Fourth of July Weekend

This past weekend my brother, father and I went out to the cabin site to see if we could make some more progress towards a permanent structure. I decided to take a couple days off of work after the fourth of July so we could work for two days and play for the rest of the weekend. Part of this was my wife's idea seeing as how she would be conveniently coming up on Friday evening just in time for the end of construction. Of course we ran in to some problems as always along the way but we now have concrete in the ground ready for piers on the next trip.

I consider myself to be a fairly independent adult. I am 27 years old, married, and somewhat making it in life so far. What amazes me is the ability my parents have to emit this sense of comfort during times of difficulty. There were definitely points during the work that I was uneasy about the way things were going or frustrated by the difficulty of getting things right and the presence of my father and his good attitude made everything fine. I have also seen these traits in my in-laws as well. So, is this a learned trait, is it something that exists based on the relationship that is developed over years....I don't know. But it exists for me and it has pushed me through a lot of experiences, including the foundation of the future Howell cabin.

Although my wife got out of hucking 80 pound bags of concrete around and digging holes, she definitely had her fair share of rugged activities.....these include

1. Shooting a .22 for the first time, hitting a quarter from quite a distance.

2. Catching a 13" rainbow trout....while I caught nothing.

3. Chopping wood

4. Fighting off bears around our tent (in her dreams)

5. and....Setting a serious pace on our hikes