Disconnected / Isolated thoughts

We arrive at III about 9:30 or 10:00 Saturday morning. Himself hits the ground, loppers in one hand and orange fluorescent paint in the other. He is on the 4-wheeler and tearing off down the hill to finish up the trail started in November.

We have checked the mouse bait. The outside bait is gone and the inside bait is not. That is good; we are evidently holding the little critters at bay. The outhouse bait is gone; I think that we will concede this battle due to the nonchalant construction of the little building. The wee creatures can just come and go at will -- as long as they don't nest in there!

I fiddle around the cabin awhile, have a snack (I can't operate on an empty tank) and make sure the fire in the wood stove is going good before I hike down the trail. I meet up with Himself and help him clean up the trail, then we wind our way through the timber to connect this trail to another. It is not too cold in the timber and Himself and I work companionabley, with little conversation, moving fallen trees, cutting branches and brush. We make the trail wide enough for the 4-wheeler. Some parts of the trail are natural; we just follow a preordained plan but other sections of the trail must be wrested from the brush and the scrub and the trees. We work on until mid afternoon, then take a ride on the trails and measure it out at one mile. We have two more major trails to build this winter or early spring. After that, we will have to be content to just maintain the trails or Himself will be mowing and grooming a 37-acre park!

The shade room still sits with one open wall. Next spring, we will hang two screen doors providing an opening wide enough that the 4-wheeler can be parked under a roof. Once we finish screening that wall, we will be able to cook, eat or sleep there, protected from all the flying pests that live out the short seasons of their lives in this place called III.

We started with a Coleman stove and lantern, advanced to an indoor, propane cooking stove and even a sink with an outside drain. From there, we moved on up to one, battery-powered light bulb. And now, Himself has given me a portable camping shower. It will even have hot water -- thanks to a propane tank. One of the first projects next spring then, will be a shower stall. It will be two sided, made of oak poles and branches and backed up to the timber so that the one in the shower will be the only one with a view . . . the other side