The $10 Walmart Hose

Mondays. Does everybody hate Mondays? I usually like Mondays. Not that I don't have anything to do on Mondays, but it is usually not my stress day. That is Friday, as all the campers come in and the problems pop up. No matter how hard you try to keep everything in good working order, there always seem to be an unforeseen problem that happens.

This past Friday had it's problems, like any other weekend that is busy. One of my tenants was nice enough to help me out with turning on the water main to the tent area ... only to find that the main line across the road had burst. While HeWho plumbs was in the midst of fixing that, I had another water problem on the other side of the park. I was pretty pleased with myself when I solved that one with a "Y" connector and an extra length of hose. I told the woman who took the items to just leave them connected to the hydrant and I would collect them Sunday afternoon. I even offered to move them to another site, but they didn't want to move.

It was a large group of 9 families camping together. I had reserved a block of 10 sites for them. Only one other complaint from the group involved electricity and I dispatched HeWho to deal with that. He solved that one and the rest of the weekend offered no complaints other than the teen bully.

The 25' drinking water hose was not to be found yesterday. Happens all the time. You loan something and it goes home with camper. Probably not intentional ... maybe. But, it gets to be expensive. Since I had let the group pick their own sites in the reserved block of sites, I don't know who used the hose. I pulled the registrations and only one person in the group filled in their phone number. I called and asked that person to call the person with the hose and have them call me.

My intention was to ask them to bring the hose back on their next visit. No accusations or anything like that. When I answered the phone tonight I was totally unprepared for this man yelling at me. He accused me of calling 6 people who then called him about my $10 Walmart hose. Walmart does carry the product, but it is a Camco hose to be specific. He would not let me say a word (and that is something, as I can usually talk over anybody). He told me he didn't know what to do with the hose, so he took it and if I wanted it back I could send a call tag from UPS. I told him to keep the hose, but he would not stop.

He kept on. He told me it was great inconvenience that he had been subjected to and that he didn't complain about my rates. " You made plenty of money to be complaining about a $10 WalMart hose and having everybody call me about a stupid hose. I didn't know what to do with it. I don't even want it, I have plenty of hoses." Once again, I told him to keep the hose, that I had instructed the woman who picked up the hose to just leave it on the hydrant.

One would think that I could simply bid the man farewell and get off the phone. Yes, ..... but no. He went one to tell me that they had a great time and that I made a lot of money off of them and that they would probably come back. You might be thinking this would end on a positive note, but he started up again about me calling 6 people to call him and all the inconvenience .....

I had started to lose the small amount of patience with this man and cut in to tell him that I called ONE person, the only person who bothered to put all the information on the registration. This is when he tells me he did not have a full hook up site and that this park doesn't even have a dump station. I tried to tell him that if had asked for assistance, it would have been provided. I don't even know if he heard me, as he was ranting again about the $10 WalMart hose. He was told again to KEEP THE HOSE. This prompted him to ask me if he should give me a review. It was posed as a threat. I told him I did not know what he wanted, that I had already told him to KEEP THE HOSE. Again he suggested I send a UPS pick-up tag for the hose, the $10 WalMart hose.

And that's when I lost it and told him I found his phone call to be very upsetting and that I wanted him to KEEP THE HOSE and NEVER COME BACK. I hung up on him as I could see this conversation lasting into infinity with no resolve as far as he was concerned. I maintained enough control to not tell him what he could do with the hose, the $10 WalMart hose.

In case you think this is over, stay tuned tomorrow because he called back.

Kalamity Kathy

I made it through the weekend. I am beyond tired. How have I done this for 11 years? I must be getting too old.

As all the campers pulled out today, I scurried in and out of the office to try to get some of the things I had neglected done. The grass was just mowed Friday, but was already in need of a good mow again. I headed to the back yard where the mower still sat from Friday and thought I might as well mow it again before heading to the dog park. On my way I noticed the basket of laundry was over flowing and thought I would go ahead and put a load on and it would be done after I mowed.

This is when it all fell apart and Kalamity Kathy (that would be me) took over. I have a dog gate that separates the laundry room from the kitchen. It has pretty much always been there. Nothing new and I never move it, I just step over it. The dogs have never tried to go over any of my gates. I know that Toni Louise could easily jump them, but they seem to know that it would not be a good idea.

When we painted the house, we bought the paint in a 5 gallon bucket and I thought it clever that I had poured it into the plastic coffee containers that have handles. I save everything, you know. Well, I had put the 5 gallon bucket by my gate, with the smaller container on top. Not in the way. Until today when my foot caught the handle of the smaller container and ......... you know the rest, don't you?

It was pretty full, of course. The lid was secure, or as secure as a plastic snap on lid can be and probably would have remained intact, had it not hit the floor. I heard it before I saw it and I already knew that light gray paint must be spreading across the floor at an amazing rate. I salvaged what I could and snapped the lid back on, but, it sure did spread fast. Thank goodness for cement floors. I was so disgusted that I just walked out and mowed the back yard. The dogs were with me as I mowed.

When I finished, I tried to scoop up the mess on the floor with a big plastic lid and a paint brush. Now that I think about it, I would have had better luck with the dust pan, but hind sight being what it is .....

I had a board outside that I planned to paint anyway, not that color, but ...... I scooped and poured what I could on the 4 X 8 sheet of plywood and then smeared it around with the brush. Good base coat, I guess.

The good news is:
I didn't fall.
The location is out of the way.
The dogs did not walk in the paint and track it all over the house.

All is well that ends well. I hope my klutzy phase ends soon.

# Awkward

So, the park is full and lots of children of various ages are exploring the park and deciding what they can do as the parents are sitting round the campfire relaxing. I like kids of a certain age. I think maybe puberty is the cut off for me. I find those children in the throes of puberty to be either surprisingly delightful to be around (rare) or just downright repulsive. I once told a youth pastor that I was really happy that he liked teens, because I didn't. He was asking me to help with an outing and I had two children in the group. He was appalled, but I was already heading up the children's choir, so it wasn't like I was shirking my duties.

Anyhoo, there are lots of children under that cut-off age in the park. Two boys came in to tell me about a teen threatening them and using foul language around the group of 4 year olds and making sexually suggestive signs with his hands (their words, they wanted to demonstrate, but I pushed their hands to their sides). I told them to let their parents know and that if the teen approached them again to get an adult, any adult and that I would be available should they be close to the office. Then I asked which campsite the teen was staying at. They did not know, but were certain that he was not with their group .....

Not 15 minutes passed before my town criers were back. The mean boy was "over there in that green area" (grass?). He was all dressed in black and had reportedly threatened to kill them and watch them burn .... most especially their gonads. He was on a bike headed away from me. I yelled at him to stop, but he kept going. The young kids formed a mob and told him he had to report to the office. Safety in numbers, I suppose.

I was hoping that HeWho mows and tows would be on the scene to deal with the young would-be murderer of children. I tackled it myself and asked him why he thought it was a good idea to terrorize those younger and smaller than himself. "I don't know" seemed to be his favorite answer. When he tried to deny, his accusers were standing off to one side correcting him.

He finally just confessed and in my capacity as the judge I told him to try and set a better example for the kids and that if he should decide to get revenge, I would be speaking with his parents and they would be asked to leave. I was feeling quite powerful and judge worthy as the kid appeared to be terrified of me.

Come to find out, he was with the group he was picking on, his parents having become friends with the other parents. #Awkward.

Signs, Signs ......

Since my face planting event ...... every muscle in my body is trying to refuse to obey my commands.
I think I may have tensed all my muscles when I realized I was heading to earth. My forehead is sore to the touch and the tip of my nose is tender. I am amazed that I have no bruises!

 My park will be full this weekend! The weather has conspired to give us an absolutely beautiful Spring weekend. I long to be outside ..... I need to be outside as the dandelions are trying to take over my flower beds. I did manage to take care of some of the beds in the front of the store, after watering my sad looking hanging pots. They will perk back up soon.

I headed to the side yard to water the strawberry patch. I had not used that hydrant yet this year and when I turned it on, one of the fittings was loose and it spayed icy water into my ear. I knew then that my day would be filled with the unexpected.

I decided to go ahead and put out the pool merchandise and get the store set up. I worked all day yesterday on cleaning the side of the store that we had been using to cut wood with the chop saw. I will sorely miss that saw!! In spite of the dire predictions of HeWho loves loud tools, I have yet to injure myself with it. I have a rolling cart in one of the many sheds we have and I plan to house that saw in the pump room so that I can roll it out side when I want to use it. We have two of them and I claim this one for my own personal use. I just have to make sure that HeWho mows and tows is not able to hear the saw when I use it.

I salvaged the cedar boards from the side of the building when we put up the new siding. A lot of them were beyond anything useful and if HeWho will collect all manner of junk, had his way, all of the wood would be used in a big bonfire. I carefully picked through the giant pile he left in my side yard and got some pretty decent boards.

I have been cutting pieces of my salvaged wood and making signs. This is one of my favorites so far. You can see the one I am working on in the bottom of the picture. It says 'weed em and reap'. I need to paint a flower on the blank end. Haven't decided what yet.

I like this one, too. I seem to be drawn to a certain subject, don't I? I really like the raw edge. I used acrylic paints, then several coats of polyurethane on both sides so they can be hung out side.

The boards are original to the building and it was constructed in the late 60's. Strange to think of the 60's as being old. But, I am old, too.

This why I like having the saw set up and ready to use. Makes quite a mess, though. I wish I knew how to duplicate that broken edge. I tried holding the length of wood on the table and letting the piece I wanted hang from the edge and then pop it. It didn,t work. Perhaps I can ponder this in the night while I don't sleep.

Face Planting

Spring is in the air, internet waves are slow and iffy. Must be being blocked by all the green growth. Grass mowing season is here with a vengeance.

My voice has returned and I am able to suggest (nag incessantly) projects that need to be accomplished. Yesterday was a lovely day conducive to hanging sheets in the sun, so I did just that. I was heading back inside to grab my phone and the mower to get some serious grass cutting out of the way, with plans to turn some soil in my raised beds afterwards.

I was not paying attention to the stationary obstacles in my path ...... just the moving targets of my five furry children. Cujo was at my heels and Toni Louise was intent on tormenting Martha, the boy cat, as Wall-E, the town crier barked to let me know about the fight. Blind Oscar was slowly turning his head, trying to determine the location of all the players of the drama unfolding.

The toe of my shoe caught on a huge iron spike in the ground behind my clothesline post and my forward momentum had me flying forward, unable to grab anything as I literally planted my face in the ground! My shoe flew in the opposite direction as I hit the ground.

Knocked the breath out of me, but I am thankful for so many things:
1. I am thankful that I had already policed the yard for dog poop!
2. I am thankful that my event had no witnesses .... well any witnesses that can have the ability to speak of it.
3. I did not break any bones. No injuries that prevented me from performing my necessary chores.
4. I was not wearing my glasses, as my face took the brunt of the fall.

The dogs were overjoyed that I had apparently decided to join them on the ground to play with them. I crawled to my cell phone as Martha, the boy cat, decided to insinuate himself between my arms. My face really hurt and my shoeless foot was hurting. I called HeWho mows and he came into the back yard to check on me. Cujo is unused to seeing him in the backyard and was in attack mode. Wall-E kept trying to give me unwanted kisses and Toni Louise was ecstatic to see her person. Old, blind Oscar looked on, still trying to locate all of us .......

I still managed to mow, but the soil remains unturned and I did not cook. My muscles are sore today and my nose and forehead a bit tender, and my tongue still hurts. I am off now to see what today has in store for me.

My Tongue Hurts!

Since starting the new drug for my heart, I have not been feeling good. No energy, no motivation. I expected that, I was warned. It does little to make me feel better about the fact that all I want to do is rest and nap. It is Spring and I have so much to do it boggles my mind. It boggles my mind because I usually just do it; and now I find that I can't get as much done as I normally would have done by now. I can direct ( aka nag), though and new lists seem to appear daily. Yes, plural. Much to the dismay of HeWho needs to actually accomplish these lists.

Yesterday was sunny, if windy and chilly. I started my annual site clean up. I start by raking, then mowing the grassy areas near each site. I gather all the debris left by winter storms and burn it all off with the piles of dead leaves. I usually clean out fire pits, but I only made it from site 2 through site 12 before I ran out of energy. Found three picnic tables in need of repair, leaving the remaining tables in need of paint. Only three tables. That means that for the 10 sites I only have three working tables. Two of the tables were mangled together. I think some camper drove over them. If the number of beer bottle caps I raked up are any indication, alcohol was involved.

But today, with cold rain falling, no sites were raked, no tables painted or repaired. In fact, nothing got done, inside or out. When I woke this morning, my tongue was hurting. Yes, you read that correctly. It feels like it was burned. I have not burned it on any hot food or drink and when I started pondering what I could have done, I realized that it has hurt for the past few days.

I decided to look up the possible side effects of the drug. Irritation to the tongue was right there, along with being cold. I have been cold all week. The minute the sun comes out, I am ready for some open toed shoes, but despite the thick socks and shoes I have on right now, my toes are cold.

So, here I sit with no energy, cold feet and a sore tongue that makes food and drink not fun. I don't think I am better off. Maybe an irregular heartbeat ain't so bad after all!

Finders Keepers

I was really starting to feel better, actually sleeping in a bed has helped, even if I have to re-dose myself with cough syrup in the middle of the night. I managed to get so much done in the past two days. Today, though ......

So, I am happy to report that I was able to get some much needed mending done. This means that the sewing room is almost totally organized. After I did some mending, I noticed some finger nail polish in my craft stuff. My new fave color, orange. It looked so springy and happy. Next thing you know I had painted my left hand. This pretty much brought everything to a halt while I waited for it to dry.

I was determined to mop the sewing room and the store, so as soon as the left hand was ready, I was busy swishing extra hot bleach water and mopping it up. Hot water dries faster, you know. So happy was I with the results, that I ended up mopping the entire house. I was spent at that point and Tuna Helper stepped in for supper.

He Who eats peanut butter every day of his life is not a big fan of tuna. It was simmering on the stove when he came in. I may have mentioned that his olfactory senses do not measure up to mine. He walked by the stove, sniffing the air and said, " Mmmm, beef." That is so sad, don't you think? I actually left him in that state of expecting some sort of beef to grace his plate while I served the salad.

If he had his way, we would have either tacos or hamburgers every night of the week. Vegetables are low on his must haves. The man thinks rice is a vegetable .....

The next day, I tackled the office/check-in counter. I am ashamed to admit that it has had little more than a lick and a promise since my dad got sick almost three years ago. I dragged out everything and determined what was staying and what would head to the dumpster. I moved everything and cleaned underneath. It was while I was moving a tiny set of drawers atop the counter that I discovered it. A lone $100 bill lay covered in dust, just waiting for my greedy little fingers to snatch it up!

Who knows how long it lingered on the counter, just waiting to move on? It was like winning the lottery!!! I was so excited. Then I awoke this morning, not feeling good again. I had to go see the cardiologist for my follow-up. He prescribed a mild beta blocker to try to remedy the PVC's and I was back home by 9:45. My right fingernails were still naked. Something I failed to notice until I was standing on the scales as the nurse checked me in. Oh, well.

I decided on another cup of coffee, hoping to get motivated. I sipped about half of the coffee and woke two hours later. I still did not feel refreshed and the entire day was wasted. I managed to wash the dishes and fold a load of laundry, representing my total accomplishments for the day.

Tomorrow will be better. I think I should go shopping! I found the money and "finders keepers" is a rule, isn't it? I might even apply nail polish to the unadorned nails.