Greetings, Friends!
Oops, sorry. Need to go salvage foods from the cooler.
Okay, I’m back.
The last time that I complained, it was about the AC being out and our names being on the bottom of the list due to rain cancelling the appointment to re-charge the unit.
The hubster was out of town and I was trying to keep the house cool through managing air flow and shade. And I did a fairly good job, too.
The cats and I did hang out in the basement a lot during the heated middle of the day.
So what happened?
The hubster returned after 6 pm on Thursday, changed clothes, and went to work replacing the two components that I had picked up earlier in the week. Just as it became dark. he finished,  turned on the AC and the fan blade moved! So we closed up the house and ran the AC all night, fingers crossed.
We woke up to a cooler house!!! Yay!!
We turned it off, packed up the car and the cats and went camping. What can I say? It was one of our camping weekends on the calendar!

Luckily we were camping close to the North Shore, so it was cooler than in the Cities.

I’m always  appreciative of the little things, when we return to civilization after camping. I notice that the bathroom at the Subway in Moose Lake has no gigantic dead flies on the floor. The toilet paper is not locked onto a bar with a padlock. And while in the stall, you aren’t listening for the footsteps on the gravel coming close, with a tug on the door to see if it’s occupied. I always feel that I have to have an answer for him/her.

” Just a minute.”

“Give me two more minutes!”

” Occupied!”

Sometimes I cough loud enough to be heard before the tug or knock on the door.

It always feels awkward.

But when I get back to civilization, in this case,  Moose Lake, I don’t have to worry because there is more than one outhouse, so to speak!

Yep, we go camping in the Superior National Forest, where, if the campground doesn’t have water, the camp sites are free.  (And those campsites where there is water?  There is only potable, or drinkable water. There are no showers or flush toilets.)  Keep in mind that the campground where we camp has only four sites and shares the one holer outhouse with the boaters on Wilson Lake.

Last weekend, there were plenty of boaters and people per site. But they were quiet families, except for site #2 which was  visited on Saturday afternoon by the Forest Ranger with “Law Enforcement” on his pickup. He stayed and talked with the group of twenty something young men for quite a few hours. After that, they were quieter. And they picked up their beer cans.

I don’t know who called and complained. Goodness knows, you have to drive 30 minutes just to get cell service. I didn’t do it. I would have gone to talk to them if I thought there was a problem, but I didn’t. (either talk to them or think there was a problem)

I do know that a few years ago when the grass was tinder dry and there was a campfire burning ban in the Superior National Forest and practically everywhere else, the Rangers came  and visited site  #4. They had just started a campfire at night. It was discovered by a spotter plane, and called into Headquarters.

So, it seems like you are in the middle of nowhere, and you are, but the Forest Rangers are watching.

And that’s a good thing.

And, whoever replaces the toilet paper on the bar with the padlock, they are watching, too. There are at least four rolls on the locked bar, with another six on the other bar to your left which is not locked. Whoever checks on the quantity of  paper in the pit toilets in the Superior National Forest does an excellent job!!

It’s a beautiful place and we enjoy being there. We both could do without the giant and ferocious mosquitoes, but we are in a camper now, which allows for brushing teeth and spitting into a sink rather than a bush while you are swatting the mosquitoes. Because you know that mid-swat you are going to turn your head inadvertently and the clean spit  stream you had planned is going to dribble down your chin and perhaps your pj’s.

I’m just saying, I’m liking the camper.

The cats like the camper, too.

I think that it was an accident that Buffy the Destroyer curled up so tight against the canvas wall that she fell out on the ground.

I was glad I was there to hear the noise that sounded like a medium sized animal was jumping up and attacking the underside of the camper. I went out to check, followed the meowing , and discovered Buffy, discombobulated and surprised,  sitting next to the tire under the camper.  I convinced her to come closer and for once, she did. Both of us were happy she was  back inside the camper. Then I went out to check the pulls which attach the canvas to the plywood under the pullout part. Several of them were unhooked, allowing for easy access to the outside.

All I kept thinking about was the line from “Jurassic Park” about the smart  raptors checking the fences systematically for weak points.

Ufda.

Thankfully, that was a one and done, at least for this trip. I am thinking of buying  pool noodles, though, to wedge between the mattresses and the canvas…

*********There is no transition here********

The hubster has been at it again. Tree trimming. Well, this is more like tree take down.

Tuba Man asked for the hubster’s help in taking down three pine trees on his property. Knowing that  his dad had researched tree trimming the summer before, bought all the gear, and had helped trim a few big branches threatening Tuba Man’s house last fall, he knew his dad would love to help him take down these three pines.

And the hubster promptly dropped what he was doing to do just that.

Now, me? I stay away from these events because they drive me crazy. But I do listen to the hubster tell me about them  afterwards.

And, here he is, at the top of the biggest and last pine tree, rigging all in place, ready to finish cutting the notch that will make the top fall into Tuba Man’s yard, not on the fence or in the neighbor’s yard.

Well, for each action there is a reaction. If your frame of reference for tree trimming is like mine where you watched it on cartoons, when the guy at the top yells something like, “Fore!” and the guy underneath doesn’t hear him, gets hit by the tree, has symbols like %&$*# float out of his head, then gets up and walks away, you would be surprised like I was to hear what actually happens.

The tree top falls, this is true. Gravity takes care of that. Where it falls is up to the care taken before gravity takes over.

What I didn’t know was that the action of the top separating from this trunk kicks back the top of the trunk about five feet, then forward five feet, then back four feet, then back three feet, and so on until the ride stops.

Bottom line is, if you are not ready for it, you will be thrown from the tree.

Hence the rigging, the gear, the preparation, and the quiet, non flashy but all important research.

I still won’t watch. But I still listen to him afterwards, when he tells me about it. That’s enough for me.

My danger? Navigating around the dead flies in an outhouse up north and figuring out what I’m going to say to whomever is walking across the gravel to the outhouse door.

Oh, and the guy who came to recharge the AC arrived just after we returned from camping. His verdict?

“Well,… it’s working now. Who knows how long it will keep going?”

It’s been cooling us for at least 24 years. Let’s hope for at least the rest of the summer.

Stay cool, drink lots of water, hug your loved ones.

Love,

Janet