Good morning all:

“Bright early morning sunshine does not necessarily bode that smooth sailing lies ahead.” — Dirk Pastoor

Greetings. Morning two at the cabin and unlike yesterday, the coffee tastes great (yesterday we discovered “foreign objects” floating in the coffee maker reservoir—this after the coffee was made).

This morning Marcia and I were elbowing each other out of the way trying to get to the Ibuprofen first. Ibuprofen inadvertently was one of those forgotten items and so the first-aid kit had to be pillaged for its meager supply. Since I lost I decided that I’d start my morning by assembling an Ikea “Lernberg” shelf. It was 6:30 AM.

Marcia woke up first and started exuding about the warmth of the comforter. The heat was not on in the cabin so the temperature was about 50 degrees. I looked over at her and casually mentioned that going to bed with long-johns and a fleece jacket does not count. Just now, Marcia is watching morning cartoons (in French) on her postcard-sized portable TV. These are desperate times. Let me explain.

Friday morning at 3:00 AM (after about 3 hours of sleep) we hooked up the trailer and loaded last minute food stuffs and started heading north. The previous evening Tevita and I worked for several hours, but failed to get the running lights on the trailer to work. Since all the other lights did work I drove till daybreak with the 4-way flasher going. This was no problem except for the incessant noise from the clicker. At some point Marcia and I stopped talking to each other.

Twelve hours later we were at the cabin. Thankfully, Marlene at her cabin, had dinner waiting for us.

A winter of frozen hibernation had our little cabin remarkably free of smells, dust, wildlife critters and so the move in was quite easy. Or so we thought.

Opening a cabin has an array of chores which have to be done. First on the list (after assembling the new Ikea drop-leaf “Norberg” dining table) is hooking up the pump and water line. Once complete the system simply needs to be purged of any air and voila – faucets work and hot water is readily available. It was actually easier to first install the new pressure tank into the system, especially since I had made a last minute Home Depot run to get the thing.

The effort went into lunch. Then the effort to get water impacted on our Happy Hour. Right after dinner, Donn my Mechanical Engineer brother-in-law came over to assess matters. Around 10 PM we both agreed to “sleep” on it. Now that I am awake I am no closer to a solution than I was at 10 last night.

Right after getting up I heard Marcia slosh a bucket of water into the toilet. I am becoming quite proficient jumping from stone to stone to then dip and fill the bucked with lake water.

Of course this all competes with me playing with my toys. The really important stuff is just not happening. My folding kayak assembly is not taking place. Clean-up and launching the pontoon is a project that is not even on the horizon since the dock must first be put in the water—after I get the water running. Then, any racing about on the ATV has had the kibosh put on by Marcia – this also has had to do with the water situation.

Make it a great week. My disposition should improve dramatically once the local plumber answers his phone.

Cheers,

Dirk