While it is true that I have been going through 'blogger withdrawal', defined as making a mental note of every mishap, animal sighting, or memorable setting in order to blog it at some later point in time, and that I will torture you by including all that my feeble memory has retained over these past several weeks, my true purpose in writing is to explain why it is that there is that rather enormous pile of wood dumped in the driveway. One would think that there would be enough wood there to last another winter, perhaps.
Philadelphia, as enticing as it may sound with its countless culinary establishments, extensive cultural opportunities, endless shopping, and close proximity to an orthodontist (we just found out that ours is 95 miles from here), just doesn't compare to digging out sunk sleds, snowmobiling to the bus stop before sunrise in 35 below zero weather, dragging trash to the dump, and of course moving all that wood. Truth be told, that wood pile is all thanks to Garrick's science teacher Mrs. Small who, on February 9th, on that long bus trip down to Dover Foxcroft (that's the name of a town by the way) for a Math Team Meet, suggested to me that Garrick apply to a special charter school for next year. When I arrived home that night, I pulled up the website for MSSM, the Maine School of Science and Mathematics, only to find out that the last day to register for the SAT, required as part of the admissions package, was February 10th! Long story short, we visited the school, hence the trip to Limestone on March 28th ... the edge of the Earth ... went through the interview and application process, and Garrick was accepted. Now I know that you're thinking I am crazy ... snowmobiling a mile and a half to the bus stop is one thing, snowmobiling a mile and a half to the truck and then driving five hours each way to school every day is just insane ... but, luckily they have a dorm there at the edge of the Earth AND they even have a bus that drives within 70 miles of camp so that when he does come home, once a month, I won't have to go too far to get him!
So, I guess the really crazy part is Caroline and me, here in the woods, without Garrick, and without Paul who is in Philadelphia ... with countless culinary establishments, extensive cultural opportunities, and endless shopping ... the orthodontist doesn't really mean too much to him! Not sure how the wood will get moved or the sled will get 'unstuck' or the chimney will get cleaned or the snow will get shoveled off of the roof or who will provide the comic relief for future emails but I would say that the learning curve that was beginning to level off, has just gotten pretty steep again! Looks like I'd better start another list of things to do and items to stock up on ... the come-along (aka winch) to help get the snowmobile out of the ditch and the generator ... although I'm still not convinced that we couldn't get by with just a camping potty ... will be at the top of the list.
And, Caroline and I are looking for help so anyone interested in Wilderness Boot Camp, please contact me as soon as possible as we only have limited openings due to an already high demand. And, if your skills are somewhat lacking, you may want to consider timing your trip so that it coincides with a visit from my friend Cord, city slicker turned northwoods wanna-be ... she generally reserves during all the three-day holiday weekends. All food and bedding are provided but you must BYOB ... Bring Your Own (Red) Bag! This will come in handy during the summer months as well as during those long, dark winter weekends as we still have the heat on up here.
We will also provide the bear bell, coincidentally, we saw a black bear on the way home from town about two weeks ago; the walking stick (aka coyote attack prevention mechanism); the moose ... but you'd better get here quickly for that as they seem to disappear around the time that we turn off the heat; and the chain saw ... but not the technical savy on how to start the thing or use it ... I am after all only an Industrial Engineer. Which brings me to my last little snippet before I sign off forever ... for real ...
Thursday, May 14th which just so happens to be the anniversary of a significant birth in our household ... the 15th anniversary of the 29th anniversary ... I left to go get Garrick from town. I didn't make it very far for as I rounded the bend of the driveway, I saw stretched out in front of me, a rather large tree. I headed back down the driveway, tramped down to the basement, grabbed the chain saw, and lugged it up the stairs, into the trunk, and drove back out to the tree. It is a rather heavy thing you see. After removing it from its case, donning the ever so beautiful orange safety hat (I'm sure you remember Garrick modeling it for you all last fall), I pulled the started cord. And, I pulled the start cord, and I pulled the start cord. Sounding familiar ... only last time it was the snowmobile I was referring to??? So, going against all my basic principles, I put down the saw and took out the instruction manual. Then, I tried again ... to no avail. I trudged back to the house and tried my next best option ... my husband. When he answered the phone, I quickly rushed through all that had happened and asked him frantically what I was to do. His reply, "I'm in a meeting. Can I call you back?" If I had an arm that were 575 miles long, it would have been through that phone in 2 seconds flat. Needless to say, I didn't get much out of that phone call. I made a few more phone calls, to make sure that Garrick wasn't stranded in town, and then spent another 30 minutes trying to get that darned thing started. When I wasn't pulling, I was re-reading the manual, which came in handy when I did finally get the thing started as I now knew how not to use the chain saw. Eventually, I got the tree cleared away and headed to town but not before everything was closed for the evening.
All joking aside, we are staying for 'a while' longer. This is a great opportunity for Garrick, one that Paul and I (and Caroline ... hesitatingly) are willing to sacrifice for. We've worked very hard over the years to be able to take advantage of an opportunity like this if it came along and feel lucky that it did. So, now instead of saying, "It's only a year ... we can do anything for a year" I guess we'll be saying, "It's only three years ... we can do anything for three years."
Have a great summer!
Karyn
