Dmitri

The day of this writing, at least most of it, was spent with Dmitri, an individual that recently came to stay with us. In appearance he seems really hard and maybe a bit dangerous, but actually is pretty sharp and a real cut-up. The name Dmitri is Slavic for lover of the earth and he is true to his name.

Dmitri is my newly acquired landscaping axe and as is my custom with all digging tools, it had to have a name. This tool is a combo one that is a single blade axe with a sharpened mattock made on the upper rear of the axe head. This enables one to cut with the axe blade or to cut perpendicular to that with the mattock – as well as dig with this same side. This tool is ideal for cutting and/or digging up the scrub trees that populate the borders of our property.

Dmitri and I got quite a workout in one of the aforementioned areas with still only a small portion of the area cleaned out. He seemed to hold up much better than I do, since I had to go in for water and he didn’t get thirsty at all. His fiberglass handle was a good touch, since some of us will occasionally over swing and splinter a wooden one.

The other digging tools seem to be taking this new acquisition in stride, except Betsy, the pick, is taking it pretty hard. The reason is that Dmitri is now doing the main job that she used to do. Frank the sharpshooter, ever the philosopher, tried to console her. He told her “We seldom think of what we have, but always think of what we miss.” But this didn’t seem to help, so he added “Don’t cry because it’s over now, laugh because it happened.”

Betsy will get over it because I still have plenty of work for her. Frank has problems of his own because he has a bad handle and can hardly work at all – hopefully his handle can be fixed or replaced. Bertha the shovel has no use for any sentimental drivel and is looking forward to the next time she can toss the dirt – she’s a gritty one. Ernest the trenching shovel is a specialist and doesn’t care whether he is working or not.

Rufus, the post-hole digger, knows that nobody else can do exactly what he does – his actions can be very deep. At times he even acts a bit “holier than thou”. Chopper, the garden hoe, has been with the family for about 35 years and has known for the last several that he has a partial fracture of the blade. He has hung in there very well until last summer when he was called on to dispatch a shoulder-less vertebrate. The incident almost completed the fracture and has necessitated either a new tool or a weld job on Chopper’s blade. Either of these will be traumatic for him - and me.

In addition to the scrub trees, many brambles still need to be dug up in the garden area. I say dug up because if one doesn’t get out the entire root, it just sprouts right back in next growing season. Some of these roots are ten to twelve inches deep. The garden is mostly cleared of these invaders of the soil except for one end of one of the beds still containing some brambles and winter hardy weeds – can anyone spell dandelion. This has to be completed before spring and planting season because with them there, the garden will be much less productive.

That reminds me of a question – am I allowing the thorny cares of my life and the weedy material things to choke out the fruitfulness of my spiritual garden? Our Master Gardner is able to keep our spiritual garden cleaned out, if that is what we desire and ask. He will also prune us to make us more fruitful – if we allow Him.
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