It occurs to me as I sit at my desk today that true joy is the fulfillment of longing. Receiving or achieving the object or experience one has been dreaming of which is quickly superseded by more longing and the more intense the longing the greater the prize when it is realized. I've always felt sorry for those for whom things come too easily. Where then is the joy of achievement? Today I find myself longing to be at the cabin. I was just there and here I am plotting the next opportunity. To follow up on last weeks entry. We did a little bit of everything that was on our work list and added a couple of projects that were not. We did not finish everything completely but came very close hence the longing to return. I do think that for the first time we felt satisfaction as we drove away knowing that from this point forward real progress will be made or at least progress that you can see and feel. The roof was sealed where needed, the chimney pointed and sealed, the front door was changed out and a good bit of insulation installed in the front room, outside a lot of scrap metal was collected and hauled away and things that needed to be burnt or trashed were. We felt as if we left the forest a greener and more forest friendly place than before.

Wow! Where did the summer go? I can't believe my last post was pre Memorial Day and now we are looking down the barrel at Labor Day. The summer was a whirlwind of Dan Jr. getting married in June. Dan Sr. having thyroid surgery in July followed by the annual work the the NW Mission Conference then finally a week at the beach in early August which btw was AWESOME! Dan Sr. and Kristen are back in the classrooms teaching already and Dan Jr. is waiting for those sub calls (please say a prayer he gets a permanent teaching job...thanks) Okay so here we are a year after taking on the camp project and we are anticipating an early fall and winter...leaves are already changing in the PA Wilds and the temps at night have been in the low 40's! Last week-end we removed the old behemoth kerosene and coal/wood burners making some much needed space and replaced the coal/wood with a simple wood burning stove (thanks Rob & Renee) which should give us quick heat and some lovely ambiance. We have a load of insulation to take up this week-end and we are planning to seal up the leaking roof, re-work the stove pipe to accomodate the new woodburner, finish the wiring in the front room, install a new breaker box and insulate the front room....whadaya think? Will we do it? We have a long week-end and plan to hit it hard.