Haven't been around lately.

Well...it's been about a month since my last post. That's because 1st: I was getting ready to go on vacation...2nd: I went on vacation...and 3rd: I came back from vacation. I announced my joy to my journal on May 1 when I drew this silly little picture of me all excited about leaving on the 15th. Between the 1st and 15th I did a lot of thinking and reading about cabins, log houses, and what to do with our existing one-room cabin (12x16...propane stove and heat, dry sink, ice chest cooler and sleeping loft)...the best part being the 8x16 covered porch and the pair of rocking chairs that we set out there to watch the sun go down. So I day dreamed a lot...and just before we left I decided to picture the cabin in collage. There it is, porch and all, on a heavily wooded lot in North-Central Washington. The drive from Las Vegas to our cabin is something in the neighborhood of 1200 miles! We take all five dogs and our cranky, old parrot (who has, during every one of our three trips there, turned into a sweet old thing...during both long, long, long, long, car rides and for our entire vacation...go figure...when at home, she's a screechy, demanding, evil-green-thing...and on vacation, she's an entirely changed bird. Just a luv.) This spring we managed a three week stay at the cabin...and...hired carpenters to build a second room onto the cabin....it's now double the original size....and so is that even more wonderful porch. At 32x8, we have room on the porch for several more rocking chairs. Our little cabin has even sprouted a smoke stack....that connects to a new wood stove! I feel like I'm living the dream. The cabin has been joined by a couple of friends....a nice big storage shed and a tool shed for my husband. A regular compound, we have there. We'll have a well drilled in October....and maybe....just maybe....get a start on our little retirement-cottage-in-the-woods. I get excited thinking about it....and then worry when thoughts about the economy and housing market creep in. Oh, well. In the movie, "Field of Dreams", our hero says something like: "If you build it, they will come"....I figure that I'll just take a lesson from him.....maybe if I dream it (really, really hard) it will happen. We'll make it happen. Our vacation wasn't without it's adventures....the third entry in my journal (top-center) explains all.