Progress, not perfection

Years ago I got a Chinese fortune cookie whose wisdom has served us well on the Loveless Lake Project:

Inch by inch, life’s a cinch.

Yard by yard, it’s very hard.

Even though it seems we’re always looking down the road (me, especially, as I’m already sketching cabin plans and interviewing builders…), it helps to break down the steps into chunks – and then lower expectations a notch or two.

This past weekend we set three goals.

Goal No. 1: To make our "first Saturday" visit to the Polk County Recycling Center, when it opens for the month's lone weekend day until noon. We paid the kind gentleman $15 to take the refrigerator -- even though the Freon likely leaked out years ago, and Xcel currently is paying people $35 to get rid of their aging fridges. Still. Just like those nasty, skanky mattresses we dropped off the first Saturday in Febuary, this was money well spent.

To quote an art teacher I once met, "Good riddance to bad rubbish."

Goal No. 2: Get the giant TV console up the hill and into the truck so I could set it out with my curbside recycling in Minneapolis. The thing was so heavy that Chris ended up dismantling it. If memory serves, this was the third TV we've hauled out, and certainly the most challenging and karma-sucking of the bunch.

It's sitting on its side, but this massive dinosaur was a mother to deal with.  

Goal No. 3: Fire up the new chain saw. Whohoo! Chris made quick work of the low-hanging branches that snagged his fishing line the first time he threw a cast at lakeside. I hauled several loads of excellent firewood up Stairmaster Hill to stoke the fire.

Yes, life’s a cinch.



Chris and his angle of repose.