Gearing up

We're Vermont bound.


In a week and a couple days.  


We're getting ready.  Packing and planning started weeks ago.  There are project lists, (water wheel, gravity fed water system at the cabin, screening in the porch, a plumbed kitchen sink, raised stone garden beds, outdoor shower, painting and installing trim, new shelving, etc.) and each project has a corresponding packing list of materials and tools. Then there's the bedding, clothing, kitchen utensils, kids' learning supplies, kids' playing supplies, pond supplies, laundry supplies, cleaning supplies, safety supplies, (kids are practicing with their personalized emergency whistles on the porch right now,) first aid supplies, electronic supplies, (learned how to turn the iphone into a mifi, it was easier than I thought,) and FOOD.


All around lots of fun planning, looking for the most interesting driving route, blah blah blah, I'm ready to go!


I've enjoyed these past two months of toodling, the woodworking, the finishing out the office into a kick-ass creative space, the home projects, the fishing and exploring of MS, the meeting new folks and chatting more with the ones I know and like, and the time with the kids.  


However, my mind has been entirely at our place in Vermont for weeks now.  I love our house, the store and the upstairs in the building, our town, I even have a tickle of an interest in finishing out the house we've got on Clay street.  But that's not something that I can or want to do now, especially considering the heat and the children, and Alexe's schedule.


Vermont is another story.  We've got a safe 60 acres, a little pond, no poisonous snakes or fire ants, no cars, no neighbors, and so many fun possibilities!


And I am going to take this self-granted vacation and max it out with what I like to do.  What's keeping me from diving into the next financial/professional leg of this journey is that I wanted to give my brain a rest, and as I may have shared previously, my brain rebelled.  The internal negotiations went something like this, "I know you want something to apply yourself to that's interesting and fiscally responsible, but take a damn vacation first, because you won't for a while after. Howsabout from now until Burning Man as a final blowout before buckling down?"


To which I agreed with myself.


And what I like to do is do.


And I have so many things I want to do, with endless raw materials, (I have a forest and a chainsaw, I can built ANYTHING,) and good company to slow me down and make me sleep.  (Something I don't do when left alone with engaging projects.)


I just have to wait until Caspian turns 3, his mama throws him a party and gushes over her little boy growing up, then we're off.  


Alexe will catch up in a couple weeks via airplane, as she's the least happy long distance driver in the family, and we'll have so much to show her when she arrives!


In the meantime, there's lots of little stuff to take care of here in preparation, no small amount related to the BTC. 


I put in the deli cooler last night:




Moving the dairy and drinks cooler across the store, shuffling the freezers down, and cutting a hole in the wall.  We wisely splurged on casters when we put in the new cooler and freezers last year.  The deli cooler was a different story, 550 lbs of slick corners, no where to get a hand hold, and stuck on its pallet.


I sprained my wrist getting it in place, a first in a long career of lifting overly heavy things.  Quite a pop.  I don't like going without my right hand, but it has a few days to heal, so I'm trying to let it rest.  

Chalk boards will go above the opening as soon as I get some chalkboard paint and hang them.

Meats and cheeses sliced on demand, prepared dishes (salads etc.) served to order.  All for a more interactive, fresh shopping experience!  Once again the BTC going above and beyond...