What goes, you might ask? The days, the weeks, the months....and soon, the first decade of this millennium. Amazing to think that not that long ago, we were contemplating the whole Y2K deal. Crazy! Now we are asking how people will refer to the new year. Will it be "Two-thousand-ten" or "Twenty-ten"? My personal favorite is "twenty-o-ten." However you say it, it seems way to soon to be here already.
I've been saying that a lot this year, it seems. Mostly I have been referring to the fact that soon we will be joining the empty-nester crowd. Both boys left us in the last three years. Addie is now a senior, and may even be starting college in January. It's getting pretty quiet in these parts. I've had some people ask me how we will cope with that empty nest....The way I figure it, by the time we truly would be without kids, where they no longer return for summer vacation, or holiday breaks... about that time, someone will be ready to move back. And that is fine with me, as there is plenty of work to go around.
That said, a quick update for everyone, since I haven't written since last May. As many of you know, it was a different type of summer at Heston�s Lodge, as Greg took a job outside of the resort. From early May until mid-October, he left to go to work installing wildfire sprinkler systems. It was challenging, for the both of us, as we had worked together for the last twenty-three years. Now I understand a bit more what it is like for people when a longtime co-worker leaves and gets a new job. I�d joke about his job, and also about the fact that he now had a boss, and it wasn�t me! I also got back into the routine of making lunches, something I hadn�t done since the kids came home to homeschool. But those were just the small changes.
The bigger change for me was that suddenly I had more hats to wear. Not only was I trying to do my own work, but each day found me at some point trying to do Greg�s job, too. I have to admit that I learned a lot, and most times I enjoyed it. It is good to cross over like that. I can�t say that he is ready to do my job, but that�s a story for a different day.
Some days I would pretend I was Greg, like when neighbors would stop by to borrow a tool or something. I would walk around to the various shop locations, and try to figure out where Greg would choose to store that particular tool. Most times I was successful. That doesn�t mean that I can decipher his system of organization in his shop any better than I could before! Most of the time, it was probably dumb luck that caused me to stumble on what I needed. But now I know where a few more things are kept, and that is useful.
I also learned more about the running of the boats and motors. One would think that after all of these years, I would be fairly proficient at this. Not so. If someone wanted to rent a boat in the past, I would send Greg, or Robert, or Paul to get it ready. Easy as that. Now I had to send me. I�d get down there, and do whatever was needed to minimize embarrassing myself. For example, I find that it is much better if I start a motor while the boat is tied up to the dock. That way, the wind isn�t pushing me into shore while I am struggling to remember all of the steps it takes to simply start a motor. One time I failed to tie up, and though I got the motor started fairly easily and got going, I narrowly missed running into the dock! I don�t think that I ever flooded a motor, but I know that I came close. Each day I would have at least one question for Greg when he got home from work. The question of the day, I called it. One particular question stands out in my mind, and I know that now I will never forget it. Do you pump the gas line first, and then prime the engine? Or do you prime and then pump? Doesn�t matter, he told me. That will be good knowledge to have next summer, when we start things up again.
For now, the motors are all stored away in the boathouse, and the boats and canoes are pulled up on land. The docks have been taken in, and it looks like it is all ready for winter. Whether I am ready for winter has yet to be seen. We�ve seen some early snows, while the leaves were still on the trees. Most of October was a cold, wet month. That is actually a good thing, as it means we have some fine ground moisture as we head into winter. That in turn helps in the spring, when we dearly need it before the leaves come out. But now I am getting way ahead of myself, thinking two seasons down the road. For now, I�ll concentrate on continuing the winter prep work.
And I will do my best to start to catch up with this blog. Lots of fun stories from this summer to share�.Stay tuned.
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