Greetings and Salutations, Friends!

It has been awhile since I’ve written, but be not concerned: the above title does not describe my new diet. Nor is it the list of ingredients for a camping meal.

It does refer to camping, though and yes, I realize that I just used a transition. Whoop! Whoop! The six pack of beer and a can of cat food refers to the capacity of the smallest size of cooler allowed on camping trips. Just like NASA, space matters.

And just why would we need a cooler when we have in the camper a fully functioning fridge? Ahhh, there’s the rub, as Shakespeare would say.

The fridge stopped working just about the same time that the small 12 volt table fan did. And shortly after that the stove also stopped.

Yes, yes, I did the soapy water test to make sure we didn’t have a gas leak. We didn’t.

And why was I doing the soapy water test instead of the hubster who is the usual camper first responder?

He was hundreds of miles away, hiking in soft sand carrying a 50 lb pack and digging a hole to, uh, do his business in, as my dad would say. I was not with this camping excursion——-I was going to say party, but that really doesn’t sound like a party to me. Does it to you?

And, believe me, if I had been with them, there would have been no end to the complaining, caterwauling, and crying. They were lucky to not have me along.

No, I was staying in the camper under an arbor shaded driveway 60 feet from a house with AC. This was all during that awful heat and humidity stretch in July.

So, I could store the wet cat food in the house fridge, make coffee there, too. The hubster discovered the broken table fan before he left and so had ordered a new one.

And it was this fan and the ceiling vent that kept the camper from over heating during the day while the cats slept.

Where was I? In the house taking care of the seven year old, making and dressing clothespin dolls, running a stuffie hospital where we had a Rabies Room to take care of all the rabies cases, playing Sleeping Queens, a great card game, and Labyrinth, a fabulous board game, and reading books.

Way more fun than camping where they were. We also made a dollhouse out of a Chewy box, complete with a slide, elevator, pool, hot tub, beds and bedding for all the clothespin people.

We camped on our way home, though, and that’s where we needed the cooler for the six pack of beer and a can of cat food.

We are home now and the fridge and stove have been fixed. Ready for the next adventure.

And speaking of adventures,( what??? Two transitions in one post?) I am here to tell you that it certainly is an adventure trying to thread a needle while driving past the Glensheen Mansion in Duluth. It is also a struggle to thread a needle while driving past the exits to Wittenberg and Clintonville on WI 29. I may just try having several needles already threaded while in those two places.

Notice I didn’t say I would give up sewing while riding in the car.

Or camping. In fact it was with “Hand Embroidery: Stitches at a Glance” that I smacked several mosquitos in the camper earlier in the summer. You see the usefulness.

It was on that trip that the US Forestry guy visited our campsite. He was going to take down a nearby tree and just wanted to let us know. After visiting the rest of the campers, we could hear him shouting out what I can only imagine are the standardized warnings tree fellers use. Nice guy.

I asked him if this was as it seemed a pretty darn near perfect job. “Yep,” he replied,” except for that time a few days ago when I was doing some trimming and weed whipped some dog poop,”

Yeah. There is that.

Have a good Sunday afternoon. Listen to some music that makes your heart sing. Smile and say hi to someone new. Hug the ones you love. Be thankful for the US Forestry guys who are out there, making campsites safe for all of us.

Love,
Janet