At long last, I fixed a single strand of wire that connects the six-strand wire around our cow pasture to the electricity in the barn. The repair had been required for a month and a half after a calf had run into the wire and dislodged it from the insulators as we moved the herd up the hill to our corral. Somehow, I had just never done it, even when it was written on my list for the three weeks that my family was on vacation to Scotland.
It took less than five minutes–unless I count the time it took to walk up and down the hill twice. One of the insulators was broken. Not realizing this, I didn’t bring an extra one.
That required a walking trip back up the hill to take the truck to the other farm for Dad’s pliers.
When I returned to the pasture, I snapped the broken insulator off the metal post and replaced it with one that hadn’t seen the light of day for years.
All was well.
As I walked back up the hill to feed my chickens, I wondered why I hadn’t done that any sooner. It didn’t take that long, despite a couple of setbacks, and I’ll know for next time to check the insulators first.
In contrast, four hours before replacing the insulator, I sat on my grandmother’s porch eating a bowl of ice cream and leftover birthday cake. As soon as I sponged up every drop of melted confectionery, I wanted to jump up and return inside.
I was halfway out of my seat when I suddenly had an overwhelming feeling of something keeping me outside.
For some reason, I sat.
Out loud, I said, “I feel like I’m always zip zip zipping around!” So, I just waited.
Not five minutes later, a hummingbird whirred to the hanging flowers swaying off the front porch beam. It tipped its little head to the side, examining which flowers to greet, and then dove in. Its green body gleamed, and its wings whirred like a propeller as it buzzed in front of me to the snowball bush. Not finding anything there, he zipped around to a tree with pink flowers and spent seconds drinking up nectar from deep within one of the flowers.
Then, it disappeared.
So that’s why I stayed.
All in the same day, I fixed an insulator I was too slow in fixing, and I watched a hummingbird I would have missed if I had acted too quickly.
It’s all a dance: slow, slow, quick, quick, slow.
The Kiwi Hoosier 
My BEST duty assignment in the Army was the 3 years I spent in Germany with the 2nd Battalion, 42nd Field Artillery (2/42 FA, in Army language). Our unit crest bore the motto “Festina Lente”, which translated means “Make Haste Slowly”…I kind of adopted that as my personal motto.
And John Wooden would say, “Be quick, but don’t hurry.” I like that one.
Note to self….when working on fence taking items such as insulators, wire, pliers, posts I helpful. Doug
Definitely. This was supposed to be just a “string the wire back on the insulator” job….
I get the article wasn’t just about what you did fix fence, but rather had multiple levels of meaning and different meanings for some than others. Good writing keep it up. I just couldn’t resist responding. Doug