(With apologies to the talented and imaginative Children's Author, Dav Pilkey)
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Well, I suppose it has been awhile. Perhaps it is time for a Blog update?We spent most of last spring, summer and a large portion of last fall in a motel in town. We were quite fortunate to find a place with a 2 bedroom unit and a kitchen. It was "cozy" but comfortable, and located such that we were able to take advantage of the various outdoor activities, in addition to being within easy walking distance to the library.
Since were were in town we somehow never managed to acquire wood for our woodstove here at the house, so when we moved back in this winter we found ourselves becoming rather creative in our foraging for wood for heat. One day it occured to Daniel that he might give the BLM a call to see if they may have some wood laying around. Indeed, they did, and so we went to town, purchased our permit, then headed to Bi-Mart to purchase new gloves for the family. It was a beautiful sunny day, perfect for the excursion we had planned for the following day.
Alas, the next day brought a storm to our area, complete with snow. The following week we listened to reports on the scanner of folks becoming snowbound in the area we were to go for our wood. Called BLM who advised very strongly that we stay home. They would issue us an extension. And so the kids enjoyed the snow while we waited. Finally the day came. We loaded the truck with all we deemed necessary for our little work party, and we were off for our grand adventure. And what an adventure it was!
Our first foray into the wilderness was really quite entertaining. We drove down 101, took our turn and headed past the lake, then on several miles through beautiful country. It was then we made a wrong turn.
There was a sign at the bottom of the road that said, "Woodcutting Allowed." Daniel was just sure that was the right road, so off we went. Up... up... up we went , enjoying each new vision a twist in the road revealed. Our journey was slowed a bit as we came upon trees fallen across the "road". First one, then around another corner another, and another....Each time Daniel and I would get out. He would fire up the chain saw and cut the trees out of the way, and I would drag them off to the side. After the third time the kids decided maybe they could help out a bit. It went a lot faster then.
After doing this for awhile, and not seeing any signs of activity we decided perhaps we were on the wrong road. Found a place to turn around and headed back to the main road. Got down to the bottom of the road we were on and I glanced over at the sign. The sign was a tad weathered and curled over a bit at the top. Upon looking more closely under the curled over section I could read, right above "Woodcutting Allowed", very clearly printed in bold letters, "NO" ...Alrighty then!
We headed on up the main road and found the correct road, went maybe 3 yards and found piles and piles of well seasoned wood, just waiting for us to cut it down to size and load it up. Daniel fired up the chainsaw once again and we all got to work.
I quickly discovered my 90 calorie breakfast of 2% cottage cheese was not adequate for such activities. Good thing I had taken an emergency 100 calorie snack pack along just in case :) I gobbled that down, had a couple swigs of my Propel and was good to go.
Maybe 2 hours later the exhausted family unit piled back into the truck for our trip home, which wasn't nearly so eventful as the trip there. It also didn't take near as long :o
No comments:
Post a Comment