from blue ash

This past Monday evening I went exploring in the woods behind John and Brandy's farmhouse, keeping my eye out for poison ivy. Leaves of three, they'll tear into Ye! I followed the meandering creek past the half-buried World War One-era truck and the old rubber tires lying in the creek with soiled filled in their middle and weeds growing out. On down the creek I stumbled across a half-buried deer skull resplendent with antlers, and flanking the skull on the other side of the creek was a child's stuffed bear disgorged in the muddied soil, reminiscent of a fallen soldiers on Flander's fields. I climbed out of the ravine past the ruins of the dairy mill where John was grilling steaks, and I proudly lifted the skull--The lord has blessed this hunt!--and shouted, "I found a skull!" Beaming, I added, "It's a male!" He laughed, eyeing the antlers, and said, "It sure looks that way." Right now it's bleaching in the basement at Blue Ash, and I'll either keep it on my writing desk (you know, as inspiration) or try to mount it on the hood of my Oldsmobile. 

I sent the picture of it to Mandy.

"Wow! So fun! So... Are you determined to keep that forever?"

I suggested we put it on display in my future den.

"You do what you want, love, till we share one space. Then we'll reevaluate."

She added that a stuffed deer head looks better than just the bones.

"I can wrap it in fur pelts, and we can display it at the end of our bed like it's guarding us."

"And you can sleep in that bed allllll by yourself," she quipped.

Maybe I'll just let Ben keep it as a memento of me.

Sarah brought a friend to the Farm today, and she sat with Ben, Jason and I at the potluck. She asked how things were going with Mandy. "Are you planning on marrying this girl?" I said Yes. "How soon are you thinking?" I shrugged; no real way to know. We'll see how that plays itself out. She said, "Are you planning on moving up there or her down here?" I told her I am moving up there, and she said, "Good call. I can't blame you for wanting to get out of this city." I love this city, for so many reasons; it's the only city I've lived in, of course, and I love how the city is quite literally nestled in nature. It's a very green city. Sarah said, "The guys are going to miss you. Especially Ben. He calls you 'Ganthony Rollhart.'"

One of our staff transcribed a letter Ben wanted to give me when I was sick.

Here's what he wrote me:

Ganthony Rollhart,

     I hope you're gonna get a lot better soon and I hope that your Mom and Dad will take good care of you. If that won't work well we will have to give you some cough syrup or cut out your throat. And I hope you get a lot better or maybe I think maybe you have something in your body that's making you sick like maybe the weather. WE ARE NOT GOING TO KILL YOU. It is more better for him to have some love. I hope his Mom and Dad and his brother (me) are taking good care of him. I worry about your life and that you have a bad cold and cough. I think maybe if you have a temp you should go to the checkup. 

                    Love, Ben Urban