Besides beginning work for the Newsleader this spring, I also began another new adventure. I’ve started working a seasonal job at Scenic Specialties, a local landscape, garden and pond center.
I’ve always been a big fan of outdoor water features. I started my first pond about 20 years ago. It was nothing special, but my family and I got tons of enjoyment from it, and we even stocked it with fish.
I eventually graduated to a pond I dug by hand that measured 30-feet long, 6-feet wide and about 4-feet deep. I accessorized it with a waterfall, beach, dock, fish and boulders galore. It was amazing.
So when I learned that Scenic Specialties — the place where I bought my pond equipment and got expert advice — was hiring, I thought I’d give it a go.
I think it must be my agrarian roots that drew me to Scenic Specialties. Located on Stearns CR 133, Scenic Specialties sits on the site of an old farm. Many of the original buildings still stand and serve as storage facilities.
Each day I drive to work and pull up into the driveway of the old farm site, I feel kind of like a farmer. And some days, I get just about as dirty.
Driving a skidloader isn’t the same as plowing, planting or harvesting, but it comes close.
I get to work with trees, shrubs, plants and get my hands dirty. It feels great after having a desk job for so many years.
Somehow a day’s work outside doing manual labor brings a different kind of reward than sitting behind a computer and writing.
If you haven’t been to Scenic Specialties, you should put it on your to-do list. It’s sort of like visiting a state park, I tell my friends. There’s a huge pond out front that’s affectionately known as Lake Scenic. It’s stocked with fish you can feed and has a fountain you can enjoy as well.
There’s also a really neat meandering man-made stream that was built by the folks at Scenic that runs from behind and alongside the big red barn. It’s not Niagra Falls by any means, but then you don’t have to drive across country to enjoy it, either.
