- Joined
- Mar 25, 2014
- Messages
- 2,010
It was hot. Must of been about 92 and the humidity about 86%. The mugginess was enough to drown you. Sun was out and very bright, but the giant ferns blocked most of it and kept the area gloomy as a tomb. There was no breeze and the sweat was running into the eyes like there was no tomorrow and the clothes were wringing wet already. The soil was still soaked from Sunday's monsoon dump and made crawling around on your hands and knees miserable. I kept expecting to see VC peering back through the ferns at me. Dern, it's hot. Why did I volunteer for this mission? But stiff upper lip and all that crap. There was a job to be done and I was the only one that was trusted to do it. I finally made it to the starting point and recalled my instructions. Day light's wastin' so let's git to it. Yangdu was quickly unsheathed and I lashed out at the first clump of ferns. There was not much room to swing at this point and her being short made things easier. Ferns were growing in shoots of 6 to 8 stems per clump. The saplings and cane were averaging about an inch to about 1.25 inches across. Most of those required two swipes to sever, but the ferns dropped with one swing each. Sometimes two would fall with one swing. Must have cut 2 maybe 300. Almost enough to make a good sized LZ. No Huey overhead these days though. I could see the edge of the ferns and the gloom was lessening rapidly. I quickly finished up and noticed the neighbor lady coming towards me with a glass of lemonade and two cookies. I sure could use that cool lemonade right about now. "Hi, Book!" came from behind me. I about jumped outta my skin and hollered pretty loud. The neighbor lady stopped dead in her tracks. Yangdu was swinging around covering my rear and I was gonna take one of them commie rats with me! I must of had a wild look in my eyes because Al was high steppin' towards the blacksmith shop like Satan his self were after him. "YAAAAHHHHH, it's me, Al....Bookie!" Dear reader, please insert your own non-Christian verbiage here and it will be suitable. Trust me. Yep. Cookies and cold lemonade soothes the savage beast. The porch swing was bringing peace, comfort, and relaxation. And it was fun watching Al squirm all staked out over an ant hill in the back. Yangdu was checked over for damage or dullness to her blade, but she was as field sharp as I could wish for, so the fern juice was washed off of her, a little oil applied and back into the rack she went. She earned her keep this fine day. Hmmm. It's about 9:30 tonight. You suppose Al is ready to be let go for home now?
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