A letter to USDA

Dear USDA (United States Department of Agriculture),

Today we received a letter from you. Apparently on June 3 you came out to our land and decided that our land is Highly Erodible Land (HEL). Not all of our land, just the 2.94 acres that currently have crops on them, corn to be precise.

According to your department, we have 30 days to dispute this claim or we must forever hold our piece. If we choose too, we can pay $20 an hour to hire a mediator so we can work together to sort this out. But, before we go forward with this, I have some questions...

1. What is Highly Erodible Land?
2. Why do I need to have UHEL (meaning the land is Un-Highly Erodible Land?)
3. Lastly, if I do not call you and dispute this fact, do I go to HEL?

Yours Truly,

Lancaster's Edge

OK, but seriously...why is the government concerned with my 2.94 acres of land being HEL? I asked my neighbors and they too were informed that a portion of their land was HEL today. After a brief conversation with them, we have decided not to dispute this claim. The fact is, this is an acreage not farmland. I am open to anymore feedback or knowledge on this subject, but as of now, I think I am ready to move on.

Not to be opened until....

In 12th grade one of our final assignments in our English class was to write a letter to ourselves ten years from now. The 17 year old mind has to conjure images of dreams and fantasies what life could be like in ten years. A letter written to the future self could be taken seriously or lightly, after all, what is the likelihood you'll find this envelope ten years later? My sealed envelope read: Not to be opened until May 17, 2011.

I must confess I found this letter a couple of weeks before the open date in my old bedroom at my parent's house and I couldn't resist, but I nearly made it the whole ten years!

To my surprise, I stayed the course pretty well. By 2011 I was sure I would achieve earning my Bachelor's in Music Education degree, check (heck, I even have a Masters degree!). I would be married and maybe have a child, check. My dream job was to be a band director in Lincoln, check. I would have a nice two story home in a nice neighborhood...well, three for four isn't bad.

This posting isn't about my failure and sadness as my first posts were. I am more and more pleased with our home and our new life on the acreage. It hasn't really created much difference in our lives. We still socialize, travel, shop, and do all that we did before, we just need to build in 15 minutes of driving to do so. In fact, we are generally happier, outdoors more, we seem less stressed than we were in town...

Wouldn't it be funny if I were now to write a letter to my 17 year old self about what actually happened by May 17, 2011...could you imagine that guy's face?

His initial reaction, "I own a %#@&in barn???!"