middle of the break

It is Wednesday, March 12th and my break is about half over. I have gotten a good bit of grading done but I still have enough to keep me busy. I will be heading to Charlotte tomorrow for an overnighter and I will have to do some grading down there and start reading for next week also. I have basically finished my road and it is in the best shape it has been in for years. I must have spent ten hours on the tractor and my knee feels it. Coltsfoot came out on the 10th so that is a nice treat, certainly foreshadowing the advent of spring. I used my new Stihl battery chainsaw and it worked very well. I cut up the fallen tree in the pasture and did some clearing along the road and up by the house. It is a little slow but it cut a six inch piece of wood with no real trouble. I planted more in my garden, including 8 broccoli plants and some lettuce mix Rob gave me. The early lettuce and peas are up and I should have some to eat in a few weeks. I have ordered some crusher run and 357 and Mike is coming up tomorrow morning to see where I want it. Yesterday I went up to Barbours creek (which was just stocked) and I fished a very pretty stretch of rocky water but didn’t get a hit on dries or nymphs. I then fished a little of the South Prong and it was lovely water and not completely impossible to fish. There were a few decent pools in the rhododendron and I did bring up a small trout. I went for a walk with Rob in the evening after riding my bike at the Tech campus. Earlier in the break I fished Wolf creek and caught two nice trout (over twelve inches). I have played golf a couple of times at Auburn and after starting well on my second visit, I shot a 9 on the tight, short 5th, making a number of mistakes in judgment. I was playing from the golds but I switched to the reds to see if I could still break 50 and I shot a 6 on the difficult par 5, 4 on the par 3, 5 on the easy par 4 and then a 4 on the final hole, ending up with a 48.