Ah poop.

Photo by: Tim Bindner

I have never been one that has to be busy. To attend the newest movie primer, eat at the newest restaurant or bar, or fill my schedule with activities. I, in fact, like the simple life, and the simple things. Yesterday I had one of those days. It may have bored many others, but I had a great day.

I was up early as usual. My wife woke early as well. She came in and said, let’s go to Home Depot. We recently had two, eight foot raised garden beds built for vegetables. We had some plants but needed the soil to put them in.

We headed to Home Depot, purchased eight bags of Bonnie Harvest Raised Bed Soil and a plant for Marcie’s mom for Mother’s Day, then headed home. We unloaded the bags, filled the two beds, and then went into the house. Marcie decided we needed more vegetable plants. So, our next trip was to the garden/plant shop where we got watermelon, cantaloupe, onions, cherry tomatoes, and more sweet pepper plants. We took those back home, changed clothes, then headed out to Torchy Taco’s for lunch.

Marcie had the chicken fajita taco, and I had two tacos. One was The Cougar: SMOKED BRISKET, CORN RELISH, FRIED ONIONS, CHIPOTLE RANCH, BBQ SAUCE, CILANTRO, ON A FLOUR TORTILLA. My second choice was Crossroads; SMOKED BEEF BRISKET, GRILLED ONIONS, JALAPEÑOS, CILANTRO, AVOCADO & JACK CHEESE WITH TOMATILLO SAUCE ON A CORN TORTILLA. I washed this all down with a Dr. Pepper then we headed home.

On the way home, we stopped by a tiny car show down the street from our home. The show had maybe twenty vehicles in it, but I could test out my camera and see some cool old cars. We spent maybe 30 minutes there, looking at the cars and trucks and chatting with a few of the owners before returning home. As routine, Marcie took a nap while I processed my pictures, and then we received a phone call from a friend, Amanda. Amanda lives in the country and her family has cows and horses. Our plan was to go get “poop” for our beds. Yes, I know it is called manure, but I call it poop.

We took the 35-minute drive to her place where we were met by her dogs, chatted a bit before driving back down the road to where the cows and horses were. I was told to go shoot while they filled up the buckets we brought. I offered multiple times but was told to go shoot. I obliged. This is where I met Bill.

Pictured above is Bill. The Bull. He is very large. I had a very thin wooden board between me and Bill, and Bill followed me everywhere I walked around. He constantly licked his lips and was drooling heavily. This was not reassuring at all. As I meandered around the barn Bill was my shadow. He was quite too which put me at unease.

I took pictures of Bill, their new two-year-old female horse, and some cows that were terrified of me. I also took shots of their three other horses, who only wanted to be petted, not shot. I could accomplish both tasks.

I walked around and shot the contents of the barn, old signs, a wagon wheel, and anything else that caught my eye. We visited with our friend, then headed home with our poop.

Once home, we mixed in the manure with the soil, planted the veggies, watered them, and headed inside for a shower. Both starving, we headed out to grab some food before coming home and, like before, I processed my pictures while Marcie relaxed on the couch.

I spent the entire day with Marcie, which I absolutely loved. We drove in the country. Again, a love of mine. I shot things with my camera. A bonus. We visited a friend. Ate well and above all got our veggies planted and got to breathe the fresh country air.

Like Isabella Scorupco once wrote, “The most simple things can bring the most happiness.” She is so right.

Until next time.

Tim