For three weeks

• I will not scrape my hands on the ceiling when I change clothes.
• I will not bang my head on a log when I put my kids to bed.
• I will not have to start a fire.
• I will not have to check the stovetop for mouse poop before I start cooking (Official Mouse Count is up to 30, btw).
• I will not have to drive 8 miles to a grocery store that I don’t even like.

For three weeks

• I will have an oven and plan on using it every single day.
• I will have a bathroom counter on which to set my hair brush and makeup. It’s the little luxuries.
• I will be able to put Konik in a separate bedroom from his sisters. They might actually sleep!
• I will be able to send the kids outside to play, even when it’s raining. Hurray for covered patios!
• I will have the pleasure of walls and doors in between rooms.

For three weeks

• I will miss hearing the river rushing by.
• I will miss seeing the hummingbirds at our window feeder.
• I will not have my sewing machine.
• I will be paranoid that my kids will break something.

For three weeks we will be house-sitting for friends, F & S, in another town. They get to go on a tour of Europe by motorcycle. We get to stay in a house with heat. Not knocking the cabin — without our other friends, M & M, so generously letting us stay here, these past eight months would have been dire indeed. But it will be a nice change of pace and as close to a vacation as we’re going to get this year. F does have a sewing machine in her house and said I was welcome to use it. I may, but don’t be surprised if the next few weeks are rather crochet-heavy. I’ll see if I can come up with something else to break it up a bit.

We will be coming back to check on the cabin periodically and mow the lawn  weed-whack the yard  trim the greenery, so don’t anybody get any ideas about crashing our pad. We don’t have anything worth stealing anyways, but do feel free to take a couple mice with you when you leave.