TheBanyanTree: Old friends, part the third - the beginning, again!

[Laura]

(...continued...)

Sunday dawned grey and cool.  I let the doggies out and walked around the
yard with them for a while.  Mom and Dad don't have a fence, so I can't just
shoo them out the door and leave them.  When the dogs had finished their
morning walk-around and zoomies, I got everyone back inside and fed them
breakfast.

I got my own coffee, and sat on the couch to try and wake up.  I opened my
laptop and compiled the information AH had sent me about how to get to her
house, then moved it onto a flash drive so I could print it from Mom's
computer.  I transferred the information and hit print.  The printer made
all the right noises, then spit out a couple of pieces of paper with a few
little unrecognizable black spots on them.  It occurred to me that Mom had
probably not used her printer for several months, and the ink was dried up.
So I shut her computer down, moved to the sunroom, and turned on Dad's
computer.  That printer worked only marginally better, but at least I could
see the map and the words.

I shook the boys out of their stupor, and using The Mom Voice, commanded
them to get their stuff together.  They obeyed surprisingly quickly, and we
soon had all of our things piled out in the driveway behind the van.
Packing took a little longer than normal, since we had picked up some items
during the week.  I had an extra 1/2 bushel of fresh peaches, and a big box
of old photo albums from my grandparents and my aunt I was told were now
mine to deal with.  With Mom's help, we managed to get everything in so it
wouldn't slide around, wouldn't smash the peaches, and still give the two
dogs in crates some air.

We pulled out of the driveway only half an hour later than planned.
Breakfast was a quick stop at a fast-food joint, then a quick detour to
Kroger for some piddle pads to line the crates with.  They make clean up
easier when the dogs barf in their crates.

Finally, we got on our way.  Matt wanted some driving time, so he was at the
wheel.  AH's directions were very clear, and the map, while not printed
well, was very accurate.  Most of the way was on a state highway, so the
road was well paved and well marked.  It was also curvy and hilly.  We had
to make an emergency pit-stop at a little country post office when the one
dog who is allowed to ride on a seat got car sick.  Bleck.  Once we turned
off the highway, we were on a two lane country road, still paved, but not so
well marked.  The biggest surprise was when we turned off into what I had
assumed would be a neighborhood road, only to find it was a rutted gravel
one lane road!  Yikes!  Matt was gripping the steering wheel in a death
grip.

The phrase of the day was "She wasn't kidding!".  AH had notes in her
directions like "the road # changes from X to Y and again to Z".  She wasn't
kidding!  If she hadn't mentioned that, we would probably still be wandering
around looking for the right road.  Then there was "then the next left onto
****** Road (just before you drop off a big hill)".  Matt and I were really
wondering about that one, because we had already dropped off several big
hills!  However, we finally started up a monster hill, one of those where
you wonder if the road is still there on the other side, like going over the
big drop on a rollercoaster, and sure enough, there was her street, just
before you dropped off the edge into nothingness.  Whew!  She wasn't
kidding!  She had commented that she lived on a dead end street, by a lake,
in the middle of nowhere.  Well, she wasn't kidding!  We got to the end of
the "street" (read that "gravel path") and there were, to our confusion,
three cabins.  We pulled up in front of the one in the middle that looked
inhabited, and before Matt could get the van turned off, AH had come
bursting through the front door.  We were in the right place!

After hugs, and meeting her husband, we all went up the hill slightly to
meet their big guard dog, Mongo.  Mongo describes him perfectly.  AH said he
was a cross between a Burnese Mountain Dog and a German Shepherd Dog.  Yeah,
I could see that.   He's beautiful!  And as pleasant a dog as you could ever
hope to meet.  At least to us.  She told us stories about people Mongo
decided he didn't like.  That's why he's in a huge pen now during the day,
instead of wandering the property loose.  I had my three wee doggies out of
the van by then, and after a few minutes of butt sniffing, the four of them
were getting along fine.

I asked if we could get the grand tour, so AH took us, including all the
dogs, down to the first of the three cabins.  That one is the family cabin,
empty except for when someone is down for vacation.  Her husband had built
an ingenious ramp from one cabin to the other, to accommodate his mother's
wheelchair.  Building a ramp doesn't sound ingenious, until you take into
account the steepness and rockiness of the terrain, and the fact that the
ramp passed over the driving path from the cabins to the lake front.  With
the ramp over the drive, there was no way to get a vehicle down there.  So,
he built a drawbridge!  No, I'm not kidding.  An actual working drawbridge.
Like I said - ingenious!

The main cabin is the one AH and her family live in year round.  It started
out as a tiny vacation cabin, but her husband has built on to the cabin in
several places, with the help of the whole family.  Now, instead of having a
small living area, one bedroom, a bathroom, a kitchen and a screened in
deck, it has a small living area, a bedroom, a kitchen, a LARGE living area,
a HUGE bathroom, and a screened in deck.  And that's just the first floor!
Now there is an upstairs, which has two bedrooms, a bathroom, a "long" room
with one end being a bedroom, 2 beds hanging from the ceiling, monkey bars
suspended in mid-air, and a LOT of storage.  She said they call it the
"Crazy House".  I likened it to the Winchester House, except in AH's house,
the stairs and doors actually lead somewhere.  The whole house is still a
work in progress, and in some places the walls, while in place, are not
taped and mudded, much less painted, but the over all impression is one of a
home filled with comfort and love.  A place where, once you are welcomed in,
you are always welcome.

The third cabin in the row is nothing more than a primitive place to camp
out of the rain.  No amenities at all, and it belongs to someone else,
though AH and her husband are kind of hoping the folks who own it will tire
of it and offer to sell.

After the grand tour, the visiting began in earnest.  We had brought my
three dogs in, along with Mongo.  AH's boys had put her three other dogs in
the basement so we could introduce everyone one by one.  There were no
problems.  One of her terriers got her hackles all up and started to get
grumpy, but AH gave her a growl and a light thump on the head, and suddenly
everyone was friends.  We sat at the dining room table and talked and talked
and talked.  Her kids, who had introduced themselves when we came into the
cabin, invited my kids up to their rooms to check out the video games.  We
didn't hear from them again for quite some time.

I noticed my puppy doing the sniffing around looking for a place routine,
and we were tired of sitting, so AH and I decided to go for a dog walk.  We
took her four and two of my three, and off we went.  We walked all around
the property, down to one set of docks, then over to a second set.  The
second set had a really narrow, unstable walkway.  I was joking about
getting dumped into the lake when we heard a splash, and I saw Kona (my
tiny, 14 pound Sheltie) struggling in the water.  I've had a Sheltie who
couldn't swim, so I ran back down the ramp to get her.  By the time I got
there, she was dog paddling, but she was not happy to be in the water.  I
pulled her out and AH and I started laughing.  Kona shook herself off, and
took off down the walkway again, this time careful to stay away from the
edge.  We got out onto the dock, and Maya (my 3 month old Sheltie puppy)
started barking.  She was still on the shore.  She couldn't figure out how
to get across the rocks onto the walkway.  AH walked back down the walkway
and showed Maya how to get across the rocks.  Maya shot out onto the wobbly
walkway, and promptly fell in the lake in exactly the same spot Kona had
gotten dumped off.  By now, AH and I were laughing hysterically.  AH pulled
Maya out of the water, and I called her onto the dock.  She too, was very
careful to stay away from the edge after that.

AH told me how the big dog Mongo loved to sit on the shore at this dock.
Apparently there are otter and beaver in the lake, and he loves to bark at
them.  Unfortunately, he really dislikes one of the neighbors, so he's not
allowed free run anymore.  The otter tease her dogs, and once one of the
terriers jumped in and swam out to where the otter were playing.  She
snapped at them, then yelped and turned to swim back home with a bleeding
bite on her leg.  She doesn't swim out after the otter anymore.

The dogs all ran and played in the brush and trees.  AH showed me the damage
from the last ice storm.  Wow.  Lots of downed trees.  We came across big
muddy puddles in the path, which Maya decided were swimming pools, and
insisted on running through.  Then she turned around and came back, running
through the muddy puddle again, just for good measure.  All the dogs had a
good time.  At one point we heard an engine.  AH figured it was either our
boys in the go-cart, or the neighbor in an ATV, so we turned around because
the terriers like to chase moving stuff.

We were all ready to go back to the house by then.  When we got there, we
realized it had gotten really quiet.  No boys.  No husband.  We saw a
puddle of clothes in the middle of the living room floor, which I
investigated.  They belonged to Matt.  We decided the boys must have gone
down to the lake.  Just a minute or two later, her husband came in.  He was
sweating and slightly out of breath.  He said he'd been up and down the hill
5 times, getting the boys down there, then fetching stuff for them.  He said
he was going to go to his shop and work so he could get some rest.  We
laughed.

Anne got her swim suit on (I hadn't brought mine), and we went down to the
docks again to watch the boys.  Not the parent kind of watching, just to
join in the fun. The boys had all three kayaks in the water, and Matt was
trying desperately to get in his, get the paddle, and get going without
swamping himself.  He was not successful the first 8 times, but he kept
trying, and eventually we got him in the boat, with a paddle, and off he
went across the lake, a very happy camper indeed.  He LOVES the water, and
he especially loves kayaks!

Rob was not so persistent, and decided that being swamped a dozen times was
not worth it, so he pulled his 'yak out of the water, and just swam
instead.  AH's boys were like big otter.  Diving and swimming and cutting
through the water with hardly a ripple.

AH offered to take the boys out on the jet ski, and both my boys jumped at
the chance.  Unfortunately, the jet ski wouldn't start, and AH had to go get
her husband, the magician, to get it started.  Once it was started, she took
it out to run it for a minute, then gave each boy a long ride.  While she
was doing that, I got a chance to talk to her husband.  From what I can
tell, he is a good man.  He loves his family, and he loves his home.  (It
doesn't hurt anything that he's also handsome!)  He is also and artist and
craftsman.  He does chainsaw art, and I suspect that some of the drawings
and paintings on the wall of the house are by his hand too, though I forgot
to ask, and can't confirm that.

When both boys had had a ride on the jet ski, AH offered to show the boys
how to drive it.  I shrugged and told her if she was brave enough to try it,
I was brave enough to let her.  They had a ball!  She said both of them did
very well.  I couldn't see it, because she took them out of the cove, behind
the trees.

The hour was getting late, we still had an hour and a half drive home, so we
helped AH get the dock cleaned up and locked up tight, and went back to the
house.  The boys got dried off and changed, and we started the process of
goodbyes.  As we got out to the van, her husband came out of his shop with a
piece of wood.  He had made us a wooden bread board from some 100 year old
black walnut boards he had inherited.  It is a simple design, oval with
cut-out handles, and absolutely gorgeous.  I was touched.  After I got home,
I oiled the board, and the color and grain are far too beautiful to ever lay
a knife on.  It has been placed on display in the kitchen instead.

I think we all had a wonderful time, and there are plans to do it again, and
to make it a commonplace thing.  I know that I am looking forward to
learning all about AH's adventures during the time we've been apart.  I am
also looking forward to getting to know her wonderful family better.

I am hoping that instead of being the end of the story, it's just the
beginning of a whole new chapter!

-- 
Laura
wolfljsh at gmail.com
http://wolfsinger.wordpress.com

(Please forgive any errors in grammar or mechanics.  I started this post at
7am, and with interruptions it's taken three hours to get it done!)