Mowing on Monday

Yesterday, Turtle and I went to work at the family cabin on the lake. Now when I say on the lake I don't really mean on; I mean within a mile of, and when I say lake, I mean a small, man made reservoir that is well suited for fishing and canoes and paddle boats. Don't think noisy speed boats, water skiing or pontoon parties. Also, when I say family cabin, I'm not talking about an expensive set-up a la condo jet-set style. I'm talking about a "needs lots of tender care" little bargain we picked up a few months ago, because we had come to realize how expensive vacations were and had sworn off of them. We were naively thinking that a little place to relax would cost less in the long run.
Sadly enough, it will be some time before we can use the "cabin" for relaxing. Ha ha. First we had to put in a well. Next we had to run all new water lines and new electric lines and move the hot water heater from its closet in front of the electric panel. Now we are painting--inside and (eventually) outside. The trees have been pruned and the pile of branches seems bigger than the cabin. The well is working, but not connected. The lines under the house are set in place but not connected. The electric box is in and we have lights and some plug ins but the hot water heater, stove, and refrigerator are not connected. See--connection problems. They crop up everywhere. However, the furniture is mostly in--all old stuff left over from our house or relatives' houses (You know how it is). Some day we will be able to go to this house, relax, sit in the shade, hike, swim, canoe etc. I'm betting it will be at least two years from now. It seems difficult to even get down there to work. We probably average once every two weeks. There is a largish sort of lawn with lots of fruit trees--apple, peach, pecan, pear, an arbor of grape vines and a fence covered with blackberry vines. Yesterday, while Turtle worked on the well pump, I mowed. Then we took turns mowing. The weeds were knee high--looked like baby's breath and four o-clocks mingled with all kinds of grasses and daisies.

We keep hoping that our extended family will find a cozy little refuge here before long. They deserve a break from the toils of life... and maybe someday we will take that break too.

Isn't it funny how much work we are willing to put into relaxing?