Good afternoon all:

Wisdom of the Week:

“Kill a fly in May – you’ll keep hundreds away.” — Linda Macy

Saturday afternoon and already the serenity of the cabin is having a positive impact—as much as my morning coffee did. It is Nassim Taleb who wisely stated that: “decline starts with the replacement of dreams with memories; & reverses with the replacement of dreams with other dreams.” Now, at the cabin, my decline, accelerated by the many months being cooped up by the cold winds of winter, has already begun to reverse as new dreams are beginning to stream.

Sleeping in is what I desired, and so I did; till seven am. This got Marcia and I up in a cold, dark cabin. A cabin with no water! The cold (45 degrees) was quickly taken care of when Marcia fired up a pair of heaters. A thick comforter is enough to feel cozy in that type of morning chill and also something Vinnie the Cat had realized at one point during the night. Normally he would not dare to pull such a stunt—this morning Marcia and I just smiled.  In fact, now at 2:30 in the afternoon he is still exactly where we left him. The sheer panic of a 650 mile drive really did him in.

We must have taught him well since he sneaked into Canada without a Passport. In fact, it was the one point of the trip where he was absolutely motionless and silent as he hid in a little dark cavern-like space behind the seat.

The dark cabin bit was also remedied quickly once the shutters were taken down and the blinds opened. The sun comes and goes as does the wind. When the sun is out the place just absolutely lights up.

The only immediate thing that was left to take care of was the water. First the water line had to be placed into the lake. Standing butt-deep in water with a surface temperature nearly touching 50 degrees becomes the highlight of the event. I always thought that “butt-shrinkage” was just a joke on the old Seinfeld show—it is not!

Next is the priming of the pump. This is managed easily by pouring about 30 quarts of water through a little funnel using a mug. Eventually, voila, and in that instant life becomes positively grand.

“High-Profile” vehicle was a term I had not heard before. I discovered that is exactly what we were as we approached the Mackinac Bridge. At about 500 feet above the water high winds become an issue. Semis, trucks with boats and trailers were pulled over. And, here in this select group we found ourselves, a small little truck with a 13” high little kayak on the roof qualified us as “high-profile”. Our whole entourage was escorted by bridge-patrol folk in vehicles with many flashing lights—all doing 20 miles-per-hour.

Black flies are the scourge of the north woods. The black fly season only lasts about 3 to 4 weeks and this is the midst of that time frame. So far, what Marcia and I have discovered is that these little critters do really well when the air is calm and the sun is out. Since neither is happening much we haven’t experienced the little buggers to any degree.

Make it a great week everyone. For me it’s back to doing a few more chores. Marcia is way ahead on the “chores” category. She has stored about 12 cubic feet of food supplies, vacuumed, and hung new pictures. The hanging of pictures never really stops.

Cheers,

Dirk<!– stopprint –>

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