Saturday, May 14, 2016

The Pastor's Picnic

This year Adam and I decided to have a church picnic at our farm. What could be easier, right?
Well, last weekend we went to Peter's graduation, so we planned to do all the prep work for today's picnic this past week -- especially all the mowing.

Until the mower died ... before we'd mowed a single blade around the house. Some of it was a foot tall.
So Adam weed-eated it all, oh yes he did. And lo, it was wearying!

Two friends loaned us their gas grills (which you can see above against the fence) but neither one worked, so Adam adapted them into charcoal grills instead. But he did spend a lot of time this morning trying to get them to work!

Yesterday afternoon the sky opened and dropped torrential rain on our town for several hours. I left work early (5:45) because my van was about to be flooded in the parking lot! Adam met me there and we went to Aggie's Sub Shop for supper. When we came back to the house, the entire house lot (about an acre) was submerged. The house was an island in a pond of 3 - 4" of water. It was quite depressing. The house sits on about a 3-foot crawl space, so it wasn't damaged.

Later I dropped Adam off at the house, but I kept driving and sat at Vandemere away from the sight. The water was draining away slowly. I think some of the town's roadside ditches and drains are not functioning properly near our house. Other than our house and the farm next door, nobody else in the area had so much water.

After the water drained away our yard was left a gray, muddy mess -- no place for a picnic! I went to the farmers' market this morning, and we both hoped the yard would dry out. But in the end we moved the picnic back to the pasture under the near pecan trees -- shady and pleasant, with a good breeze to keep bugs at bay.



It was a delightful time. The breeze was too stiff to start a bonfire for s'more-making. And as we tidied up, it began to sprinkle again. So everybody loaded up their leftovers and drove away. For a first annual Pastor's Picnic, I thought it went rather well! I gave away about ten tomato plants, so I only have about 30 to go!

Poor Adam worked himself to death to make this simple event happen, against all odds of broken equipment and horrid weather. But it did happen, and I'm proud of him. And hopefully next year it will be just a bit easier to pull off a simple picnic in the back yard.

7 comments:

FlowerLady Lorraine said...

I'm sure the picnic was greatly enjoyed by all.

Have a lovely Sunday ~ FlowerLady

Pom Pom said...

You guys have the sweetest hearts. I bet you are both very tired. No rest though, I imagine.

Kezzie said...

What a series of unfortunate events- well done to Adam! That is dedication and love (and hard work!)
I remember organising a birthday party when I lived in Indonesia. Firstly, my neighbours were going to lend me their gas stove but it ran out of gas and the shop was shut and they were away so I tried to use my little one ring hob but then we had a powercut and finally we had to build a fire to cook on!!x

Gumbo Lily said...

It always seems like these events, no matter how humble, are more work than you ever think they will be. I'm glad it was a success despite the hard work and uncooperative weather. God bless you.

Mary Ann Potter said...

It was still a picnic! Interesting improvisation with the weed eater. (Yikes!)

GretchenJoanna said...

You and your guests all were dedicated and community-minded to make it work -- I am very impressed. Picnics are a wonderful tradition and I think it's brave of you all not to give up. Next year is bound to be easier!

Ida said...

Goodness you had quite a time pulling off the Picnic but in the end it all worked out.