, deer absolutely LOVE pumpkin (something I found out, completely by accident, back when I used to hunt). I’ve never seen any deer around our place, so where to put the pumpkin guts so a few deer might enjoy them? The Field of Serenity.
I haven’t been to the field since the day after the fire while the firemen were still there, and that was only to take some pictures. Lance has been telling me for a while that I need to come see the field because it has been coming back to life fairly quickly. I haven’t gone and I believe that has everything to do with the fact that the fire was so devastating; I just couldn’t do it. I met Lance and the dogs over there yesterday so I could deposit my pumpkin’s guts.
Post fire Field of Serenity
I walked into the field with my breath somewhat held. I had no idea exactly what I was going to see and I was hoping it wouldn’t be too depressing. All of the ground (or at least 95% of it) is covered in what appears to be clover, lush and green. I found what I thought of as a good spot to dump the pumpkin’s guts for the deer, then the dogs came running into the field, straight over to me. I played ball with them for a bit before wandering over to where the trees that had suffered the fire are.
This was extremely heart breaking. There are areas of little, burnt tree or bush trunks standing in what looks like mini stick forests, black stick forests, with bright, Spring-green undergrowth. The sticks are only about 2 feet tall, some only as tall as a foot, and still others not even that tall. The big trees show varying degrees of fire damage, some looking like left-overs from a campfire.
Little black stick forest
Extreme fire damage.
a row of downed tree corpses
As I walked through the heart of the devastation, I felt tears stinging my eyes. This fire didn’t have to happen. The lives of so much growth lost due to the irresponsibility of a human. It is seeing things like this that really frustrates me and causes me to lose some faith in the human race. We tend to destroy more of what is needed, of what should always be, in the name of our own comfort. It’s beyond heart breaking and more than a little disturbing. It makes my blood boil and brings screams of outrage to my throat.
I needed to make some peace with this situation before leaving it. I didn’t want to walk away feeling so angry and sad. I looked around, again, at the damages, at the re-growth, and found what I needed. I can’t wait to see how the field grows next Spring. I see myself spending a bit of time there with my camera, once Spring comes around, again. It will be so wonderful to get to watch the Field of Serenity heal itself. I parted ways with Lance and the dogs and headed home.
I had considered waiting until after work today to finish carving my pumpkin, but when I got home from the field, I decided it would be nice to engage my creative side after seeing
My Pumpkin 2015
such sorrow. I usually do some sort of elaborate carving, but I decided to try something different this year. Worst case scenario, I could get another pumpkin and try again. I had picked up a carving kit since I needed all the carving tools, again (where they disappear to over the year, I have no idea. Fairies.). The patterns in this kit are fairly simple but pretty, and really have nothing to do with Halloween, but I liked them. One of the patterns made me think of my sunflowers, so I picked that one. With a little bit of alteration and the addition of some stems, I finished my pumpkin, waited for dark, then lit a tea light and placed my pumpkin over it. I love it!!
Dragonfly Gypsy USA 