It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Week

I've mentioned before that we're in the process of building a new house in the (kind of) country. We'll soon be living in the middle of seven acres of tall trees, short ferns, and all the critters that call them home. We're anxious to share this space with the turkeys, deer, snakes, rabbits, hawks, beavers,  and other more secretive animals we've yet to see.

While the house isn't ready just yet we've been out there working hard this summer. The first thing we did was to build a fire ring. The boys and I spent the good part of an afternoon collecting the stones to frame the pit. It's big. Real big. When the lot was cleared we asked the workers to haul a log over to the fire ring. We can't wait for the cool weather of fall and winter.

We've been working on another project as well - a trail leading to the 15-acre lake at the back of our property. The trail is about two hundred steps (I'm estimating this to be somewhere in the area of a tenth of a mile). We're using the thousands of rocks that are scattered throughout the property to establish the trail until it meets the creek. At the creek we've set some boards down temporarily but will soon be constructing a small 14-foot bridge.

And while we're hard at work so are the builders. At least most days. There are some frustrating days when no one is out there working and nothing changes. At this point they still need to finish the screen porch on the back, paint the walls, install the floors, hook up the air conditioners, bring in the septic system, put in the stone that will skirt the front, and take care of all the finishing details. That's a lot. We were hoping they'd be finished already but it's looking like we'll have to wait until mid-August - around the time school will be starting.

To make things more interesting we have to be out of our current house this Friday. Having no home, the girls are all headed to St. Louis to visit family and friends and the boys and I will spend the week walking in the North Carolina woods. I'm usually not one to get stressed by much but this week has tested me. Tricia and I have spent the past few days packing, loading, cleaning, making phone calls to utility companies, packing for our trips, attending a party, retooling our budget, arranging for a temporary home when we return, screening incoming kindergartners, mowing the lawn, trying to get nail polish out of the carpet, and driving Harper to the upstate for Girl Scout camp. There have been days when I feel like we've worked nearly all day long and nothing looks any different than when we first started. Fortunately, we're nearing the end of the week and everything is just about in place.

I spent this afternoon getting the food prepared for our seven-day hike. This will be the longest trip we've ever taken on the Appalachian Trail, both in terms of days and distance, and I generally spend about a week or two preparing. This time I've had only a few moments here and there to throw everything together. This includes figuring out our ride to Deep Gap (this is where we left off last trip), securing a ride into Franklin in the middle of the week to resupply, planning out a rough itinerary that ensures the boys will have fun, and getting the food together. Planning seven days worth of food that you can carry on your back is a bit tricky.

We'll be eating oatmeal or Pop-Tarts for breakfast each morning. Lunch will be a lot of homemade beef jerky, peanuts, dehydrated fruits, and Cheez-its. Dinners are a combination of noodles, chili, and spaghetti. A few nights we'll even have pudding for desert. This all seems simple enough but it's really not. I have a binder where I keep recipes I've found on-line over the past year. Having a variety of food that is appetizing is important. We're not quite there just yet but we're getting closer all the time. Muluken looked at the menu I created on the computer and said "We're having noodles TWICE?" Little does he know some backpackers have them every single night for weeks at a time.

When the food is all laid out on the counter is looks like a lot. However, once it is sorted into bags for each day it's looking pretty light. To help keep the boys hiking up all those mountains I add a bag of candy to snack on throughout the day. I'm not sure if the sugar helps but the excitement of leaving our limitations on sweets at home sure does. "Hey, let's stop at the top of this mountain and have another piece of candy!" There are few rules in the mountains. Whatever gets you to the top is fair game.

It is now Wednesday night and I believe we are on the verge of having it all together. The backpacks are packed, the suitcases are full, and we have one-and-a-half days to move out the rest of the furniture. I hope it all gets done. It'll have to.

This will most likely be my last post for a few weeks. I'm not sure when exactly we'll be in our new house and when we'll get the internet access set up. In the meantime we'll finish our hike, "camp out" on the floor of an empty house in our neighborhood, and start school. There should be plenty to write about.