999 Yet to Go

Progress is slow, but if the seeds are any teacher it is steady.  The kohlrabi, tomato, purple onion, tomatillo chive, sage, strawflower and marigold sprouts are continuing to mature; and today the first two pepper varieties showed a little green.  I trust that more will follow, but everyday takes me gently, ever so subtly by the hand and leads me forward.  The almost wholesale decimation of winter by onsetting spring has been a similarly compelling teacher.  So it was this morning that the snowblower was traded out, with the help of a mechanically savvy friend, in favor of the mower deck.  As he put it, "with all the forecasted rain and the kind of sunshine we have been having, that grass is going to start taking over."

In that same spirit, I determined to get the trenching underway.  Jostling the tiller out of its hibernation, I gassed the tank, checked the oil, primed the choke, and pulled the cord.  I know it won't always work this well, but miraculously on the second pull it roared into life.  And off I went. 

OK, so I didn't get far -- merely clearing away the ground cover on two perpendicular strips; there are layers and inches yet to go, to say nothing of the 42 yet to begin -- but as the ancient Chinese proverb points out, "a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." 

So, consider the first step taken.