Monday, June 27, 2011

Disaster Sunday

We were gone almost all of Saturday and I was so looking forward to a Sunday of being home most of the day and not doing much because we also have a busy Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of this week. 

Dad had other plans.  His parents have a pop up camper that has been parked at my parents house for the last nine years.  We wanted to use it this year for the fair because we have to be there a lot and want to have a place to sit and relax.  We also want a place where we can bring food so we don't have to eat fair food.  He decided that Sunday afternoon would be the perfect time to go and get it.  Ugh. 

Dancer had a 4-H Jr. Leader meeting at 2:00 p.m. so I brought her to that and Dad and Spark headed off with the truck to pick up the camper.  I had hoped that they would call and say that they were on their way back by the time Dancer and I were heading back home and then we wouldn't head down to my parents.

Of course it didn't work that way.  The camper was in my parents barn and by the time they moved all the boats out and he pulled the camper out, which had sat in the same spot for nine years and had now sunk about 18 inches into the dirt, he managed to ruin the transmission in the truck.  We now hope it is something less expensive but are still waiting to hear. 

Since we were all leaving, and my parents have a big, crazy, jumping, Airedale Terrier, Nikki had to stay home and go in the kennel.   All we have to do is say the word "kennel" and she shrinks to the floor like she is in trouble.



Next, we have to catch her and get her in the kennel.  The whole time we are trying to get her in there she has her "brakes" on. See her back legs straight out front so it is hard to get her in, reminds me of a cat getting a bath.  She wasn't much happier with our Sunday plans than I was.


Dancer had a 4-H Jr. Leader meeting at 2:00 p.m. so I brought her to that and Dad and Spark headed off with the truck to pick up the camper. I had hoped that they would call and say that they were on their way back by the time Dancer and I were heading back home and then we wouldn't head down to my parents.
Of course it didn't work that way. The camper was in my parents barn and by the time they moved all the boats out and he pulled the camper out, which had sat in the same spot for nine years and had sunk about 18 inches into the dirt, he managed to ruin the transmission in the truck. We now hope it is something less expensive but are still waiting to hear.

Dancer and I started to head to my parents after her meeting because Dad and Spark were still there and having trouble.  We took a less direct route so we could find a few geocaches in a sort of on the way there town.  If I was going to have to use the rest of my day fooling with this camper/truck thing I was at least going to do a little caching. 


The town we went through had this humongous crow statue.  Why would any town pick a crow statue, I always think of them as bad luck, plus they are a mean bird.


It truly is as big as it looks, those are regular sized flag poles.

Dancer and I got to my parents and picked up Spark and Dad.  While we were there we decided to "pop up" the camper to see how bad it was inside after all these year.  Bad, pretty much sums it up.  There was a frantic momma mouse with little pink babies she was trying to haul to safety.  We threw her nest out so hopefully she followed it and isn't in there any more.  She had done a lot of chewing to make her abode as comfy as possible for her little family.  It also smelled like the damp, damp spring we have had.  Don't think it is salvageable but maybe.  We will see when we get it to our house and can look at it better. 

Since were all in the same car going home we looked for a few more geocaches on the way home.   We stopped at a park where it was so wet there was water standing everywhere and a sign of the steps said they were slippery from being wet for so long.  The mosquitoes are also out in full force, they love shallow wet areas.


I was walking in front of everyone and turned to take their picture.  As soon as I turned Dancer and Spark ran to get out of the way.  What did they think I wanted a picture of if it wasn't them?


They came back to front and center and I got a picture, not an action/walking shot, but at least a picture.


At a wayside rest the kids found this pile of bread behind a tree.  There is white, swirled rye, whole grain, cinnamon rolls, danishes, and even a frosted something or another.  Why would anyone have all this bread and why would they dump it behind a tree?

On our way home, in our now "good" car, the oil light kept flashing and dinging.  Thankfully we were on a busy road where a gas station was open until 10:00 p.m.  Most stations close at 9:00 during the week and even earlier on Sundays.  Also thankful that Dad was in the same car as me because I would have had no idea what kind of oil to buy.  I do now but hope to never have opportunity to use that information in the future.



At least the end of the day brought a beautiful "Red sky at night, sailors delight" sky.  The colors were much more intense than this picture shows.


To take the picture Dad had to turn the headlights off, we call this "Anne of Green Gabling" as we assume that is what it would be like to travel along at night in a horse and buggy.   Here though he turned them back on because I am always sure that we are going to meet some sort of disaster when he does that.   Another beautiful sight was lightening bugs, unfortunately I didn't get a picture of them because it would look like nothing with the flash.  The field and road ditches were full of them and they look like twinkling magic when there are so many.

We left home at 1:30 and got back at 10:30 so no relaxing Sunday, we did have fun, as we always do, but no relaxing.  Plus, now we are a one car family with a two car schedule.  Not convenient but we hope to only do it for three or four days.

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