Monday, May 9, 2011
John and I went to Madison to celebrate our 10th anniversary. We stayed at John's sister's condo which is only 3 blocks from a beach on Lake Mendota. The picture is of John on the shoreline while Orla and I play in the sand. Orla, our 4 month old golden retriever, had a great time in the water. She has yet to go swimming, but as soon as she sees other dogs do so this summer, I am sure she will swim too.
Before we left I put another coat of varnish on the floor of Birch cabin. It is looking nice. Sunday, 5/8, I got home too late to do another coat. So I thought I would do one yesterday. Instead we had 50 mph wind gusts, rain and cold. The high all day was 60 and that didn't happen until after 3 pm. I took Orla in the car for a trip downtown in the morning. I got groceries, another gallon of varnish and went all the way down to Manitowish Waters to go to our bank. When I got back, Hwy J and H and Pine Forest Road were covered in down trees and branches. Luckily the trees were small enough to drive around. I tried to move a tree out of the way but it was too big for that so I had to drive over the top of it as far to the side of the road as I could go.
I raked for hours in between the rains. Orla kept biting the rake which made the job very difficult. Aspen has a very large pine tree next to the driveway and it must have littered 2 large wheelbarrows full of pine branches alone.
After the leaves were all removed, I spread some grass seed for shady areas. It seems like that is a yearly job. There are so many trees around here that the leaves are so thick that grass doesn't get a chance. Even though I rake in the fall, more fall or blow everywhere like against the cabins, etc. So when spring comes along I find it difficult to get all 9 cabins raked out before the leaves choke off the grass. Oh well. At least the new grass looks good for a summer.
When I got home from town, I noticed that the power was off so I called the outage number. They estimated the power would be off until 5 pm. I thought that's no big deal and then went outside to rake. Later when I came in and noticed it was after 7:30 pm and the power was not on yet, I called again. Then they estimated the power to be off until noon the next day. I worried about the food in the fridge/freezer so I didn't open it except to put the recent groceries in. The power came on after I heard two big trucks drive by at 3:30 a.m. I was so very happy to hear that fridge kick in.
On my way back on Mothers Day I visited with my kids in Laona, and then drove closer to home and visited with my mom in Sugar Camp. It was so very fun to watch our two puppies play with each other. Orla even ran around with the 3 kittens, who are used to dogs. We had a lot of laughs. Orla slept all the way home and then after dinner slept all night until 6 a.m. She played hard.
So last evening with no power to watch any movies, etc. and without John to keep me company (he is still at his mom's), I read a book by lamp light. I have 3 old antique oil lamps. I lit one and set it on the kitchen table. I sat there and read Jane Austen's memoirs by lamp light. How appropriate is that?
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