A Much Needed Break

I had a few days off over this past weekend and I got some much needed family time. The time started on a sad note, as Thursday morning, my wife’s family gathered at the National Cemetery where there was a small service for her grandma. They chose her grandfather’s birthday to go and have her ashes placed inside the wall with him. After the service, her dad said a prayer and everyone left.

Her grandparents are buried at the same cemetery as my mother, and my daughter asked to go see grandma. Last time we were there, she placed a heart shaped rock on the headstone. It was not there this time and she said, “Grandma must have liked it so much that she took it.” Who am I to argue with my daughter?

Friday afternoon, we loaded up the car, the kids, and the dog and made the two hour drive to my father-in-law’s place up north. I had been there once with him, but it was only a few hours. This time, we were all going to spend a couple days there. We were all looking forward to it.

The Michigan scenery on the drive up was so nice. I love those farm houses on the side of the road, the horses and cows in the fields, and the beauty of tall green trees. I love when you have to go from 55 mph down to 30 mph because you are driving through a small town. It takes me back to those drives up to Caseville with my parents when I was a kid.

We arrived at the cabin around 7pm on Friday night and we just relaxed for a while. It is just the way a cabin should be, cozy and peaceful.

We were all up early Saturday and the view from out the front window was exactly what I needed to see as I stood with a cup of hot coffee.

My mother-in-law made biscuits and gravy for breakfast. They were delicious! After breakfast, my father-in-law and I went to work. He has about 18 acres of property. He doesn’t mow it all, but there is quite a bit to mow. I hopped on the zero turn and he grabbed the weed whacker and we went to work on the yard.

I never saw the family leave while we were out, but after we finished I went inside to get some water and my phone rang. It was my wife. She said, “I need you and dad to bring the truck up to the merchandise outlet to get something.” I said ok and told my father-in-law. His response was, “What did they buy that won’t fit in your car?!” Well, I found out soon enough – and my son couldn’t be happier.

He got a Mustang long before I ever did! These things are like $200-$250 online and she got it (brand new) for $30! Yeah, what a deal!! There was a sale going on and there was also a 50% off sticker on it, so by the time the thing was rung up – $30! He was so mad that it had to charge before he could drive it. (The thing has a working radio in it!!!) Ella wanted to ride, too, so we went to the barn and got them one of the cars that were there.

We had hot dogs for lunch and then the fun began. My father-in-law brought out the four wheeler! To say that the kids were excited was an understatement.

I had never rode on one, so my father-in-law gave me a quick lesson in where the gas and brakes were, he placed Andrew in front of me and I was off on the trails and into the property with him.

Naturally, I went a lot slower than I would have liked, because I didn’t want him to fall off. He was so content to just sit there and ride. I’d ask if he was ok and he’d say he was and ask for more.

When I came back, Ella was raring to go. I really thought that she would be the one who was too scared to ride on it, but I was wrong. She hopped up and off we went. As we drove down the trail to the open area on the property she yelled, “Whoo-hoo! This is amazing!!” This filled my heart more than I can explain. Once we got to where the trail opened into the large open area, I drove her around and made little jumps on hills and such. She kept yelling, “Faster, daddy! Faster!!” She was a true daredevil.

As we were out in the field, we heard another four wheeler. Papa had pulled out the other one and had Andrew in front of him. Then it became a game. The two of us “chasing” each other, “racing” each other, and laughing the entire time! “Daddy, they are chasing us! Don’t let them catch us!” What a hoot!!

Daisy, our dog, was chasing us as we rode around, too. It was so hot and I can’t believe that she kept running after us. As soon as we’d pull away from the house, she’d be right on our tail. Running and chasing and occasionally barking at us. It was ridiculous.

As it got closer to dinner, Sam and I ordered pizzas from a place in town. It was expensive, but worth every cent. It was so cheesy and you could tell it was hand tossed and made fresh. They had these bread sticks, which were more like rolls, that had garlic and cheese on them. Oh, man! They were sinfully good.

It was a day full of fun. So much fun that we called it a night early. The kids were out like a light almost immediately. There was a huge car show in town that night, but there was absolutely no energy to go see it.

We woke up Sunday, Father’s Day, and coffee was already made. My mother-in-law made up some eggs and sausage. I was drinking my coffee on the porch and could smell the sausage from outside. This took me back to those days at my grandma’s place in Caseville. We’d be outside and we could smell the bacon or sausage from outside.

After breakfast, my father-in-law and I went out and finished up the weed whacking we didn’t get to on Saturday. After that we had to take apart some bunk beds that he was bringing home when we left. He had a rototiller that I needed to borrow and we loaded that up on the trailer, too.

While we were doing that, my wife was packing up and loading the car. My mother-in-law wasn’t going to let us leave hungry, so she made up some turkey burgers and we all had another meal together. When they were in town the day before, they had picked up a chocolate cake for the “dads” for Father’s Day. Before we could even slice it, Ella was eating sprinkles off the top of it!

We had promised the kids another ride on the four wheelers before we left, and they couldn’t wait! Each kid got a few turns riding with me and Papa. Before I put it away, I just had to go and take it for a spin by myself – so I could see just how fast it would go. Man, this one I was on really clipped! I can see how easy it would be to get hurt on one of them. It was extra fun for me to just let loose and be a kid again for a few minutes.

Just before we left, it began to sprinkle. There was a storm on the way and we wanted to head out before it hit. The kids kept asking all the way home when we would be heading up to the cabin again. After the fun we had there, I would imagine the answer is “Soon. Very soon.”

Next trip, however, I will be sure to wear sunscreen!

Like A Good Neighbor …

Sam and I are truly blessed to have fantastic neighbors. We love our neighborhood. We all really watch out for each other, and help each other when we can. Granted, I don’t know all of our neighbors by name, but I talk to many of them on my afternoon walks with Ella.

When I first moved in with Sam, our neighbor two doors down was cutting the yard (almost an acre) for her. It wasn’t long after that he came down on his lawnmower and showed me how to use it. He told me I could use it whenever I wanted to. To return the favor, when I used it, I often mowed his grass and the grass of the neighbor in between us. Recently, when he mower was down for repairs, he used my mower and cut his lawn, my lawn and the lawns of two other neighbors! That’s the kind of neighbors we have!

I write all that, to tell you about something cool that happened to me this morning.

Three years ago, Sam bought me a zero turn mower. I absolutely love it. One of the things I love to do is mow the grass. I always do my neighbor next door’s grass when I can because all they have is a push mower and their yard is about as big as ours. Anyway, Sam sent me this picture of Ella watching the baseball players at the school behind our house this week.

You can tell that the yard was in need of mowing (and that I had to get out with the weed whacker!). When I got home this morning, I told Sam I was going to cut the grass. I purposely waited until it was 8am to do it. I didn’t want to be out at 7:30am waking up the neighbors, even though they wake us up when they mow at 3 in the afternoon (the life of a midnight shift worker!).

I got out and got about a third of the yard done, and all of a sudden the blades stopped engaging. I looked around to be sure that the belt hadn’t broken, but didn’t see it. The grass was very long, so I thought maybe the wet grass was caught up in the belt or something. I pulled it up into the driveway and began pulling clumps of grass out from where the belts are. It was obvious that I had never done this before, because there was a LOAD of grass packed in there.

The belt/pulley system of these mowers is a little daunting:

As I was digging the clumps out, I saw that the belt had come off the pulley. I was able to get it back on and the blades began to work. I was able to finish the rest of the lawn. Now, had I not been able to figure it out (which is always possible), I wouldn’t have been able to share what Paul Harvey would call “the rest of the story”…

As I was making my final couple passes in the front yard, I noticed a car driving by slowly. The driver was a little Asian woman, who looked like she was lost or looking for a house number. As I did my final pass, she had parked her car and was standing at the end of my driveway. It was quite a sight. She was in pajamas and a robe and wearing her face mask. She had her index finger up in the air as if she were saying to me, “Hold up for one minute.”

My first thought was that I had woke her up. I had even mentioned to Sam that I knew it was early and joked that the neighbors would be yelling at me for mowing the grass so early. I drove the mower to the driveway and shut it off. She began to speak to me in broken English. She said “I heard working.” I thought, “Here it comes, She’s mad that I woke her up.”

She began to point down the street and said, “Do my yard?” I asked if she wanted to borrow the mower or if she wanted me to come down and cut it. She said, “You cut. I pay you.” I shook my head and said that I would be glad to cut her grass and she didn’t need to pay me anything. She shook her head and told me that she is always busy working and that she was unable to do it. I told her I was going to put some more gas in the mower and I’d be right down. She gave me her address (it was about 4 doors down) and I met her down there.

As I pulled up, she was in the front yard picking up some sticks, and I went to work. Her front yard was not that big. If it took me more than 6 minutes to cut it, I’d be surprised. As I finished, she ran up to me and I asked how to get to the back yard. She told me the back yard was fine and grabbed my hand and shook it, saying “thank you so much!” over and over. While shaking my hand, she was stuffing money in it. I again told her that she did not need to pay me, but she insisted. She went as far as to say to me, very matter of factly, “When you cut your grass – you come and cut mine.”

I was just happy to be a good neighbor, but it looks like my “lawn care business” has its first client!