2018 Life Logs, Day 220—44 Years Ago Today
Date: Wednesday, August 8, 2018
Weather: Sunny and Hot; High 87, Low 73 F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
In catching up on the news tonight, I was reminded that 44 years ago today Richard Nixon resigned as President. And that led to the memory of what Mark and I were doing on that day. We were setting the ridge pole in place on the log cabin we were building in northern Idaho. We had built up the logs on either end of the cabin and the ridge pole is the main beam that holds the whole thing together. In this case, that beam was 37-feet above ground level and we had no ladder. The only way to get the beam up there was to drive railroad spikes into trees and to use those spikes to climb up. We had no electricity, but even back then we were news junkies and had a battery-operated radio. We had heard that the Nixon was going to resign, so we had the radio sitting at the base of one of threes blasting the resignation speech just as we set the ridge pole. There must be some significance to this, but I am not sure exactly what that is. But I will say that we had quite a celebration that evening. I am inserting a photo, not very clear, of that moment.
You probably can’t see it, but Mark is straddling that ridge pole at the far end.
Jonah, Ollie, and I had a great time at the beach this morning. While Jonah had his class, Ollie challenged Dorothy, a very proficient nine-year-old swimmer, to race him to the jetty. The beauty of a six-year-old is that they have no concept that there is anything in the world that they can’t do. So he swam as hard as he could and made it to the jetty and back. Then he and Dorothy spent the next hour doing acrobatics in the water—handstands, back flips, front flips, and something Ollie calls a 180 twist. After his class, Jonah joined them and they all had a great time. Then Jonah and Ollie played in the sand, digging tunnels for another hour.
When we got home, we had a water battle using the Water Blasters (like water canons). We didn’t need showers afterwards, as all salt water was washed away. I think we were all exhausted by that time, so we had lunch and the boys spent the afternoon in front of the fan in the living room drawing fancy cars. With Sam’s absence, Jonah and Ollie are spending a lot more time playing together. Nice to watch.
When Heather got home, she headed to the garden to harvest the day’s bounty.
She asked me what plans I have for next week when they are in Maine on vacation. I replied that I had no plans, but then I thought about that and realized that I a huge list of things I hope to accomplish. I will also be spending a bit of time reconnecting with friends. I have been out of the loop since the end of June and will take time to join in on a few gatherings during the week.
