And The Morning Stillness Was Shattered By . . .

I will never forget the morning when I was rattled from my beauty sleep by the arrival of a backhoe outside my bedroom window. Over the next several years, as the beautiful field beside our Pennsylvania home transformed into a development with 40 homes, I grew accustomed to the rattle of dishes in my cupboards, the "beep-beep" of backing construction vehicles, the incessant hammering and sawing and the increased traffic on our country road. (We also made some great friends in the development - Hi Dave and Bonnie!)

While I'm not anti-progress, I am pro-sleep! And pro-peaceful mornings.

So . . . we moved to the quiet Adirondack mountains where we could awaken to the babble of the river and the wind in the pines.

As I sat writing in my journal the other morning, there arose such a clatter, I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter . . .

. . . and there was a BACKHOE!!!

Now to put this in perspective, we have ONE neighbor!!! Just ONE!!!

We haven't even met them yet because they are "seasonal" owners - meaning that they live elsewhere and just vacation here. We've been told that they'll be here in July and August . . . so things should be pretty quiet September through June - right?

Wrong! Our ONE neighbor . . . is having an addition built on his house! Can you believe it??!!

So now every morning at 6:45 am, a parade of pick-up trucks, dump trucks, boom trucks and graders progress up our driveway past my window. Shortly thereafter, the hammering and sawing begins and continues until 4:00 pm when the parade heads home.

I'm trying to keep my sense of humor about this. =-) They say there's something good in everything. So here's what I've come up with so far:

1) The project has a June 30 deadline so at least we're only looking at months instead of years this time.

2) The nice man with the backhoe had to ask me to move my van on that first morning. Apparently he could tell I was less than thrilled (still being in my pj's and all) so he kindly used his backhoe to smooth out the mud ruts in our drive.

3) There's no use sleeping in so we're getting a nice early start to the day.

4) All you who know us are getting a good giggle . . . and since laughter is good medicine, we are improving your health of our dear family and friends.

5) I can't think of anymore right now!