The joys of home ownership.......I jest.

I went looking to find the source of the ant...because there have been a few more lately than should be given the amount of ant spray and powder around and in the process discover a leak. because we live surrounded by woods, carpenter ants abound and must be kept out less the devour the place. I say this by experience having had to replace back section of a wall that had been eaten completely from stud to plywood and even into the cedar clapboards. They are drawn by water and love to dig into wet or dame wood.

So good you might think as I have possibly discovered a problem, but not the source. Broken dishwasher perhaps. Whew, not that. Sink, not that. What else could be on this line, crap..an upstairs bathroom. The leak is not a feed pipe but a drain pipe, which make absolutely no sense unless it somehow in leaking from an elbow. The last thing I want to do is call a plumber to do the investigative work. I work for free, they certainly don't and are tough to get.

For the better park of this holiday afternoon I have been snaking pipes, cutting sections out of drywall under the sink, being the investigator trying different things and ruling out the possibilities. Water flows, so it isn't clogged and backing up. It drips 3 feet across from the original drop of the pipe in the wall which means it should be turning in the ceiling and then turning again to go down the outside wall as the drip is happening on the outside wall, which means that the leak in happening at least 6 feet into the line after it has turned 3 times.

Now I am stumped and it is getting late. Time to clean up and take my second shower fro the day.......drain grunge is smelly and gets all over. Perhaps a gin and tonic will help me thing of the next option or forget it for the day.

Happy Memorial Day! Thank you to all for whom this day is marked for your commitment and for the gift you have bestowed on this nation.

The signs of early summer. The mists gathering over the river and drifting up to the top of the mountain, meeting the clouds above. The sunrise painting the picture with streaks of orange and blue.

A storm moving in over the lake. The wind blowing through the hills making the sound of the waves on the shore of the ocean. It feels so much like summer though it is definitely still spring. Frost warnings last week and then up to the 90s.



So that was the weather report....... How often when we aren't sure how to start a conversation, we talk about the weather. It's common to us all, non controversial and if you live in a climate such as I do, it is always changing and sometimes less predictable from one town to the next.

Its been a busy time but not. The family is back together for the summer and I find much inner joy and comfort in that. While my son was away at college there was this solar powered light that I had placed far back in the yard next to the fire pit that he often used in the evening alone or with friends. I had no reason to place it there last year other than being curious about how it worked and whether it would work. Though very small and dim, I could see this light in the distance from my bedroom as I went to bed and if I woke in the night. The light in the distance became "him" far away, yet close and I felt comforted seeing glimpses of it, a connection that kept him close in my heart.

Interesting, that since he has been back the light doesn't seem to be working any more. Perhaps the bulb is burned out or its that the light is now on inside.

When it gets very busy and somewhat crazy and I feel like there are so many issues and needs and demands and when I feel stuck and my mind feels like it is on overload and ready to explode, it is the simple things I gravitate to, such as that light in the distance. Though symbolic, it is about what is important and about who is important. So though the car may not be able to be replaced as soon as I might like or some demands and wants of others not be able to be met and yeah I will feel guilty if I feel I have let someone down (though probably not really to anyone but me) and some things may settle out fine as they often do; it is things like the light in the far back of the yard that reminds me of what is really and truly important and keep me grounded.

Weather wise this week it has been one of extremes. Starting the week off with this stuff coming down and covering the ground. It kept on coming after I left for work and while it went on for several hours more it just wasn't cold enough for it to stay around, unlike parts of Vermont that got a foot of snow.



Chilly was the key word for much of the week, frost and cold enough that the pellet stove was going regularly.

Then we hit today and it 85 and gorgeously sunny. I went out for an 8 mile run this morning and left the camera behind. I only felt like doing a short distance until I got to the stop sign near my house and instead of going straight (which is my 3 mile loop) I had an impulse to go left down the hill. At the bottom of this long hill I normally would have taken a right (which makes another 4 mile loop home. But instead, on impulse I headed straight and across a footbridge and figured I'd run around the pond at the base of October Mountain State forest. But then I came to a road that I'd passed x-c skiing several times and decided to take that turn. It went up into the forest (the road is paved so its not totally uncivilized), past fields and lakes I'd never seen before, past houses I never knew were there, past a big sand pit that I'd only seen from the distance and from the other side. The road went up and up and around 'til it came to a picnic area and the ranger office in the other entrance to the park.

The sign on the office board said 2.5 miles to the pond where I been so that was the decision time. I was feeling good but 2.5 miles out meant 2.5 miles back plus the mile up the hill to get home. So I walked around a bit, picked up a park map to see where I was and headed back home and took another detour to check out another path that I had wondered about.

A beautiful morning to be out, got to see an area I had never seen and before the heat of the day and all because I followed impulse to take a turn I hadn't before.

Something profound about that.




The moon was big this week as well but unfortunately my point and click camera shrinks even the biggest things and that's when the zoom is on.