A Easy Overnight At The Cabin...Not!

I thought this weekend would be an easy mowing overnight to the Cabin in Southwest Virginia...but it was anything but! 

I really had planned just for a photoblog, but fate had other plans. It might have started when I forgot to bring Pete (he wasn't happy). Everything was fine until we reached the second gate at the junction the goes to the other barn and the one to the Cabin. 

There up the road, a huge tree had fallen. I did bring my chainsaw just for this reason, except for one thing...it had fallen into the power lines. It had sagged the phone line and snapped the power. So, we headed outside of Fort Blackmore to get the signal to call the power company.

We waited for the truck to arrive from Appalachian Power. When he did I think it surprised the guy and he said it would be evening or Sunday before it got turned back on. Because we couldn't get around we went to the other barn and then hiked to the Cabin. Since it was getting late and it was still damp I decided to mow Sunday morning. I still had to hike up to call St. Clair just in case we were out of contact for the night. One other thing we discover something had been laying next to the Cabin plus one of our bird feeders had been trashed and besides its lid, another vanished. Bear...could be.

As night fell I picked off ticks and prepared for an evening without power. Then I thought I heard a chainsaw in the distance. I guess I did because about 9 pm the outside light came on, signaling the power was back on!

So, Sunday morning I got up and got out to mow. Well, I was going to but the mower had other ideas. After working on it for our Dad and I went over to get the Jeep Cherokee ( Dad drove the tractor and I hiked). On the way back we got to check the work done the previous evening. Then as we approached the third gate we ran into cows...yes cows.

Once back (and after lunch) it was time to work on the mower. We had sprayed starting fluid to try and start it, but no luck. After checking the spark plugs we took the top of the mower engine off. We poured gas into the carburetor because if it didn't work we were throwing in the towel. However, it worked! However, while I mowed Dad ran over something with the tractor a punctured the back left tire. But, I got the yard mowed and we headed to St. Clair... Mission Accomplished!