Long Weekend

Since My little dog died I have not had 10 minutes to myself. I woke this morning fully expecting to find him in his usual spot next to me. Instead my hand found the long fur of Toni Louise. She has taken his place as the leader of the pack and grieving time is over as far as she is concerned. Toni has a very matter of fact personality. She is determined and single minded. She will make a fine leader of our pack.

I was so sad to discover that I had not been in a nightmare and that this weekend really had happened. Wall-E, our sensitive comfort dog tip-toed to me to offer love and support. He is watching me intently now as I sip coffee and type. One little sniff and he will be by my side. Cujo is content to snuggle by my side here in my chair. He is asleep, though and not really attune to my feelings like Wall-E.

I suppose I should just take comfort in the fact that I have three dogs and a cat to lavish with attention, but I miss Oscar.

If you think things could not be worse than having to paste a happy look on my face and deal with campers all day Friday ...... you would be so wrong! I woke Friday morning resigned to having to put on a happy face and make nice while I registered the weekend crowd of campers. My eyes were puffy and swollen, but I had no plans to try to remedy the situation. I figured make-up would just make it worse should I have a tearful moment. For the most part, people are wonderful and I cannot count how any people shed a tear with me this past weekend.

HeWho loves me and does sweet things for me, made a trip to the grocery and came back with food. Prepared food! He was hungry and so decided that I must be hungry as well. I went in to wash my hands. I had been replanting some things and my hands needed a good scrubbing. No water flowed from the faucet. How much we take for granted the simple luxuries of life!

HeWho plumbs reacted quickly and checked all the things one checks to determine the cause of the loss of water. The aroma of fried chicken filled the air as we tried to determine what was needed to remedy the situation. Keep in mind the fact that there is only one source of water here and if we don't have water, the campers don't have water.

The phone started ringing and I was deluged with alerts about the water situation. Turns out that the motor in the pump was no longer working. So, you say, why don't you just replace it? Because it resides deep in the ground. It is not even 2 years old and under warranty. This provides little comfort when you are the one fielding complaints, though.

It was around 2 pm when this happened and we were without water for about 24 hours. The company responsible for the warranty came out and tried everything they could to restore water until the new pump could be installed. They tried to re-route the water from the pool to provide water to flush. Didn't work, but we tried.

All the while I am in the office, registering guests. Reservations had me at capacity and I was not looking forward to dealing with the water issue. The park host from the state park stopped in for some ice and told me to send my incoming reservations down to fill their holding tanks with water before parking in their spots. Sounded like a good solution. Little did I know they would charge TEN DOLLARS for that water! Of course I reimbursed everyone for this. I tried to contact as many of my reservations as I could to let them know about our water situation.

We only lost one reservation because of the water. It was most unpleasant. The man was so irate, I think he would have hit me if he thought he could get away with it. He put on quite a show, stomping and yelling at me. Demanded to know why I did not call him (he arrived shortly after we discovered the problem and would have already been on his way) He kept shouting that he had driven for 2 hours to get here and wanted me to find another campground with space for him. I suggested filling his holding tank at the state park (only 1 mile away), but he growled that he was not going to do that. On and on he raged about having to just go back home. All the while his wife stood meekly by his side. I really felt sorry for her. I knew her ride home would not be a pleasant one.

I suppose he thought I had sabotaged the well just to ruin his weekend. I even pointed out to him that I did not have water myself. I probably could have left that out, because he told me in no uncertain terms that he could care less about my situation. I hope he did not take his rage out on his wife, wasn't her fault either.

Other than this man, everyone else was very understanding and stayed. I did discount their stays, but that is my job. I washed my hands in a fountain outside and used mouthwash to brush my teeth and went to bed, leaving the men still trying to pump pool water and take down my fence and everything else needed to be able to get the drill truck next to the well. It was well after midnight before we slept with the promise of a 6 am arrival of the new pump.

Water was restored the next afternoon and life went on. I stayed busy fielding calls from people with no reservations looking for over night stays. I stuck them in every nook and cranny I could and when I finally locked the door, having no available space; I collapsed in front of the TV like a zombie.

My dinner was delivered to my desk. Thanks to Butch and DJ for cooking up some delicious chili. I feel well taken care of.

But, today will be a slow day with too much time to think. Everywhere I look I see my little dog. I miss his whine at the office door to let me know he is demanding my presence. It is just too quiet in here. I think I will go mow something.