While at the top-of-the mountain home of Dan and Laurie, I got to play lumberjack by cutting and splitting wood, as their main source of heat is wood.
I hiked up to a gravesite of a mountain man who passed away of cancer at age 40.
There is a gazebo out in the woods looking out at Camel’s Hump. In a plastic bag is a notebook in which you are supposed to leave a message of your experience of being there – this I did both times. Camel’s Hump is a climbing challenge, as for the last leg you’re on your hands and knees going up sheer rock. (I made it to the top on the third try.)
Genie and I got to see a male woodcock performing for a female woodcock in a grassy opening in the woods by their house at dusk. He would do aerial displays, fly in circles, make a funny call, land, and repeat the process.
The hot water heater decided it was done heating late on Saturday. Our thanks to a young feller named Justin from Falcon Plumbing, who replaced it late Saturday evening.
Their location is so beautiful, we didn’t go down the mountain very much. We bought groceries in the small neighboring town of Hinesburg. The store, like everything else, is built on rock. (Part of the floor is rock.)
We attended the community church in Huntington, a small Baptist church built in 1861. It was a very friendly congregation in a quaint setting.
We drove over to the local 18-hole golf course on a dairy farm. The dairy farmer liked to golf so at retirement he turned the dairy farm over to his son. He then built the golf courses with a driving range. The neat thing is, all the yard markers are wooden Holstein cows.
Somehow a wood tick found my back and enjoyed Norwegian blood for about two days.
Dan and Laurie were to be back Sunday evening, May 31, and we would leave their home to stay at the Quality Inn in Colchester, Vermont. Late Sunday afternoon Dan called from the emergency room at the hospital in Syracuse, New York. Laurie had a TIA (transient ischemic attack – a small stroke) and they were running tests while keeping her overnight. She was released to her primary physician in Burlington the next day for further tests. Please pray for her. Thanks.
They returned to their home on Monday and Genie and I checked into the Quality Inn in Colchester, where we stayed for a week.
We noticed the cost of living is a lot higher in the Burlington area compared to Southern Minnesota.
While at the Quality Inn we toured Church Street in Burlington, Vermont (so named because of a big church at the end). It is a blocked-off section of streets (about six blocks) with pedestrian traffic only and no smoking. The stores are small on three levels. Macy’s department store is at the end of a building a block long off Church Street, thus you have to walk past a lot of small stores to get to a big store – smart protection for the small stores.
A building was removed, thus leaving two exposed walls off Church Street. The walls were then painted with small murals about Vermont. One was John Deere (the person, the founder of John Deere), being a resident of Vermont.
On our last Sunday we attended the community church in Huntington, Vermont. At the end of the service the attendees formed a circle while holding hands. The pastor (Rev. Larry Tetweiler) asked for prayer concerns. Genie asked for a prayer for Laurie, which was honored. Thank you to those present.
———
Bob is a retired AAL (Aid Association for Lutherans) agent, currently working on his master’s degree in Volunteering. His wife, Genie, is a retired RN, currently working on her doctor’s degree in Volunteering. They have two children, Deb in North Carolina, and Dan in Vermont. Bob says if you enjoy his column, let him know. If you don’t enjoy it, keep on reading, it can get worse. Words of wisdom: There is always room for God.