The joy of working together

Today some friends from church came over to help us do yardwork. It had been arranged by a friend of mine, who knew we were feeling pressure about moving and leaving some things undone for our renters.

We live on 1 3/4 acres, most of which is not nicely landscaped. We have planted beds here and there, but between the blackberries, crabgrass, deer, moles, and inertia, it's not easy to keep it nice. While I would have liked a more landscaped yard for these past 9 years, it hasn't really bothered me too much. As I told the lady who is moving in, "it's a fun yard, not a nice ladies' tea type of yard."

Still, we wanted to get some of the blackberries and other weeds down before our renters move in. I think they know what to expect, sort of, but I don't want them to drive up and start hating it here right away because it's so wild and messy.

Anyway, there were a couple of dads alone, a dad with 2 young boys, and a whole family of 5 which included a teen boy who can really work, and I mean hard, his younger sister who helped me immensely in the kitchen, and his toddler brother who just had fun.

We cut down blackberries, spread mulch, pulled weeds, trimmed shrubs. The kids got all the yucky toys out of the sandbox and cleaned out the playhouse. The 8 and 10 year old boys muscled the play kitchen out of it and down the steps. The happiest 5 year old I've ever met swept the playhouse out when it was empty.

At the end of the day it was just 3 dads working together. I could hear them talking and it seemed like it was deep stuff, not superficial chitchat. Except for checking on their hydration needs, I kept away and worked in another area. I didn't want to constrain their conversation.

One of the men had been over a few weeks ago to help with some siding. He pointed out that men used to work together that way all the time and how great it was to work and talk. Really talk. Today, one of the other men made a similar observation. He said if men in the church got together to work more often, there'd be more understanding among them. People would get along better. But I thought about some people at our church who don't seem to want that closeness; they'd probably just stay away. I think the my husband had the same feeling last week when yet another family came over to help us. He and the husband of that family spent 12 hours one day, working on a deck. He said he had a great time, though the work was hard.

It was really a sweet day. It is very humbling to have people come over and do work I should have done myself. To receive thanks for food I prepared for them, even though it was just hot dogs and store-bought potato salad - and if they weren't doing me a favor, I wouldn't be feeding them anyway.

There's still a fair bit of work to be done - all those blackberry vines have to be hauled out to the woods. But it sure went faster and was much more pleasant today with people working together. Two of the families working here today might be moving away themselves. It's too bad we won't be around to help them with their unfinished projects.

Lonely

Last night was the first I ever spent completely alone in this house. C was in Philadelphia signing the papers on our house. The kids are spending some time with friends. I was alone from about 2 yesterday afternoon and will be till I pick C up at the airport late tonight. The kids will be home tomorrow.

I got a lot of errands run and a lot of packing done. I shifted some things around and I'm still looking for the rake. I made plans for a work day at our house this Saturday - a friend arranged for some folks to come over and help us spiff up the place a little for the family who'll be living here. . I picked up a little outside. It's amazing how much junk gets around when we're working on the house!


But it was a long night and it's lonely here!

Moving plans

A couple of people have asked about our moving plans. We are in the process of fixing up and packing up the house. We've been blessed with a wonderful family to live in our house for the 3-4 years we'll be in PA. After graduation, we hope to come back to Oregon - as long as there is something here for the Seminarian to do! So we are really hoping we can keep our house here so we can come home.

However, we know that God may have other plans for our family so we're not promising anyone (the kids) anything in that regard.

We're doing a "u-pack" move which means that a trucking company will drop a big trailer in our driveway and we will fill it up. They will come 3 days later and take it away for us. 6 days after that, they'll drop it off at our new house, where we will have 3 days to unload! We've already been contacted by some folks at the seminary with offers of help to unload.

Our plan is to leave on July 12. We will be driving mostly along Highway 80, going through Oregon, Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana (?), Ohio, and Pennsylvania! Hoping to find something fun (and short!) to do every day to keep the kids from getting too stir crazy in the car. (Ideas welcome!) Hoping to find hotels with pools! Planning on a couple of days in Dayton OH so the boys can visit the Air Force museum. The girls will have to find something else to do. Also planning a day in NW PA to visit my aunt!

OK, that was a quick post; break's over, time to get back to work. Can someone please tell me where I left the rake?

New name

I changed my "screen name" today. A blog I like to read and comment on had a very energetic discussion going on today, and another blogger named Margaret was quite active posting. Rather than try to explain that I'm not "that Margaret" (since our views on the topic are widely divergent) I decided to change my name to something not so common. I was surprised that Blogger allows the same screen name on two blogs. Oh well, no big deal. Margaret is a dull name anyway, even though it's my own!

Hand cultivating

A few weeks ago when I was at the hardware store for some mundane item, I picked up a lovely new cultivator. It was a cheap luxury - not more than $3 - but the wood handle fit so nicely and the sharp tines seemed so ... sharp.

Today I was working in a badly-neglected flower bed, trying to dig out weeds without disturbing the few remaining plants in the bed. Working with my little cultivator is slow work, but very satisfying. So is pulling out roots and stems of "field grass" (my term for the thick weed grass so prevalent in my yard) and clover. I know it would go much quicker with the tiller - I could just fire it up and plow through all those weeds! (Well, if I knew how to fire it up, that is).

But then I wouldn't be able to rescue a little patch of thyme, or a struggling little rose bush, or an earthworm. I wouldn't see the bees working on the clover - sorry about that, guys; there'll be something better soon. I wouldn't be able to talk to my daughter about the bees, and the worms, and the flowers we are going to plant for the people who will be living in our house for the next few years. The tiller's pretty loud.

As I worked I realized that working with hand tools is a little like homeschooling. I'd probably save a lot of time if I sent my kids to school. I bet my yard would look a lot better if I had 8 hours alone all day. But then I'd miss so many things, wouldn't I? Things more important than a nice-looking yard.

Setting the date

Not a wedding date. The big move date! After much talking and looking at the calendar and the to-do list, we set our moving date last night. We will be heading out to PA on July 12. Having the date firm, and the reservation for the truck made, gave me a little thrill of excitement. Of course we knew we were leaving around that time, but having the actual date on the calendar makes a huge difference. Maybe it will motivate me to work a little harder too!

We had originally thought we'd leave on July 9, our 12th wedding anniversary. It seemed an apporpriate date to set off on a new adventure. But, the trailer will be delivered on July 9, so we could say that loading up our stuff is the real start. Whatever.

Now if only I could get the kids so excited!

Starbucks VISA card?!

I have all the credit cards I need right now, but I have to admit the offer of a Starbucks VISA seems mighty attractive right now. $25 to spend at Starbucks just for getting a new credit card! What a deal! The offer arrived in my mailbox while I was scraping away at some nasty old caulk that I'm finally getting around to removing from my shower, after it's bothered me for about 9 years. Oh well, our lovely tenants will enjoy the new caulk. Or, to be more precise - they won't notice the new caulk. Which is as it should be.

Hm, I think there's some of the morning coffee left in the thermos... it's only about 3 hours old... who needs Starbuck's anyway?