Hello Friends!

What a gorgeous day it is here in Minnesota today! I confess I do like it a little on the cool side. That hot muggy stuff we had before the hurricane was not my favorite.

Wait, say what? Did I say hurricane?  In Minnesota? Yes, yes, yes. And you know it, too, if you live here because it was all over the weather reports.  And, you know how much we pay attention to our weather reports here in MN, being that usually it is our chief cause for complaining.

You know I’m right.

We did experience just the edges of the spirals out from the, uh,  middle, I mean, eye of Cristobal . Gosh darn it. Are they the ribs of the storm? Spokes? Fingers? We hardly ever get them, how can I be expected to keep up with the terminology?

The only reason I referred to them was to record them in the blog in June, 2020, and now that’s been done. Whew.

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They came in squadrons. They attacked in formation. They left red welts across the landscape.

Mosquitos.

Holy Buckets, they were bad for so early in the season. We were camping in our state hardwood forest near Wabasha.  I’m telling you, that Skintastic stuff? Didn’t work more than five minutes there. Next time I’m using the heavy hitters.

Speaking of heavy hitter bug stuff, remember 6-12? It came in a squared off glass bottle, you poured a bit in your hand and smeared it on, smelled terrible, and was oily? Around the time of Fizzies, hula hoops, and LaCrosse Red Dot tennis shoes? And mercurichrome and methiolate which I am sure I am misspelling, but we all remember how they stung??

We used to make our own bandages with gauze and adhesive tape because bandaids were too expensive. I am still surprised that there aren’t adhesive marks left around my knees from all the times I skinned them.

Ahhh. Good times.

Back to camping. This camper has a bathroom which means that now when it rains in the middle of the night, I don’t lie there with my legs crossed waiting for a lull in the raindrops so I can run outside to pee.

In fact, we had two such thunderstorms during the nights while we were camping. On the first one, I woke up the hubster just to tell him how happy I was to be able to roll out of bed and walk the six steps to the bathroom. I’m sure he appreciated knowing that.

No fumbling to unlock the door, no checking around me to make sure that the cats weren’t poised to jump outside, no trying to remember where I had seen the poison ivy so I didn’t walk or pee there,  no blocking the door on the way back in so the cats wouldn’t jump outside.

And there was a light in the bathroom!!!!( hear  the angelic choir sing?)

The only thing I miss about the whole experience was that once I had relieved myself, I had a chance to look up at the stars.

All those stars.

I do miss that.

But who’s to say that I can’t go out to see the stars just to see the stars?

It was cloudy this last trip, but I will be looking for them on the next trip.

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We went to the beach at Wabasha. It’s just north a couple of blocks from the Eagle Center. Seeing as how we are the land of 10,000 lakes, and seeing as how things are starting to open up, I highly suggest a trip to the beach.

We were struck by how normal it looked. Families with kids, tanning teens, little ones with life jackets on and sand shovels in their hands. In MN we normally have enough space at the beach to spread out and be at least 6-8 feet from the next blanket. It’s not Jones Beach where you walk from towel to towel. Automatic social distancing through Scandinavian ancestors; it’s a good heritage to have now.

And, I will say this, the Mississippi River is a lot warmer to swim in than Lake Superior.  Besides, how do you beat that Mississippi mud squishing between your toes?

The cats enjoyed the new camper and were not hiding all the time. In the old camper they used to squeeze between the camper wall and the mattress, with the result that on our last trip, Buffy rolled right out of the camper and fell on the ground. Good thing I was inside the camper and went out to check on what I thought was a small animal attack on the pop out. She was huddling by the tire, poor thing. Scared her big time. And I wasn’t any too thrilled about it either.

Now they come out to greet us and even sit on our laps.

We had to learn a whole lot of new things  to run the camper. (read: the hubster had to learn a whole lot of new things to run the camper) We’re still learning.

The dump station was a new experience. Just like anything, you’ve got to have the right tools.

Otherwise you’re up the creek without the paddle.

Seriously.

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I have two new authors for you: Dana Stabenow and Matt Goldman. The former is an Alaskan native who writes about a Aleut female protagonist who doesn’t put up with any crap. The latter is a Minnesotan who writes about investigators in the Mpls-St. Paul area. Both series are murder mysteries. They have gladdened my spring.

Well, I hope you have a Frabjulously Funny Friday and a Wacky Weekend!

Love,

Janet