Memorial Day Weekend 2008
Posted by Ben in Shack in the Woods on May 26th, 2008
Holly and I spent this past weekend at the cabin – we had suprisingly great weather and were able to get a lot of things done and relax a little too. It seems like all I do is work when I go to the cabin, but for some reason it is enjoyable when away from home. If I had to do the same amount of work at home I would dread it.
Friday
Given the high price of diesel ($4.89 and rising) I’ve been reading up on how to best achieve better fuel economy. I think I’ve done everything else at this point so the last resort was to stop speeding. Since we were in no rush to get up north I decided to not exceed the posted speed limit the entire trip there – I think it paid off too! I was able to get there within the first 1/4 tank of fuel and oddly enough, it didn’t seem to take any longer as we still got there with a little sunlight to spare.
Saturday
I woke up early, made a pot of coffee and then went outside to start cleaning out the garage and prepping for some construction project. I was going to work on some trim work for the upstairs in the garage but decided to build a couple more bird houses first. During the project I noticed that someone had pulled in a couple doors down and were hanging out around a very old camper that is parked in the woods. I don’t think I’ve seen anyone there in over 10 years so I was curious. About an hour after they arrived I saw them raking years worth of leaves into a pile before starting a small fire. Soon the small fire spread to a couple trees and the guy was yelling at his daughter to get the water from the cooler. I waited a second to see what was happening and then decided to grab a bucket of water and a shovel. I ran through the woods and helped put out the fire…not sure what the guy was thinking. After the fire was out my new friend, Tom, told me I was an angel that came out of the forest with water for the fire and explained to his daughter that is how God works in mysterious ways. I was flattered, but really I just didn’t want this guy to start another forest fire so close to my cabin.
I don’t think I stayed more than a couple minutes but in that time I had learned Tom’s life story, took a tour of his campsite (30 yr old abandoned camper with no tires and an outhouse in as good condition) and told him to stop by if he needed anything. Later that day Tom came over to borrow some screws, wood, drill, lawn mower and a hammer…each tool one at a time.
I was able to complete 3 birdhouses on Saturday in between visits, and Holly did a GREAT job painting the wood trim around the garage doors. We rewarded ourselves with some G’s pizza.
Sunday
Another early morning – I think I am getting old because I actually woke up at 7 thinking that I slept late and was going to miss Sunday Morning, the best news show ever. Since I only get one local channel I watched a couple minutes of the local bible study show, brought to me by some denomination of churches in the Oscoda area. It couldn’t have been later than 8:30 when Bailey started barking in his tone that signals “strangers are coming” (he has another bark for animals in the yard) and sure enough Tom has mosied over. Apparently they had left something plugged into the car overnight since their “campsite” has no power and the battery was dead. He wanted to call AAA but didn’t have a phone. I couldn’t tell if he wanted me to give him a jump or to use my phone so I rushed the conversation telling him that AAA would take forever and offered to drive over with jumper cables. Seriously – I didn’t want to miss my morning news.
Once the news was over I started my last project of moving a big pile of sand that was left over from the patio project around the fire ring. I was able to get that done and plant grass seed, and was able to help Tom out with a chain saw and a 5 gallon water jug. Holly put a final coat of paint on the trim and then we relaxed. Watched a couple movies, read some books and played cards.
Monday
I never got to say bye to Tom – they must have packed up camp since it looked like rain, but I knew they left when I saw the returned water jug on the picnic table outside. We were going to try to leave early but ended up having a late breakfast and then after cleaning up didn’t end up leaving until about 1pm.
Still attempting to conserve fuel, I drove home in the same fashion as on the way up. After a fair amount of driving while in Tawas I still have over 1/4 tank left after returning home. That is over 525 miles on 3/4 a tank so I am on my way to beating my best tank ever (600 miles). I’ll know for sure when I fill up but I suspect I’m averaging about 45 to the gallon.
A safe bet…
Posted by Ben in Uncategorized on May 22nd, 2008
Last night a couple of us met up to play some poker. Dave’s first game of choice was In between – the evil game where you get two cards and have to bet on whether the next card is in between. Per usual, the pot grew big quick and when I got the best possible cards – an ace and a two – I went for the pot. Wouldn’t you know the third card was a two and I owed twice the pot. Two things I hate about this game…counting up how much you owe when you bet pot and then losing all the money to bought in with plus all that is in your pockets…within the first 30 minutes. I bought in for some more pain and had a couple more ups and downs before Jason took me out with a hidden straight in his hand. Oh well…good time had by all and the first time I’d ever seen a 36″ pizza named “the wheel.” Looking forward to next time!
Need a sweet camera?
Posted by Ben in Uncategorized on May 16th, 2008
I saw this posting today on our “barter board” at work:
New, still in the box. $10.00 (in stores the camera sells for $34.99)
Polaroid One 600 Classic
- uses Polaroid 600 instant film
- focus free lens for great shots as close as 3 feet
- auto flash for great pictures in any light
- sleek, folding design perfect for those on the go
- wrist strap
Not Included: Time machine to go back to 1987 – when this camera would have been cool or useful. On the plus side, the sleek design is perfect for those on the go – compact enough to fit into any fanny pack.
Conversation from the bus…
I woman got on the bus shortly after me this morning and sat down in front of me – she was having a hard time closing the window so I reached up and helped her (always the gentleman). She said “Thanks” in a very high pitch scratchy voice, like you would expect when someone loses their voice. Another woman enters the conversation and says “wow, sounds like you came down with laringitis,” to which the first woman responds “I don’t know…been like this for about a year but it will come back some day.” I’m curious…at what point after losing your voice does it seem like a prudent idea to seek a more informed opinion? Strange…
(Brought to you from the bus…thanks Verizon broadband!)A quiet evening at home
Posted by Ben in Uncategorized on May 15th, 2008
Holly had a school event last night so I was home alone with the dog. 
I began the evening watching all the news coverage of Obama’s visit to Grand Rapids – I had thought about going but the idea of waiting in line and then waiting in the arena for 3-4 hours before the actual speech really turned me off. When I heard that Edwards was also attending to give his endorsement I was a little disappointed that I didn’t go. Not because I am a big fan or Edwards or Obama, but rather that this was one of those opportunities that come around so rarely in life; in all honestly, my view on the democratic primaries has been thank God it wasn’t Hillary. I thought Edwards’s speech was much more engaging than Obama’s but was fairly moved by what they had to say. The cynic in me wants to see how many of these big ideas, especially the “big wall in Washington” topic, really come to fruition. (Photo by Beth / Christian Bell as seen on Flickr)
It was now about 7:30 and Bailey was ready to go for a walk so we headed out for a while so he could smell everything
once again in our neighborhood – always in search of signs of a rabbit or squirrel. After a walk Bailey is ready to sleep for a good 12 hours so I picked up my new book – “The Last Lecture” by Randy Pausch. The author is a computer science professor who found out he had 3-6 months before he would die from pancreatic cancer; in his remaining months he decided to prepare a “last lecture” for his colleagues and for his 3 children. It was a good book – I read the whole thing in about 3 1/2 hours – with many interesting stories and life lessons. I had a unique perspective as my dad just passed away about a month ago from cancer so I found myself thinking of similar things my dad had done in his own way to accomplish what the author was trying to do. It was clear that book and the lecture weren’t only for those in the room but rather to leave a legacy for his family and friends to remember him by. If you have the chance its a good read.