Survival
June 29th, 2012
The day has finally arrived, our vacation. After much date crunching and switching events around we have made the decision to just go and enjoy. We are borrowing a cabin from a friend of Mark’s down on Piedmont Lake; it will be our third time we have stayed in Hidden Ledges.
I love the huge deck that has a “tree house” feel to it. The cabin itself has only one room, one bath and a small bunk house with four bunk beds. Daniel and his friend Mike will stay in the bunk house while Mark, myself and the two dogs will take on the “master cabin.”
As usual, I have packed a lot. I get laughed at every year. However, this year the stress of the months before had me a little fuddled and I ended up not bringing several items I normally would. Still, we had garbage bags full of pillows, blankets, towels (even bath rugs) and supplies. Mark shakes his head as I carry bag after bag of items out to our small car. Luckily our son was able to take a huge load as well. Fans are much needed as there is no a/c in the cabin, so that also has to be lugged. Our family jokes I bring everything except the kitchen sink and if I could, I probably would. Spices, potatoes, coffee, filters, salt, pepper, all the things I know we have that will come in handy on our nine day stay.
Sometimes I wonder if it would just be easier to check into a hotel and order room service, but we enjoy the grilling out after a day on the boat fishing. We had reserved a boat but had no confirmation. It seemed every detail of our trip was a little more stressful this year, so we decided to just go with it and get away.
We set out around 12:30 P.M, after Dan got off work, gassed up; we watched the temperature rise higher and higher on our three hour drive finally reaching 100 degrees by the time we arrived. Air conditioner in the car can be very deceiving. Once we opened the door to start unloading we were hit with the stifling air, much like opening a hot over door. As we opened the door to the cabin, it had to be even higher inside after being shut tight. So unloading was slow moving, taking our time putting things right and taking breaks to water up. It was most unbearable heat.
I went about opening the windows in the cabin and as I reached over the sink my eye caught sight of one of the biggest spiders I have laid eyes on since the one who took a shower last year back home. Screaming, (yes I am a terrified of the eight legged creatures) I ran out to the deck and screamed for someone to kill it. To the rescue came Mike who loves all things insects and as I would later find out snakes. He studies them and is a world book of knowledge on types. Laughing at me, he says he “took care of it.” To me taking care of it means squashing it, he instead set it free into the “wilderness.”
As we lugged bag after bag onto the deck and into the hot cabin, I worked feverishly to try and put the necessary items away, taking frequent, and I do mean frequent breaks to sit and refresh with cold water. The men teased me over all the supplies I took but by the end of the trip, they would be grateful over several items they had first thought unnecessary.
After taking another break to wipe the sweat from my organizing, I sat down on a lawn chair and asked Mark to turn on some music. We were so glad to finally be there, I wanted to celebrate while we worked. The music soon turned into a siren blaring and a weather watch warning. Having been through a few storms, I wasn’t much worried until Mike said he got an alert on his phone that stated, “Take shelter immediately.” Mark looked worriedly up in the sky and mouthed something about high winds. Again I shook it off, told him not to worry and he stated they were talking about winds coming in over 70 miles an hour.
No sooner than the words were out of his mouth and the sun dipped behind some angry looking clouds darkening the sky. The wind started as a small breeze and just as I stepped back outside to sit down and enjoy the coolness, a sound like a train caught my attention. I looked to our right and trees started bending before my eyes. The boys sitting on deck chairs laughing at Mark soon turned into scurrying feet to run inside just as a huge tree branch fell on the deck taking out a chunk of wood with it.
The roof sounded as if someone were on top with a jack hammer. I jumped, moved inside quickly as Mark slid the sliding glass door shut. Rivets of rain pelting down hard and we watched in horror as the trees looked as if they were breaking like thin sticks. I sat down on the sofa and prayed. I prayed hard for protection and for the storm to pass. Mike kept his phone on and informed us the storm warning stated it would pass in an hour.
I didn’t think my heart could take an hour of the pounding the little cabin was taking. My thoughts turned to all the trees surrounding us and the tall ones on the slanted hill above the cabin. I had visions of them all crashing down upon us and several whacks against the roof and walls had me thinking this was true. My hero of a son put his arm around me and kept reassuring me it was okay. I kept talking to God, feeling his peace flow over me. Lightening lit the sky, thunder roared and the wind would momentarily die down only to pick back up at full speed. Everything we thought it was passing, it started again hurling branches, rocks, walnuts and debris towards us.
The storm lasted over an hour with me shaking, praying and Mark looking quite worried for our safety. The lights dimmed, the radio went off and then all power went out leaving us in a dimly lit room. Fans that were keeping us cool went silent. At last it stopped. We stepped out on the deck to survey the damage of downed trees and limbs. The deck was strewn with leaves, branches and walnuts. The one good thing this storm did was drop the temperature 20 degrees bringing us a bit of refreshment from the heat.
I stared in amazement that as best we could tell, we had little damage to the cabin and praised God we were protected and safe. Taking a big sigh of relief, we set about finding candles, (yes, laugh at me now) and flashlights to clean up what we could. I had yet to finish unpacking and now the sky was much darker and not allowing much light to work with, I left it for the next day.
The boys, now feeling safer decided to trek down the steep hill to set up a line to snag a fish. Mike loves to fish and could hardly wait to try his hand on the lake after the storm and cool air. We talked about the storm, lack of electric and how we would handle the night. I pulled blankets out as the temperature dropped even more and the breeze chilled us. (Yes, laugh at me now men, blankets to keep you warm). Who would have thought 100 degree temperatures would drop so fast we would need blankets for the night? I guess only a mother who tends to over pack. Turning in for the night, snuggled under a blanket, I thanked God again for His protection. Tomorrow we would finish cleaning up, put things away and pick up our boat. Those were the thoughts I had before shutting my eyes to sleep. Tomorrow, for sure would be another day.
Teresa Gale
The day has finally arrived, our vacation. After much date crunching and switching events around we have made the decision to just go and enjoy. We are borrowing a cabin from a friend of Mark’s down on Piedmont Lake; it will be our third time we have stayed in Hidden Ledges.
I love the huge deck that has a “tree house” feel to it. The cabin itself has only one room, one bath and a small bunk house with four bunk beds. Daniel and his friend Mike will stay in the bunk house while Mark, myself and the two dogs will take on the “master cabin.”
As usual, I have packed a lot. I get laughed at every year. However, this year the stress of the months before had me a little fuddled and I ended up not bringing several items I normally would. Still, we had garbage bags full of pillows, blankets, towels (even bath rugs) and supplies. Mark shakes his head as I carry bag after bag of items out to our small car. Luckily our son was able to take a huge load as well. Fans are much needed as there is no a/c in the cabin, so that also has to be lugged. Our family jokes I bring everything except the kitchen sink and if I could, I probably would. Spices, potatoes, coffee, filters, salt, pepper, all the things I know we have that will come in handy on our nine day stay.
Sometimes I wonder if it would just be easier to check into a hotel and order room service, but we enjoy the grilling out after a day on the boat fishing. We had reserved a boat but had no confirmation. It seemed every detail of our trip was a little more stressful this year, so we decided to just go with it and get away.
We set out around 12:30 P.M, after Dan got off work, gassed up; we watched the temperature rise higher and higher on our three hour drive finally reaching 100 degrees by the time we arrived. Air conditioner in the car can be very deceiving. Once we opened the door to start unloading we were hit with the stifling air, much like opening a hot over door. As we opened the door to the cabin, it had to be even higher inside after being shut tight. So unloading was slow moving, taking our time putting things right and taking breaks to water up. It was most unbearable heat.
I went about opening the windows in the cabin and as I reached over the sink my eye caught sight of one of the biggest spiders I have laid eyes on since the one who took a shower last year back home. Screaming, (yes I am a terrified of the eight legged creatures) I ran out to the deck and screamed for someone to kill it. To the rescue came Mike who loves all things insects and as I would later find out snakes. He studies them and is a world book of knowledge on types. Laughing at me, he says he “took care of it.” To me taking care of it means squashing it, he instead set it free into the “wilderness.”
As we lugged bag after bag onto the deck and into the hot cabin, I worked feverishly to try and put the necessary items away, taking frequent, and I do mean frequent breaks to sit and refresh with cold water. The men teased me over all the supplies I took but by the end of the trip, they would be grateful over several items they had first thought unnecessary.
After taking another break to wipe the sweat from my organizing, I sat down on a lawn chair and asked Mark to turn on some music. We were so glad to finally be there, I wanted to celebrate while we worked. The music soon turned into a siren blaring and a weather watch warning. Having been through a few storms, I wasn’t much worried until Mike said he got an alert on his phone that stated, “Take shelter immediately.” Mark looked worriedly up in the sky and mouthed something about high winds. Again I shook it off, told him not to worry and he stated they were talking about winds coming in over 70 miles an hour.
No sooner than the words were out of his mouth and the sun dipped behind some angry looking clouds darkening the sky. The wind started as a small breeze and just as I stepped back outside to sit down and enjoy the coolness, a sound like a train caught my attention. I looked to our right and trees started bending before my eyes. The boys sitting on deck chairs laughing at Mark soon turned into scurrying feet to run inside just as a huge tree branch fell on the deck taking out a chunk of wood with it.
The roof sounded as if someone were on top with a jack hammer. I jumped, moved inside quickly as Mark slid the sliding glass door shut. Rivets of rain pelting down hard and we watched in horror as the trees looked as if they were breaking like thin sticks. I sat down on the sofa and prayed. I prayed hard for protection and for the storm to pass. Mike kept his phone on and informed us the storm warning stated it would pass in an hour.
I didn’t think my heart could take an hour of the pounding the little cabin was taking. My thoughts turned to all the trees surrounding us and the tall ones on the slanted hill above the cabin. I had visions of them all crashing down upon us and several whacks against the roof and walls had me thinking this was true. My hero of a son put his arm around me and kept reassuring me it was okay. I kept talking to God, feeling his peace flow over me. Lightening lit the sky, thunder roared and the wind would momentarily die down only to pick back up at full speed. Everything we thought it was passing, it started again hurling branches, rocks, walnuts and debris towards us.
The storm lasted over an hour with me shaking, praying and Mark looking quite worried for our safety. The lights dimmed, the radio went off and then all power went out leaving us in a dimly lit room. Fans that were keeping us cool went silent. At last it stopped. We stepped out on the deck to survey the damage of downed trees and limbs. The deck was strewn with leaves, branches and walnuts. The one good thing this storm did was drop the temperature 20 degrees bringing us a bit of refreshment from the heat.
I stared in amazement that as best we could tell, we had little damage to the cabin and praised God we were protected and safe. Taking a big sigh of relief, we set about finding candles, (yes, laugh at me now) and flashlights to clean up what we could. I had yet to finish unpacking and now the sky was much darker and not allowing much light to work with, I left it for the next day.
The boys, now feeling safer decided to trek down the steep hill to set up a line to snag a fish. Mike loves to fish and could hardly wait to try his hand on the lake after the storm and cool air. We talked about the storm, lack of electric and how we would handle the night. I pulled blankets out as the temperature dropped even more and the breeze chilled us. (Yes, laugh at me now men, blankets to keep you warm). Who would have thought 100 degree temperatures would drop so fast we would need blankets for the night? I guess only a mother who tends to over pack. Turning in for the night, snuggled under a blanket, I thanked God again for His protection. Tomorrow we would finish cleaning up, put things away and pick up our boat. Those were the thoughts I had before shutting my eyes to sleep. Tomorrow, for sure would be another day.
Teresa Gale
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