Camping season has begun. The weather is perfect. Warm breezy days and cool evenings begging for a campfire............ Monday through Thursday is filled with an insane race to keep up with all that needs to be done. The weather has cooperated this past week and I have been digging and mowing and painting from the early morning hours until I can no longer see what I am doing in the evening. It is supposed to rain today and I am looking forward to this event so that I can clean my house. I have decided that I really need a wife!
I mowed and edged yesterday, did a little planting in the vegetable rows and waited until the tree line put the pool area in a bit of shade so that I could continue to paint the fence. You would think that I would fall asleep pretty easily after 10 to 12 hours of toil. I do, but my canine friends have been restless this week. They have awakened me every night at 1:15 to go out and drink water. I can usually go back to sleep, but it is still an interruption that I don't need. Yesterday I slept in until after 8:00!! As the week wears on I find myself more tired and looking forward to the weekend. I pretty much stay in the store or simply visit with campers, so the weekend provides a slower pace as far as physical labor goes.
Even though I slathered myself in sunscreen yesterday I got a bit of a sunburn and I was feeling itchy. I didn't pay much attention to the itch. It wasn't too bad and I was busy with my project. A dark cloud formed and it rained for about two seconds and I thought I might not be able to continue with my paint job. It blew out as quickly as it blew in, so I retrieved my paintbrush from the freezer and headed to the pool, paint bucket in hand. (Yes, the freezer. If you wrap the brush with foil or plastic and put it in the freezer it can be used again without cleaning it. It will thaw quickly and become pliable).
My phone reception is iffy in some parts of the pool area and I am working on the far side now, so I have to leave the phone on the other side of the pool; meaning that I have to speed walk to the other side and then head towards the office as I answer. Suffice it to say that the only interruptions I want to have are actual reservations. As dusk is rapidly approaching last night and I am disheartened to see that I won't accomplish what I had set out to do, the phone rings. I put the brush on the edge of the can and race to the phone and towards the building and answer on the last ring before the answering machine captures the call.
"Hello, Kan-do Kampground, how can I help you?" is my automatic response to a ringing phone. Is this Kan-Do Kampground? Yes, it is, can I help you? We were wonderin', do ya'll allow camping? I squelch the urge to tell her that I wish I had thought of that and simply tell her that yes, we do. Well, we been thinking about camping. How much would it cost if we came there?
I rattle off the rates and end with "that includes two adults and up to two children". She whines about having to pay extra for her children and their four children, cause "we got a big old 5th wheel and it can sleep a lot of people". I am listening to this as I see my light dwindle and I want to either make the reservation or end the call so I can get on with my project. She finally tells me that her husband made a reservation with me already and promises to call me tomorrow!
I go back to my paint can to discover that my brush has fallen in the can and the handle now has paint on it. Annoyed, I fish it out and get paint on my hands. This is oil based paint and it gets sticky as it dries. I unconsciously scratch my leg and now I have paint on my leg, both hands, the side of my face and a big splash on my foot. I get as much paint on the fence as I can and wrap up the brush and put the lid on the can and head to house. No paint thinner to be found, but acetone removes most of it. After a shower, I eat a bowl of oatmeal while I catch up on my bloggy friends. I am itching in earnest now and wonder if the pityriasis has returned. My eyes are itching and I apply drops for allergy eyes and it sets the skin around my eyes on fire. Odd. It has never done that before.
At 7:28 this morning I heard the phone ring. It woke me after a very restless night. I looked at the caller ID and it is the same caller from last night!! In no mood for an early morning encounter with this person, I let it go to voice mail and head to the coffee machine. I am itching like crazy and take a close look at my leg. I have either poison oak or ivy. Great. I have a patch of it around my right eye.
Not really looking forward to this weekend.........
12 comments:
Oh man. I am so allergic to poison ivy. I used to get covered with it when I was a kid playing in the woods around my home. I would be miserable for weeks, blisters the size of quarters. And wouldn't you know, the field behind our property is filled with it. It's a constant battle to keep it out of the yard.
People are idiots.
You can put the paint brush in the fridge and then you don't have to let it thaw.
Wait, you actually allow camping at your campgroud? (stunned silence)...
I too need a wife, in fact, I think most wives could use a wife.
Sorry to hear about the poison ivy - put some of that oatmeal in a bath and soak!!
oh poison oak or ivy...neither are fun...almost worse than the caller...lol. have a fun season...cant wait to get out there myself...good thing we stopped at 2 kids...smiles.
Your a campground and you allow camping? How shocking or annoying of that caller. Though I think she was trying to fish a cheaper rate out of you. I'm sure you can't wait for them to show up!
Why do the idiots have to call when you are in a critical moment of work?
I hope your weekend improves. And if you manage to find a wife you could send her my way...
I am amazed at the continuous stupidity of people. Hmmm... a campground that actually allows camping. Novel idea. I wonder if she thought you'd give her a better rate than her husband got the next day.
Sorry about the poison ivy/oak. I'm very allergic, too.
And the fun begins. :-)
What are you, Martha Stewart or something? Who ever knew about the paint brush in the freezer trick? Not me! Although I don't do much painting.
I'm wondering if you breathe hard when you run to answer the phone. Does the person on the other end wonder WTF? LOL!
Wait. Your a campground and you allow, gasp, camping? It takes all kinds to make this world go 'round I guess!
Hope your "itchiness" goes away soon.
Yes I think you need a wife and a few good men too. You need help to do all that work. You are a one woman army. I don't know how you do it all. I certainly tip my hat to you. You are amazing. Hope that itch goes away and that cheap yapping old broad that talks too much on the phone too.
Kathy if you put your paint brush in a ziploc baggie you don't even need to put it in the freezer! I sometimes leave mine for days that way.
I love reading your stories. You're sort of the Erma Bombeck of the camping set. There's always something going on at your place. :-)
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