KILKERN-ing Time

Today I found the coast.

On my last day off I decided to hike for the afternoon and attempted to find the ocean. It’s visible from our farm, but there’s a few miles of farmland in between us and it. That day, I just set off in the general direction of the ocean, taking whichever fork of the road seemed like it might help based on educated guesses (read: randomly). After two separate instances of “reaching the top of a hill expecting to see the road leading straight down to a beach and being disappointed” I decided I hadn’t done it right and went back to the house. It was a nice walk, though!

Today I actually made it there! …I am kind of sad to say that I didn’t find it through trial and error, but rather got directions from the Van Dams (so are named the farm owners). I borrowed a bike this time, though frankly this area is hilly enough that I get really pissed off biking uphill and should really just stick to hiking briskly. The beach was wonderful. I arrived around 5 PM and the sun was over the water – not nearly “setting” yet, but low enough to give things nice dramatic shadows. It was beautiful. There was a nice sandy beach area as well as a very cool rocky cliffy area that I walked/climbed for a time.

Actually, today was very satisfying as far as getting work done. ‘Til today, I hadn’t yet finished a single job – they were all ongoing, particularly clearing the weeds from the wall. And yet, today I: leveled the now-weed-free soil near the wall, de-soiled and removed grass sods from all over the yard, painted creosote (weatherproofing gunk that looks like crude oil) all over some fence posts, removed the mulch from the duck shed, and began clearing grass/weeds away from the bases of some berry bushes (the only one of today’s jobs that will carry on in the future, I believe). It’s really nice to actually have stuff behind me for once.

Also, Jesus Christ are my ears sunburned. I had noticed that they felt very warm even when the rest of me was cold at night in the caravan, and I hadn’t been putting sunblock on, but somehow I hadn’t made the connection until this morning. Oww. Another thing I’ve learned tonight: you need to re-apply sunblock every few hours! You know what that means – they got even worse as the day progressed! Humph.

Posted at 9:35 PM local time.