Ramblings of Procrastination

I have been truly uninspired lately. Winter blahs, I suppose. Actually supposed to be Spring, according to the calendar, but you can't go by that so much. I have a few brave little daffodils that bobbed gently in the wind and snow last weekend. The extended forecast that we all watched earlier in the week promised a warmer weekend, but I hear now that it was a fantasy. My joints are telling me otherwise.

I have been spending far too much time in front of the TV. I was encouraged to go for a walk today by a friend and it sounds like a great idea .......... but the skies are gloomy and threatening rain (or sleet, maybe snow?) and the ground is woefully soggy and sloppy. Added to that is my bum knee and my jaw aching and I am less than enthusiastic about a walk. Instead I am doing laundry and grumbling to myself. I think I will hang out in my sewing room today as I am finishing a bunch of projects for upcoming birthdays and a wedding.

One of my baby girl's best friends is getting married and asked me to take the wraps from the bridesmaid dresses and fashion some little clutch type purses for the maids. I found the metal frames on-line and she approved them and I have all the supplies at the ready ......... I watched a tutorial on-line and it looked easy enough. They suggested a particular glue that is not available here in the US. I looked it up and was more than willing to purchase it, as it was under $10. I was not willing to pay the $35 shipping, though. Now I wish I had just done it. I have tried some other glues and so far I have been unsuccessful in getting the fabric to stick into the channel. In utter frustration I even asked he who does not sew for advice. He suggested spline, like you would use to replace screening with. That made sense, but the channel does not narrow at any point and it would still need something to grab it and hold it in place ............. and no, I will not be crimping it with a pair of pliers. I purchased some glue at the hardware store yesterday and will be trying again today. This is my gift to the bride. Well, this and dog sitting while she digs her toes in the sand on a beach in Mexico while saying 'I do'. She is my favorite friend of my daughter.

Yesterday found me on an adventure with my kampground buddy, Yvonne. We took a ride to Columbia and surprised Miss Martha at her work place. We enjoyed a nice lunch at the corner diner and I ordered some T-shirts for the kampground. We went on to shop at the Dollar Tree!! We found treasures galore, let me tell you. We even stopped at Artichoke Annie's Antique Mall. It was interesting. We didn't buy anything .............. you are not allowed to bring your purse in! They do offer free lockers in which to place your purse. To quote he who says absurdities "They sure were proud of all that stuff, cause it was not priced to sell!" We were a little punchy from laughing at the prices and the condition of some of these 'treasures' as we were leaving. We spied a church pew and I sat on it to gauge the comfort (none) and as Yvonne was about to join me she jumped back and yelped at me to get up because it was coming apart! We were laughing like school girls as we imagined the two of us on the floor beneath the broken bench, unable to pay for it because we were forced to leave our purses in the car .......... We had a nice glass of wine when we got home and laughed some more. Could be why my jaw is aching today.

It occurs to me that I have have rambled long enough and that I am simply procrastinating. Off to the sewing room I shall go ......

He Who Has A Birthday

Just in case you are reading me for the very first time and may be wondering ........... he who is my husband. Yesterday was his birthday. He is 58 and I have been in his life for 36 of those birthdays ............


Am I the only one in my age group experiencing difficulty in finding something unique to gift their mates? When we were younger, just establishing our union, it was pretty easy to come up with an idea for a gift. Things were needed and little was left for luxuries. But, you reach a certain age and you have everything. So ....... you resort to gifting things that aren't really personal. Things that are really for all the people in the household to use and enjoy. He who gets gifts for his wife has been doing this for years, so I suppose I shouldn't feel guilty for doing the same. We needed a new TV and that is what he got. I suppose the real gift was letting him go on the shopping trip and choose it. And ......... I must say that I am enjoying the gift myself.


Okay, I did buy some things that only he will use ............ just didn't think he would need to use them today. It snowed last night and he is wearing his long underwear today. Happy Birthday to He Who!

Parenting ......... Or Not

Yesterday was a lovely day. The predicted rain held off until dusk. The seasonal camper buddies were whizzing around on golf carts and cleaning the sites while I was re-merchandising my camp store and making endless lists. I met a new family and rented them a seasonal site. He who tinkers away at this and that was out and about doing what he does.


At around 5 o'clock I began to tire. It was a pleasant feeling, as I had accomplished a lot. My dogs were also tired of my absence, so I decided to have a little sit down with my furry friends and have a little stroll through the land of blog. We had no sooner settled into our usual configuration on the sofa with all three making contact with my leg and settling in when I saw motion out of the corner of my eye. They noticed it at the same time and all three bounded over me to the window barking loudly to let me know that someone was invading our private space. They don't care if you come into the store or linger on that side of the building, but the porch on the private residence side of the building is off limits unless they recognize the person and that person is with their person. Since their person is right their beside them ..........


A little girl was running after the kamp cat. I went into the store and the father came in. He is a truck driver who has seen my signage from the interstate on many occasion. I know this because he told me this over and over. I gave the man a brochure and explained the pricing and answered his questions in between scolding my dogs. I even apologized and explained that my dogs were upset because his children were on the porch that was a part of my living quarters. He was oblivious to the four little girls running amok. He just continued to tell me that he was a truck driver and ask the same questions I had already answered. Finally he left to take a ride through the park. But, he came right back in with the four little girls from age 6 to 2 to introduce me to them. Why? Don't know, as I fervently hope they decide to camp elsewhere. He didn't appear to be one who was into parental supervision. When he left this time I locked the door.


My dogs are still barking with gusto as I return to my perch and look out the window to see the little girls running on my porch. I see that he who protects me is there saying something to the children and they return to their family van. He who watches the van drive away comes in to tell me the rest of the story. The mother of the foursome was in the van all the while her children were out and about and her husband was regaling me with tales of driving his big rig along the interstate reading signs and billboards. Seems the little ones had captured our cat and actually stowed her away in the van. When they opened the door to get in, the cat escaped and they were trying to catch her again! All the while the parental unit is watching and does not appear to care that her children are attempting to steal my cat! Really, really think they would be happier at the state park, don't you?

Sorting Socks

Spring cleaning. Time to get everything all ready for warm weather. I don't pick a place to start, but if it is nice outside I will work in my gardens. Today I am doing laundry and listening to the drone of morning show talk on TV. Putting away the laundry and I decide to empty his sock drawer. He who loves to wear over the calf socks has more than a few rejects here. I am fascinated by the locations of the worn areas ............ I buy good socks. Gold toe for him. Otherwise they only last about three months. I used to wonder why. The toes and the heels are reinforced on all socks. I never learned to darn socks, I just throw them in my rag bag and use them for dusting or staining or various cleaning jobs.



But, the worn areas on his socks are below the heel. Why would they have holes there you might ask. I watched him closely one day as he put his socks on and was reminded of a determined toddler putting his socks on. He does not roll them up in his hand to facilitate putting the foot in. No, he puts his toes into the very top of the sock and pulls ... and pulls, shoving his foot into the sock. His heel is then positioned way below the actual heel of the sock. I tried to tell the man that his socks would actually wear and feel better if he didn't try to pull them all the way to his groin. He doesn't listen and I have quit talking. I just know that every six months my rag bag grows.



My clinic visit went well yesterday. I, of course, felt fine while I was there. I displayed none of the symptoms that have been keeping me down. My blood pressure, lungs and heart all were okay. Stomach pains were absent. No bloated belly. EKG was normal. I took my blood pressure a few days ago while I was feeling really bad, light headed as I watched my pulse bouncing in my eyes and heard the actually rush of blood through my veins. It was 180/100. Not good, but I was so happy to have something to convey to the doctor. My heart skips beats, a lot, especially in the late afternoon hours. She listened and did not discount any of my symptoms. I am now taking a beta blocker for the blood pressure and palpitations and a stronger medication for acid reflux. She agreed with me, that I would no doubt feel much better when I dropped my hibernation weight I acquired this winter. She did warn that I might experience a mild headache and fatigue until my body adjusted to the medication. Said medication might also have a weight loss effect. I chose that as my desired side effect. Instead I have a headache. Go figure. But, after only two doses I feel much better. And now that I have sorted socks, I am going to do a little scrubbing ......

Gloomy, Just Gloomy

Snowed again yesterday. Six inches. It started before we went to bed and we lost power at some point in the wee hours of the morning. The silence woke me up. He who loves noise and motors says he can't sleep without a fan running ............. and having lived with him for well over 30 years, I now can't sleep without the white noise. We buy a new noisy box fan every year or so and now we also have an air purifier running. All this shut down suddenly and I woke up. He who swears he needs the white noise rolled over and went right back to sleep. Deep sleep, accompanied by snoring with his mouth open. I finally positioned my head at the foot of the bed in hopes that the snoring would serve as my white noise. Without electricity, the gas furnace won't come on, the forced air on the wood stove does not work. My left foot stayed cold. I was all toasty warm under my comforter ............. but, my left foot was pushing his chin up to keep his mouth closed to dull the snoring. I would doze and my foot would creep under the covers and he would start to snore and waken me and the foot would go back to the chin. It was a vicious cycle and I did not sleep well.



After a night of fitful sleep I huddled on the sofa and sipped coffee and dozed on and off. I have spent far too much time huddled on the sofa lately. I am here today, uninspired to do much else. For the past few months I have been experiencing bouts of stomach pain and just plain feeling crappy. I have periods of time that I am pain free and actually feel like doing things, but for the past couple of weeks, I have been down more than up. So, I have finally given in and will be in the clinic bright and early tomorrow searching for a solution to my malady. Having exhausted all home remedies and over the counter drugs for relief I guess I don't have much choice.



But, the snow. It is time for flowers and vegetables. I am tired of being inside. It was warm and lovely this past weekend and I walked through some of my gardens to see the tulips and daffodils pushing through the mulch and I want to push through the gloom that surrounds me. Wish I had the energy to tear the house apart and do a real spring cleaning. I have not been simply wasting time. I am happy to report that I now have 20% win rate in Spider Solitaire! I troll Craigslist endlessly searching for .............. stuff. Just , you know, looking. Window shopping, if you will. I did find a deal on a snow cone machine and will be spending many hours shaving ice and adding flavors this summer. Something to look forward to. Going to lose myself in the land of blog now .........

The Customer Is Always Right??

When you think about running a campground, you think about meeting lots of people traveling through. That does happen and we get lots of return visits (due, no doubt, to my stellar personality ....). But what has happened over the years is a group of campers who, though previously unknown to each other, have formed deep friendships. So much so that they have withdrawal symptoms when they are separated during the winter months.


To remedy this, it was decided to meet monthly at a designated eating establishment. Some of our long term campers live to the east and some to the west. They decided to meet here, check on their campers and then we all go to a local place. Not that many places to choose from here. There is a BBQ place that has decent food and it was chosen. I had heard that the food was really good. I don't eat out much during the season and when I do get the chance I am usually in a bigger shopping area. We all gathered and met there in December. I think we were a party of 13. It was cold and miserable outside and the only place to sit was the middle of the room where most of the tables were hastily shoved together. We all enjoyed the company of one another, but I thought the food was just okay, nothing I would go out of my way to get.


Our server was a bit taciturn. She seemed a little put out to have to wait on us. In an effort to be friendly we asked if it would be better if we called ahead. She said it probably wouldn't matter, that she would still have to wait on us by herself, but we did let her know of our tentative day to meet in February. February's date acme along with lots of snow and treacherous, icy roads. We all decided to cancel and he who would never want anyone to be put out called the restaurant to cancel. I don't remember if he was even able to talk to anyone, since most of the city had shut down due to the weather.



So with the spring like weather of last week and the fact that we all had cabin fever and were missing all our buddies we put together a date for yesterday to meet at 4:00 at the BBQ establishment. My sweet husband called ahead and told her to expect 15 people. We headed over a little early to help put the tables together. To be nice. Three of our party were already there and somewhat subdued. They were thinking to help with the tables, too. But it was all set up and we went to sit down with our friends ........... just in time to be severely chastised for not showing up in February. She was like a dog with a bone and went on and on about how she had gotten everything all ready and then we didn't show. I apologized sincerely ........ the first time. But, she was not to be shut down with that and continued with her tirade. Finally, my husband, who was watching her with an expression of fascination, told her that he had called to cancel. She pretty much brushed him off with a sneer and continued. I whispered to Barb that I thought maybe she didn't want a tip. She didn't hear me, but could guess what I was saying and I became her "target". It's okay, really, I have thick skin; and I found her to be amusing. At first.

Seventeen of us showed up. All happy to hug and talk and I suppose we may have gotten a little loud. Two showed up a little late and we grabbed a table and added it to the line ......... causing our hostess to grumble that we had now moved around and she had all of our orders to contend with. Only one person moved and we added two to the end, no big deal. I thought we should all jump up and move to entirely different spots while she wasn't looking. You know, in the spirit of fun ..........

She glared at me periodically and interrupted our conversations to make the announcement that they were only two and a half slabs of ribs and "that's it". We were also instructed to take care of our own drink refills. She did stop short of telling us we had to have permission to get up or use the bathrooms. The food was delivered promptly and to the right people (I still say changing seats would have been fun). Mine was okay and I was hungry. Drew's was undercooked and had to go back to the kitchen. He handled it discreetly and took it back himself. She didn't bother to hide her annoyance with him.

The place wasn't very busy for a Saturday and you would think that our patronage would have been appreciated. We got there at 4:00 and stayed for two hours. We all had separate tickets and my group is known to be generous tippers. While one of our party paid a couple entered and the server, hostess, cashier rolled her eyes and wondered aloud why people couldn't just stay home to eat. I can only conclude that she has never heard that old adage that proclaims the customer to always be right.

DO NOT ENTER- KEEP OUT!!!!!!!!!

We are having a definite warm spell here at the kampground. I suppose everyone is thinking about being outside after the confinement of winter and camping comes to mind. It is all good. I will have to change the store hours and drag myself out of hibernation. Happens every year.



But, there is still a chill in the air in the morning as I linger over coffee. I am not quite ready to jump into losing my privacy. I have been down with a stomach bug for what seems like forever and I was celebrating a good night's sleep and a pain free morning today as I sat on the sofa in my sleeping attire surrounded by my furry kids. He who loves to meander through the park in his truck was out doing just that. So ....... when I heard the knob turn on my door I assumed it was my husband. My back was facing the door and my dogs leaped to the floor barking their warning to the intruder. I turned to see a woman entering my home and kicking at my dogs. She actually told them to get out of her way!!! I rise from my perch and I will confess that I was not very polite when I told her to get out of my home. I spilled my coffee on my big T-shirt, so there I stood with bed-head in a wet T-shirt and nothing else in what I thought was the privacy of my home telling the woman to go back outside. She continued to kick out at my dogs and tell me that she wanted camping information.


I had to tell her a third time that she was in my home and that she was risking an attack from my dogs (that I would not have stopped and was about to attack her myself for kicking at them) before she turned and left. Then she went to the store door and knocked on it the entire time I was pulling my robe on. I do have the store hours posted on the door .......... and I am not open yet. I let her in and gave her the information that is also available on the outside. I am wet with coffee and it is soaking into the robe and she won't leave!!! She wants to tell me that she just wanted information and that she had no idea that we weren't open. I swallowed the urge to ask her if she knew how to read and just told her that the store hours were posted on the front of the store door. Finally he who rides in his pick-up truck came in and rescued me.

This is the front of the building ................... which door would you approach?

Getting closer, you can see he who wades in muck has left his boots outside by my rocker.

Hmmmm, this door has a sign that says "office" and has all manner of information on it.

And ........ this door says "PRIVATE" and also warns about a dog. Which one shall I barge into?

It doesn't help that he who operates loud equipment accidentally (because he doesn't listen to his wife) pulled the gate that was covering the private entrance with the tractor bucket when he brought firewood up. The gate did help. It looked like a continuation of the railing and you had to open it to gain entrance to our door. I say it helped because I still have had people open it and try to enter our home instead of the office.

So, I ask, what do I have to do to maintain a small level of privacy? Locking the door, you might say. I do keep it locked when I am alone and in the store. He who also lives here is not one to lock a door behind himself as he leaves. I have had people come into the store and tell me that the 'other' door is locked. Still, I search for an answer to my dilemma.