My dad insists that I would get sick of living in Brookville, PA at the farm after 6 months, but I'd like to think I could live there forever. What I DO know for sure is one week there just isn't enough. I'm convinced there's enough beauty and fun wrapped up in this farm to last a lifetime. Here's the run-down on the trip--
I arrived in Cleveland 5 hours before Jules and Sophie, so I decided, with some coaxing from Sarah, to take the train into downtown Cleveland and walk around. So, suitcase rolling behind me, I ventured onto the train hoping to make it in time to go to the the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Little did I know that everything in Cleveland closes at 5-stinkin' 30!!! Really lame. I rolled up to the Hall of Fame about 5:35 and was disappointed. Cool architecture though! Next door was the Great Lakes Science Center with an IMAX film on fighter pilots, which would have been awesome if it also hadn't close at 5:30. Rude. So, I was forced to sit on the edge of Lake Erie and read my book for a while... terrible life, I know. It was nice not sitting at the airport and to have a little solo adventure, even if it didn't turn out quite as I'd hoped.
After Diggs came and picked up Jules, Peeps, and me, we headed to Brookville which is about a 3 hour drive from Cleveland. We didn't get there until about 12:30 AM, so we went to bed, ready for some fun in the coming days. The first day, I spent 3 hours mowing the upper field, not with a push mower or even a riding mower-- with a Farmall Super M tractor with a 5 foot blade hooked to the back-- my kind of mower!!! That night we burned all the branches of a ginormo hickory tree. My job was to give the fire oxygen and after trying to blow on it for awhile and almost passing out, Uncle Chris pulled out the big gun-- the leaf blower. I strapped that sucker on and got 'er done. The fire got to maybe 20 feet tall and was ridiculously hot, but it made for a good roasting fire after it died down a bit. Cousin Sammy (aka Sammy 'da Bull) got hooked on smores after that-- I'm pretty sure he made them every night following the fire. He made his double smore, and after nuking it in the microwave for 25 seconds, well... the pictures say the rest.
The subsequent days were filled with 4-wheeler rides, crawdad hunting, tractor driving, flea markets, reading, napping, punching Sammy da Bull, and just a whole lot of relaxation and fun. Here are a few highlights:
1) 4-wheeling around the farm and down the old railraod line turned trail. It makes for great rides through some pretty fantastic small towns. Crossing the trestles is pretty scary because there aren't any sides, but if you don't look down, you're fine, unless you're Sophie. Sammy, Peeps, and I took a ride to some of the other towns along the route and found a mile-marker sign which Sammy pulled out of the ground and we hauled it home. Hope they won't get confused when the markers go from 36 to 38!
2) Riding tractors: Not only did I get to mow, I helped my dad disc a plot of land in the lower field to get it ready for planting winter wheat. Nothing seems like work when you're on a tractor!
3) Scenery: The best in the land. Utah officially needs more trees and green things.
4) Our final project before we left was the dam up part of the creek which runs adjacent to the farm. I love projects like these-- things that require work and physical labor, but are so fun to do. And of course, water just makes it that much better. Sammy, Peeps, and I started it on Friday and the rest of the crew helped finish it up on Saturday. After we finished it, things got a little wild and crazy, but that's to be expected when the Siebach clan gets together. Plus, it gave us lots of excuses to make lots of dam jokes, which inevitably turned into us using "dam" in reference to things other than a structure used to stop the flow of a river. :)
All in all, it was an amazing vacation. The trees, the farm, the machinery, the family-- it all made for a perfect week away. I was most certainly not ready to come back. You know, there are certain places that are just special-- places that when you're there, you feel like you're home. This farm and this part of the country is it for me.
3 comments:
we're going back to visit in September- now I can't wait! It is so beautiful out there.
Kirst-
What great pictures. You really do look like you belong there. I wish I could go to PA sometime.
I think your tractor's sexy!
xoxo Kenny
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