Road Weary

It was a long drive back to the mountain from the Texas Hills.  Ol' Abner was really tired and the dog was a restless traveler, not a good combination for a fourteen hour ride in the summer heat.  I spent the majority of Thursday moving very slowly alternately with napping.  We weren't even pulling a trailer, so this trip should have been an easy one.  It wasn't.

The weekend prior to our departure was spent preparing the back half of the property for staking out the new garage/shop/playhouse to accommodate Ol' Abner's toys and projects.  Son has a project or two to add to the facility, so he was a willing accomplice.  Removal of multiple cedar trees even with the help of a big excavator/backhoe thing was hot dusty work.  Once they were pulled from the earth, the root balls had to be removed.  Chain saws seem to be much easier to use in chilly weather.  At least cutting logs makes more sense when prepping them for the fireplace.  These big hunks of root balls had to be removed from the downed trees so the remainder could be toted over to the "Green Center" and turned into mulch.  It's a nice service offered in our new town on the first and third Saturdays of every month.  When we need mulch, we can go back and retrieve a load of our co-mingled wood bits.  It was a very hot long day of manual labor.

The next day,  Son and Ol' Abner gathered the root balls, loaded them on the trailer and hauled them out to one of Son's jobsites where a large pile of similar refuse is being gathered for proper disposal.  Again the summer heat took it's toll on them.  Monday and Tuesday involved yard work, repair, and visits to suppliers to prepare for the new construction.  By our exit on Wednesday, exhaustion was looming.

Dog seems to sense tension and takes on the stress.  She rode well for the first couple of hours then became agitated and restless.  She whined, groped our arms and tried to climb into the front seat.  Every little thing in the back part of the cab was fair game for shredding or stirring.  When we prepared for a drive to the capitol on Friday, she showed no interest in coming along.  She seemed to enjoy her day with the house to herself.  I think Ol' Abner would have been perfectly happy to stay with her, but he couldn't quite send his mouth for insertion of crowns without the rest of his tired body.

It's good to be back to the house on the mountain.