Settlement/First Visit

We had settlement for our cabin in Lewistown on Friday, February 18th. The previous owners now live in North Carolina so they were not present at settlement. The only people there were Lisa, myself, the settlement attorney and the realtor. After we were handed the keys, the realtor went out to the cabin with us to show us how to work everything. The cabin currently uses propane for the lights and all of the appliances. There is an electric pole at the bottom of our driveway and we should be hooked up to electric within a few months. Right now, electric is only available in the cabin via a generator on the deck.

The realtor was so helpful in showing us where things were located in the cabin, how to work and light the appliances and telling us about the area where the cabin is located. He was there with us for an hour or two. My parents were there at the cabin with us as well, so my Dad also got up to speed on how everything worked.

We were so surprised by all of the stuff that was left by the previous owners. We knew that they were leaving the furniture and the generator and some other items, but they left pretty much everything there. I don't know if they just didn't want to make the trip from North Carolina to get all of the stuff or if they just figured that they wouldn't have a use for all of it. They left us really neat plates and mugs with wildlife pictured on them, tools, a hammock, a vacuum cleaner and a myriad of other items that we can really put to use at the cabin and now won't have to buy.

We cleaned up a little and "moved in" to the place, placing some of our personal effects and knickknacks in the cabin to make it our own. I was itching to do a little exploring so I took a walk into the woods on the east side of the cabin. Before I had walked more than about 30 yards, I was seeing scat from at least two or three different animals. Some of it was clearly from deer, but there were some that possibly came from turkey and some that I wasn't sure about. About 40 yards east of the cabin, I came into a clearing that I soon recognized was a trail that led northeast up the side of the mountain. I walked up it briefly and then began picking out some good hunting spots and some places where I plan to sit and do some writing. At some point it dawned on me that I already felt at home in the wilderness there even though it was my first real visit. Since the age of 12, I had been hunting in Juniata County where my Dad belongs to a deer camp. To be honest, there was a point where I wondered how I would feel about leaving the familiarity of the place where I had grown up hunting. My brief 45-minute foray into my new domain quickly erased any doubts that I had. I also wondered how my Dad would feel about it. He had been hunting in Juniata County for probably close to 50 years. I asked him if he thought he could get used to hunting at the new place and he actually seemed enthusiastic about it. That made me feel better because I didn't want to take him out of his comfort zone if it wasn't something that he felt good about.

It was a very warm day for February with the temperature climbing into the 60s even up on the mountain. The cabin faces south and since the trees are bare at this time of year, a lot of that sun gets through and warms up the interior. We didn't even need to light the propane heater or the wood stove as it was comfortable inside come early afternoon. We had arrived at the cabin around 11:30 and by 4:30 we were packing up and heading for home. It almost pained me to leave. After so many years of looking and what we went through to get the cabin, I was so happy to finally be there and know that I owned it. I didn't want to go so soon. However, I took solace knowing that I would be returning in short measure. I cast a last wisful look at our little A-frame before climbing into the car.

"The time of my visit never seems so long as the time that I spend longing to see you again."