A Weekend of Rest

“A hunting cabin at the study site” – that was all I knew about my new home. I kept my fingers crossed for heat, grabbed what I thought might be my last shower in a good while in Interior, and dug out my no-rinse soap from my backpack and headed to Lower Brule, fully expecting a shed with a porter john out back.

And here I am writing this blog post on the kitchen table in my cabin on the plains, with a pitched roof, a loft, a wood stove, central heating, a washer/dryer, a clawfoot tub, views of the Missouri River, and a basement lab for pit tagging and processing ferrets. Mule deer and wild turkey mill around the cabin, and there’s a dog town no more than a 100 meters away.

I also seemed to have adopted two kittens and discovered that my slight allergy to cats has gotten much, much worse in the last year. There’s even a television that took me two days to figure how to use it … kinda. DVD (check), regular television news and programming (not so much). And after three days of puzzlement, I’ve confirmed that I’m back on central time even though I'm technically west of the Missouri.

I spent the last 2+ days eating when I was hungry and sleeping when I was tired. I hiked out to the river and checked out the PD towns looking for surface plugging, indicative of ferret presence. I cooked and froze food, setting myself up for the next 10 days. I read a book. I found wi-fi access. I made my first cell phone call from my place of residence for the first time in months.

I rested. I feel whole again. Good thing work’s started.