Falling

Honestly our house doesn’t feel like it’s on the edge of a mountain, until you go down below it.

Ok, perhaps it is…

I guess after living here on the mountain for a little over four years, I have gotten used to it and have acclimated to my surroundings.

It didn’t always feel that way. If you recall, the first time Mr. Realtor brought us up on the mountain to take a look:

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“I thought we were driving off a cliff!! I had a sensation as though I was falling. When I opened my eyes, all we could see were peaks and valleys, and there was an overwhelming feeling of HOME.”

What Staycation Really Means: PART VII

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For a long time, I was afraid of maneuvering a vehicle on our lot. Just ask David; I used to freak out when he would do a three-point turnaround in the top of the driveway when we came to see the progress of the house when it was being built. Even after we moved in, it was a big deal just backing up to turn around to leave, but over time, that fear subsided.

I am reminded just how steep our mountainside is when something falls and rolls down it. Like the evening, I dropped my poor petunia hanging basket down the mountain.

I had picked the hanging basket up off of the deck hanger hook by the bottom of the pot to water it. But somehow as I went to place the hanging basket back on the hook, it was almost as if the plant leaped from my hand. I watched the basket as if it were in slow motion fall about 15-feet. It’s poor little petunia’s arms flailing in the air and crying out, ‘helllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllp!’, until it crashed onto the hard mountainside and rolled down the hill another 10 feet.

I couldn’t believe what had just happened. I laid my head on top of the deck rail, then leaned over a looked at it, laying down there with a trail of broken flowers leading down to it where it violently rolled down the mountainside.

The poor plant wasn’t all that healthy when I bought it, and it was just starting to perk up. So I’d killed it for sure unless I went down to rescue it, which is exactly what I did.

First, I needed to put on my hiking boots (seriously). There is nothing better than a pair of hiking boots to support your ankles when walking on the uneven terrain of our mountainside.

I really didn’t mind going down there. The scenery is amazing, and evening is the absolute best time to hike down our mountainside. The hike starts out easy on a well-groomed path but gets pretty difficult when starting towards the house. You have to be sure-footed before taking a step, and it takes a few minutes to get where you are going. I finally made my way over to where the plant lay and picked it up. The pot was cracked severely, but I could still tote it by the hook.

I carefully started the hike back up the mountain to the barn, with my plant in tow.

I had a spare hanging basket in the barn and re-potted that petunia, fed it some Miracle Grow, and **CAREFULLY** placed it back onto the hanger hook. 

Poor, poor petunia. If it wasn’t pitiful before it sure was now!

Today the petunia has made a full recovery, and after taking this picture, I believe the Petunia has the best view from the house!

The moral of this story: If you fall, get the hell back up and be better than you were before. Be the Petunia!!