Time for an update.
Beautiful spring weather here. We are about 3 weeks ahead of last year as far as crops in the ground and how they are doing. We even got a call last week from the head chef who left us with a nice order for cedar planks which we love to make for them. We have lots of scrap "long butt" pieces of cedar we have saved over the years because they were flared too much to make a good saw log. We saved them long enough to get on our sawmill which turns out was a very good thing to do. Now we cut 7" x 23" planks for the CDA Resort by the hundred(planed on one side). They use them to cook some of that beautiful salmon. Sounds like it is getting popular as they seem to want more and more planks. They also want some early spring lettuce which we have so it will be a nice early start for Howling Hills Farm this year.
And then.........I had my last meeting with my PO Tuesday. My probation ends May 6 so we had a nice "little bit about everything" talk. Todd is by far the most human person I have met during my "criminal justice system experience" over the last 18 months. He is mellow and kind and has made life easier on me for the last 8 or so months. My random UA number also came up Tuesday. I mentioned how nice that was to Todd because I did not have to make a second trip to town and he looked at me with a big smile and said....."no, I'm taking you off testing, effective today!" "WHAAAT, I said.....really?". I had not expected that and have been staying squeaky clean to be sure I did everything right up to the end. "Yer done Rick" I still have to pay my cost of probation for a couple months as you never get away from them wanting their money($60/mo). I will also have to go back to court to get the criminal charges dismissed but that is already a done deal except for us filing the motion in court.
So it looks like for all intents and purposes, I am done with my "un-freedom" over this experience. It will be three years exactly on July 25 so we will have to have some kind of a party. It is funny that the last year and a half of the experience was easier that the first 18 months. The first half was loaded with not knowing, disappointments and doubts. We did not know if we would have a home for a while during that time. Trips to the courthouse often with postponements were common. All that paperwork in the mail. YUK!
Time heals. We are both pretty healthy too. Raring to head up to the far corner of the farm today and fix that paved highway hole in our Elk fencing. We picked up a roll of 7 1/2 ft tall very heavy netting yesterday in town. This stuff is heavier than anything we have used in 8 years. Kind of neat to have Elk as our main 'pest' on the farm. Fencing them out is a constant chore. They can jump a 6 foot fence and they are very big critters.
Good to hear those old Zaps keep going in one way or another.
HAPPY DAYS ARE HERE AGAIN!
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