our spring break

God decided to play a little trick on us last weekend when we went up to our cabin. sure we
still had snow in minneapolis....but---little did we know that there was going to be about 2 feet of new snow up north. little did we know that we should have brought a sled along. little did we know that we would pull into our driveway and run smack dab into a big drift and that would be as far as we'd get for the weekend with the big red silverado pickup. our neighbor who has kindly been plowing our half mile driveway all winter was in australia.   : #

so here's what happened next. it was about 7 p.m. friday night and still light out when we pulled in. when we caught on that we wouldn't be driving up the long driveway i may or may not have groaned out loud. my oldest said "don't freak out mom, just stay here and we'll walk in, get the 4 wheelers and come back for you and all the stuff".  YEAH!!!! "thank you Jesus" i replied! The 3 dudes and the dog (who's a dude too) got out and quickly disappeared out of my sight. I looked around and thought to myself that it sure was beautiful outside. then i called a friend, cleaned out my purse ,ate some old candy i found, read a whole book, did my nails, counted my grey hairs and then i started to get a bit anxious. it was getting dark fast and no 4 wheelers were coming down that long, curvy, wooded driveway. phone service is very sketchy up there, but i dialed my hubbie and he answered!!!  i said "room service? i'm waiting for my ride". crackle, crackle, crackle, i heard him say something and then the line went dead. i locked the doors. (do bears have opposable thumbs?)

now i had a couple choices. i could wait and tryyyyy to be patient or get out and start walking. alone. in the dark. 

*friends there are critters in our woods. i'm not kidding when i tell you that we have seen grouse, squirrels, deer, turkeys, fox, bobcats, coyotes, fishers, porcupines, a rogue barn cat and BEARS out there. i've put on some weight too and i would have made a fine meal for any of the carnivores in this group. before i started crying, there in the moon light i saw a body walking towards me. was it Bigfoot? noooo... IT WAS THE MEN!  not on 4 wheelers but in snowshoes and carrying mine.

turns out after trudging through snow so deep that they'd sink in up to their knees with every step they got to the cabin and the entry door was buried in approximately 4 ft. of snow. they had to shovel and chip their way into the cabin and then start the 4 wheelers and guess what? it was so deep that even those got stuck!  the real challenge now was the fact that we always have a whole lotta stuff with us. we each took as much as we could carry that night........picture my hubs with snowshoes on carrying a cooler full of food on his shoulder for the half mile trek in the dark, with a full moon guiding our way. (it was kind of magical).  we had 3 bags of corn that weighed 50 lbs. ea., mineral blocks for the deer that are about 35 lbs., 2 adirondack chairs (that are still sitting in the snow at the end of the driveway) a huge tote full of old paperwork to burn up...a chainsaw,a king sized mattress, doo dads, lampshades, clothes and let's see...more food.

sat. the guys made trip after trip in snowshoes back and forth carrying all the loot up and we vowed that there WILL be a sled up there next winter and i tried to look very busy cleaning up dead asian beetles so they wouldn't expect any additional help from me. early in the afternoon they started a big old bonfire in the fire pit which was buried in 4 ft. of snow and we drug out lawn chairs, dug ourselves a hole to sit in and it began to feel like fun! it was a true redneck spring break--ending with sunburned faces and smoky smelling outerwear.

                                                              snowman in the making

                                                               this is the open part of the driveway~

                          we said goodbye to the christmas tree~  and sent up smoke signals for
                                                                the easter bunny.

                           my burt's bees chapstick was the closest thing to a carrot i could find

                                           please leave me a comment if you have a small
                                                  tractor with a bucket on it for sale.

                        i took this while laying in the back of the truck bed, resting after one of the
                                    treks down the driveway. can you say "out of shape"?

                     we wrapped up the weekend by getting stuck backing out of the driveway.
                              1 hour and another big story later, we were on the road for home.
                                   we all agreed that it was kind of fun to be challenged by the
                           elements this time though. it made us feel tough, resilient, bold .     
                                              then we stopped at the first little town we came to for 
                                                             ice cream. it just felt right. 


                                                                           xo, beth







                                  



                                     *parts of this story may have been exaggerated for effect.