opening the cabin

 The warm weather last weekend inspired us to go ahead and make a trip up there to get the water on and drag up all the blankets and sheets and stuff.  We can't leave it there because we don't trust the mice.

(The lake was still frozen.)  We don't trust the mice for a reason:  They shit on everything.

So I cleaned up mouse poop.  Not a lot, but widely dispersed.  Jay cleaned bugs out of the light fixtures too.

This is Sidney, having glommed on to Julia on the ride up.

 Same old thing, view from the front bedroom/porch into the main cabin.   See that little closet? The mice pooped heartily in there.    We vacuumed.

 The frozen swamp:

 This is the scene of a severe moment.:

 Jay lugged the water softener from the van to this little underground mechanical room and then set about attempting to carry it down the ladder.  He asked me to help steady the top.

Well, shit fool.

A water softener is a very heavy thing.

As soon as the weight shifted, even though I was holding onto the body of it, somehow the top cover snapped off and there was a very bad three seconds where I really thought  the man was going to land on his back in the hole with the water softener on top of him.

This did not happen. He is not hurt.  Balance was maintained and the water softener did not crash either.

GAWD.  Can we put a strap on it and use a tree and winch it down the ladder?   Do you have to personally carry it in your arms?

Okay, moving on from that.

 After we were there a short time, Sam decided to get back in the van and would not come out. Coaxing didn't work. Fritos were offered.  Nope.

Eventually we went to get groceries and took the dogs along. Tim waited with them, said he preferred it to going inside the store.

 When we were home from the store, the dog happily jumped out and came inside with us.

We played Apples to Apples and watched dumb movies until midnight.

It was a great weekend.

love, Val