Spring Time

Spring has to be one of my favorite seasons.  While I enjoy all the seasons, or at least some aspect of all the seasons, spring tops the list for a number of reasons.  After a normal winter, unlike this past winter that was unusually warm, it signals the end of snow with warming temperatures, longer daylight hours, and buds on all the trees and plants.  Perhaps most indicative that spring has arrived (which I know it arrived a while ago) is the symphony of birds trumpeting their songs for all to hear.  And while it can still get chilly at night, the temperature reaches my favorite level during the day and stays there for a little while.  Whats that temperature you ask?  Why, it is between 50 and 65 degrees.  I personally don't care for the hot humid air of summer that hangs heavy and ushers the sweat out of seemingly every pore of your body.  No, I would rather have it be a little bit cooler, the breeze sending slight shivers down your arm, and have no humidity to speak of.  But alas, spring can not last forever as I sometimes wish it would, so I enjoy every minute of it while I can.  Another aspect of spring that I must mention is the arrival of the leaves on the trees.  For a week or so in early spring, the trees almost look as they do in fall, covered in gold and red buds, erupting from a long winter's slumber of slow growth.  It seems as though they transition from that golden, reddish hue to a bright vibrant green overnight.  One day you are driving down the road and there are no leaves on the trees, the next day, the leaves are there, truly amazing. 

That is one of the blessings of my job as a contractor; when it gets nice out, I move outdoors and begin working outside.  Granted, not all days are conducive to working outside, especially if it is raining, but after a beautiful day like yesterday, I can't complain at all.  As a contractor, I may be staring at a house for most of a day, but I am surrounded by the often cacophonous sound of nature, bees buzzing from flower to flower inspecting every corner for a possible new hive location, the birds calling out to their brethren, the leaves whispering to each other as the wind blows gently through them.  Who needs music when you have such a diverse soundtrack for your day.  And what could be better than to take a break from work, simply turn around and enjoy the view of spring all around.  Yesterday, the temperature remained in the low 60's, perfect for working, and while I was involved in some difficult, sweat producing work, I wasn't drenched by the end of the day as I would be in the summer.  But it isn't only the days of spring that are my favorite, it is also the nights of spring that draw me outdoors.  Spring, as well as fall in this regard, are perhaps the perfect time for sitting around a fire outdoors.  It isn't freezing, it isn't hot and humid, it is just the right temperature for a nice blazing outdoor fire.  And whats more, if you catch the timing of the moon cycles just right, you get treated to a beautiful full moon turning the night into a pale day. 

Saturday night as I was sitting around the campfire in Vermont, I noticed that after it had gotten dark out, it was actually starting to get light again.  There were a few wispy clouds peppering the night sky and over the tops of some pine trees, I noticed a white glow start to grow and permeate the surrounding sky.  The moon was on its way up and with the slowly passing clouds, it almost looked as if there was an eruption of white light.  The clouds, slowly drifting as they were, looked as if they were churning around the moon in slow motion, heaving to and fro, catching the white light, distorting it, and moving on in their slow meandering way.  It could have been one of the best moon rises I have every seen.  Of course, my measly iPhone did not do a very good job of capturing it in all its glory, but my memory will have to suffice.  If it were winter or summer, the moon rise would not have been nearly as enjoyable, but being it was spring time and not all the leaves were covering the trees yet, it was perfect.  So as I get ready for a rainy day of indoor work, I remember all the beautiful days of spring, look forward to more, and hope that the heat of summer holds off for as long as possible.  Even now, I hear the birds beginning their morning songs, waking each other up and letting us now that another day has begun. 

The Long Weekend

So I left early Friday to head up to Vermont and I hit barely any traffic at all except for a few small pockets here and there.  I took my time going up because the van was full of supplies and I didn't feel like taking a chance at getting pulled over.  In any case, I got there and the work began.  From around lunch time on Friday until I left on Sunday, I worked and worked from sunrise to sunset with only a few breaks in between.  While I did miss my wife and son, the non stop work helped me to keep my mind occupied and busy.  I did think of them though, especially what it will be like the first time camping with our son.  Its not like this is a traditional campsite with facilities and running water, its a plot of land in the middle of the woods with a stream running through it.  The shower, if you want to take one, is one of those portable shower bags that you fill up with water, let it heat up in the sun, and then hang it up to shower outdoors.  We will pass talking about the toilet for now because I am sure not too many people are interested in hearing about it.  Lets just leave it at its a user flushed toilet (remember, no running water, septic, or sewer).  We do have tents and every other camping amenity you could possibly want such as cots, super insulated sleeping bags, propane, charcoal, etc. etc. etc.  Despite the lack of facilities, which I don't mind at all, life is pretty good up there. 

I personally can't wait to bring our son up there and see how he does camping for the first time, especially in a tent.  I have a feeling that he will be fine, but you never know.  It could get a little chilly at night and when it gets light out in the morning, you notice it right away as the tent doesn't exactly keep light out.  Part of the supplies that I brought up this past weekend was one of those gated enclosures for infants and toddlers that you could either put inside or outside.  We figured this would be perfect to start with as the clearing we camp on is surrounded by steep slopes on three sides that go down to the stream.  I can't wait to see how he reacts to the completely different environment.  For us, even as adults, we notice a big difference.  Up in Vermont, it is quiet, peaceful, no car or truck sounds to be heard, and the constant sound of running water fills the background.  In Connecticut, its the complete opposite, rowdy neighbors, the incessant drone of cars and trucks, no audible running water.  Perhaps the biggest difference, however, is the amount of stars that you can see at night.  It is as if you were transported to a different world when you head up north and look up at the sky at night.  Without all the excessive lights that we have down here in Connecticut, you can really see hundreds more stars than you could down here.  I don't think our son will see those quite yet as he goes to bed before the sun goes down and gets up after it rises.  But thats more for my wife and I to enjoy. 

Regardless, I got done what I wanted to get done this weekend.  It got a little difficult about halfway through as the pull start on the generator I brought up to run my power tools broke.  It wasn't even my own generator, which is the worst part, but to be fair, the pull start was a little loose to begin with so I guess I just pulled it wrong.  In any case, I got most of the cutting I needed to get done before it broke, so it wasn't too bad.  If it weren't for my wife and son being home, I just might have stayed there a few more days and actually relaxed (which I have a hard time doing).  There is just something about being disconnected for a while that I really enjoy and relish.  Its not often you can just get away from everything and not have to worry about your cell phone ringing off the hook, especially if you don't get service.  But in any case, I am starting to ramble, probably because I am exhausted, but such is life.  I did manage to make it home in record time yesterday despite a little bit of traffic.  I drove straight through, skipping my normal rest stop, and with traffic made it home in 3 hours flat.  Of course, the speedometer was pegged around 75-80 the entire way, but luckily there were no state troopers in Vermont, Massachusetts, or Connecticut to slow me down.  A little bit of a risk, yes, but well worth it to get home before my son went to bed.  All in all, the long weekend was good, but tiring, and now I go back to work to make some money. 

First Weekend Without Son

As you might have gathered by the title of this post, I am going away for the weekend, the first without my son around since he has been born.  I am not going on vacation per se, but I am instead making a trip up to Vermont to bring up any camping supplies we may need for the summer and also to finish the doors on the shed I started building there last year.  I was almost able to finish last summer except that by the end of summer, my wife was getting closer and closer to her due date and I didn't want to risk one weekend away knowing that it would be the time when she went into labor.  So, after the long winter that wasn't really a winter, I am heading back up there to finish the last important piece to the shed, the doors.  When we left last labor day, I simply took a few pieces of plywood and nailed them over the opening.  It was the simplest solution to security in the middle of the woods that I could think of and I only hope that no one decided to try and rip them off and expose what camping supplies we had stored up there.  We shall see later today what the state of the shed is.  But that is neither here nor there, yet.  For now, I am thinking about our son and how much I am going to miss him this weekend.  Its a little weird having spent the last 6.5 months with our son and now to be spending two nights away from him.  I know its only two nights, three days, but still, for a first time parent, I am definitely going to miss him. 

I know that our son will be fine, he is a trooper and will continue to try crawling faster and faster while I am gone and provide plenty of dirty diapers for my wife to change.  Trust me, I won't miss the dirty diapers, but I will miss him and my wife.  My wife, I feel, will have more of a tough time than our son will have.  After all, she will be taking care of him all by herself for three days, something she hasn't had to do yet.  I think overall that she is more concerned than I am, wondering what she is going to do and how she will handle it.   I have faith in her, however, and know that she will take it in stride.  Overall, our son is fairly easy to take care of, there are rarely an screaming fits, maybe 5 since he was born, and he makes life easy.  I know he could have some issues, but if he does, they probably won't amount to anything significant.  In any case, I am only going to be gone for the weekend, so there really isn't that much to be worried about.  Even if there was, I am only 3.5 hours away and if need be, could probably make it back home in slightly under three hours depending on speed, traffic, and the prevalence of police on the roadways.  But moving on, I still have a little packing to do, food to get ready, and a few more things.  It all falls into place when it needs to. 

I guess my biggest worry for this weekend, outside of missing my wife and son, is getting up to the campsite.  Last spring when I made the trek up there the first weekend of May, I got my van stuck in the mud on the trail up to the campsite.  Unbeknown to me, last year I went up a week after the snow pack had melted, leaving everything completely muddy and wet.  This year, luckily, there has not been nearly as much snow as there was last year and I am hoping that the ground is firm enough up the trail so that my van can make it all the way up.  If it is muddy, it will be a hell of a work weekend as I will have to cart all my supplies uphill to the campsite.  Most of it won't be an issue, but there are a few things that will give me grief if it comes down to that.  First is the generator that I am borrowing to get the work done this weekend.  It is not light by any means and even with a wheelbarrow to roll it up the hill in, it will definitely cause the sweat to start coursing out of my pores.  All in all, I am sure that it is going to be a great weekend with today looking like the only day of rain I will have.  As long as it is sunny tomorrow and Sunday, I will have not a care in the world.  Even if it isn't sunny, I won't complain because I will be on a mini vacation.  Oh well, let everyone reading this pray that the mud isn't to bad in Vermont.  Thanks in advance and I will be back next week.