Labor Day Weekend Has Begun

It is here. The last holiday weekend of the year. I lay in my bed gazing out the window, ticking off all the things on the list of "to be done" . Still some little things to do today, but mostly everything humanly possible has been done to prepare for the weekend. Thanks to the diligent camp workers we have. 

I drag myself from my bed and make my way to the coffee machine to brew the magic elixir that will get me up and at 'em. My loyal contingent of canines follow me and look up expectantly for a treat. Don't know what they think they have done to deserve a treat, other than follow me around. Of course they get one.

The sky is gray and I check the weather on my phone. A blanket of dread falls on me and the phone rings …. and in a mere 25 minutes I have gone from no vacancies to 6 spots open. I do not charge a cancellation fee. I could, but stuff happens. 

Life can get in the way of your plans and I realize that. But … since I charge no fee, you should not feel compelled to offer an explanation about the change in your plans. If you have suffered a tragedy and feel like you want to elicit my understanding and sympathy, it will definitely be forthcoming. Don't create an "alibi" and then continue to talk and elaborate and then trip yourself up on the details. I will know you are lying. Either way, there is no charge added to your credit card.

I am sure there will be travelers looking for a spot to land for the night and I will fill those vacant sites easily enough. It is supposed to rain most of the day and into tomorrow. I wish I could curl up on the sofa and watch movies all day with my furry friends. That will happen soon enough. End of the season will guarantee being forced inside and nothing to do.

My coffee is long gone and the day awaits, so time to get myself into high gear. There are bathrooms to clean and floors to be swept and vacuumed. I did that yesterday and HeWho is opposed to the wiping of one's feet before entering has left a trail of foot prints on my once pristine mats in the store. With the rain, the gravel will be coming in all weekend, making me regret my choice of black and wonder why I didn't get gray. Next time I will.

The Garden Of Weedin

Having put this off for as long as I could, I decided to tackle this mess last week. See that vine at the top of the fence? It is still there. Leaves of three and I let it be. I told the men to spray it and kill it and then remove it so that I can paint the fence. In spite of my caution, I still itch.

Much better. I could still pull more weeds, but, instead I will cover them with newspaper and plant on top of them. I have already added two flats of mums, just forgot to get a picture. I could use several flats more.

Another "before" shot. The creeping Charlie is trying to take over and that is exactly what I want it to do. I just had to get to the lilies and pull all the spent stems and dead leaves out and then attack the weeds trying to push through the ground cover.

 Looks even better since we have done some repairs to the sagging fence that hides the dumpster. Cosmos are blooming and soon the mums will fill out and bring more color in.

Every year I have to tackle a persistent vine that weaves it's way into my tall grasses and lilies and threatens to strangle them. This year is no different. Tall weeds and milk weed, too. I try to leave the milkweed for the butterflies, but butterflies also like cosmos …… 

When I finally finished and had the last of the weeds raked away to be picked up by kamper Alex, it was so satisfying to mow my barrier next to the garden. The men are not allowed to mow close with the zero turn. They sling grass into the garden. I maintain a three swipe perimeter with my push mower.

My hands ache from my recent efforts, but it was worth it. I need more mums to plant, but that will require a trip to get them. Instead I will just sit here for a bit and then go wash dishes to soak my stiff fingers in hot water. I like to multi-task, you know!

Boubon With My Cobbler

It has been a long day and I only have 2 hours and 13 minutes before I can lock the door and be done for the day. I sit here wrapped in a blanket of fatigue. Not too unpleasant, my joints ache a little, but much was accomplished today.

Yesterday was tremendously hot and humid, so I arose early and began mowing. I always start with my own back yard for my dog's sake. They followed me, as usual, as I picked up their poop and grabbed a weed here and there. They knew I was getting ready to shave down the grass. They like to watch and get in my way and bark at me and chase one another. I always think of Wall-E when I mow. He loved the freshly mown grass. He would roll in it until he was a nice shade of green. He was the one dog careful to stay out of the path of the mower and would chase the other dogs out of my way. I wonder if the dogs think of him, too.

I mowed my side yard after the back yard and I would normally go on to mow a wide swath around my gardens that border the open fields and on to the apple trees. I couldn't. I was drenched in sweat and out of energy. The air was so thick I found it a struggle to breathe. I knew a cold front was headed our way and went inside to finish some signs and a nice nap. It was too hot for swimmers!!!

HeWho is still not 100% well after his bout of bronchitis was happy to sit and watch TV and answer the occasional visitor to the store while I dozed on my loveseat surrounded by animals. No appetite for either one of us last night and we just grabbed whatever leftovers that appealed to us from the fridge. Went to bed at our normal hour and I am almost embarrassed to report that I slept until 8:58 this morning!

HeWho loves to run errands had already left to take Kevin (aka my wife) to his radiation appointment. I ventured out to a much cooler atmosphere and got to work. I mowed and weeded and mowed some more. Heavy black clouds moved in, then blew over leaving a wonderful cool breeze behind. I had two guys scrubbing the pool and when the phone would stop me I would check on them. I came in to get water for them and me and found the most unlikely event in action. HeWho was at my sink, washing dishes!!

I think this may have happened three other times in the last 15 years! So, as I mowed endlessly, I imagined coming in to a nice clean kitchen. I was pondering food prep for supper. Oh, I knew the dishes would not be put away and the counters would not be wiped. But, it is the thought that counts, right?

When I came in at 1:30 all sweaty and hungry I went to the kitchen. Insert the sound of a needle screeching across a record. The sink was full of cold, dirty dishwater and dirty dishes were still on the counter. Seems I interrupted him when I asked him to set fire to the big burn pile before the front moved in with hoped for rain. So, he stopped what he was doing at the kitchen sink and went outside, set the fire, gossiped a bit with kamper Craig and went back inside and parked himself in front of the TV. My fault. He washed very few dishes. all the utensils were hiding in that nasty dishwater. I drained it and started over and he went to town and got a pizza for our lunch/dinner.

There were a lot of dishes because of the peach cobbler I made on Sunday. The recipe looked  amazing. Bourbon Peach Cobbler. The peaches on my tree are at peak ripeness. The recipe called for sugar, cinnamon, cornstarch and bourbon, and peaches. I blanched the peaches and slipped the skins off and sliced them, mixed the ingredients together and stated on the "crust". Flour, salt, baking powder and butter. A lot of butter. In the food processor. It did not look right to me. I checked that recipe 4 times to make sure it did not call for some sort of liquid in that crust. It did not. It did suggest brushing the top with heavy cream and sprinkling sugar on top. I sort of sprinkled the cream, since brushing was not possible. 

I regretted not adding a couple of tablespoons of cream to the food processor as I peeked in on the cobbler in the oven. The top was dry and powdery, but I still made my kampers eat it! All that butter would not be wasted! Scoop some ice cream on top and who cares about the lousy crust failure?

One of the items on the counter was the cookie sheet I had slid beneath the cobbler. The juices overflowed and were burnt onto the cookie sheet. Did I really expect HeWho to clean that up?

RIP Georgie Girl

 I found this door lingering in the "barn" of HeWho. Now, before you might wonder, I did not enter this structure. Me being of sound mind and all that. It is a scary looking place that HeWho hoards his junk in with no organization whatsoever. I just happened to look inside when I was grabbing the gas can for my mower and spied the door.

The door was meant to be written upon. Just look at it, it is lined for heaven's sake! I was tired of my old headboard. It was nice and padded with various denims covering it. I even had a back pocket from a pair of jeans located conveniently where my hand could just reach up and place the TV remote inside. But, it was years old and hard to keep clean of dust and flying dog hair. So I painted and lettered the door.

My side is romantic, speaking of undying love for my mate. His side is, well, simple and to the point. Now I will need to paint the walls a complimentary color. I bought the paint in the "oops" section and paid $1.25 for a quart. I like the color and might just dump it into a half gallon of white and paint the walls. I like experiments.

After finally hanging the new head board I ventured out into the overcast day to look at my gardens. I picked these green beans and a few peaches that were ready. I ate one while I picked green beans. It was so juicy and good. Nothing taste better than a tree ripened peach!

My green beans look like snakes! They taste better than they look.

So, last night, right before bedtime I clicked onto Facebook and saw that my daughter's St. Bernard, Georgie, had died. She was 10 years old and had a wonderful life. They were preparing for the trip to take my granddaughter to college today and had left her at the kennel where she died in her sleep.

I bawled like a baby. Could not stop crying, so I could not talk to my daughter, lest we both blubber into the night. I was still sad this morning when I got up. I usually check e-mail and Facebook while I drink coffee. The campground page will sometimes have people trying to contact me about reservations. Not often, but I always look. This morning all I saw was obituaries for dachshunds! Four of them. I had to get out of the office and go outside! Just made me sadder. Georgie was a very timid and docile girl. She loved my son-in-law the best, she was definitely his dog. I remember him trying to teach her to wipe her feet when she was just a pup. RIP Georgie Girl.

Gardens

I love all my late bloomers.

I do not love this vine that has taken over this garden!

 I started pulling that vine and weeds from the garden Sunday and finally finished this morning. I also pulled all the dead leaves from the day lilies. I will get one more round of yellow flowers for my efforts!!

 See? They are already forming new buds. I am hoping they will stick around until the mums start to bloom.

Next on my list is this garden. Can you see that vine running all through it? This will take longer than three days, as it wraps around the fence that hides the dumpster. I am dreading and looking forward to it at the same time.

Speaking of the dumpster ….. Our current pick up service has almost a year left on the contract. Found this out when HeWho did a little research and found a better price, as ours seems to keep going up. When he called to stop service, he was told that they would hold us to this contract and then sent another bill, almost doubling our current fees. Hmmmm, we have a contract and they can't do that! He called them on it and they immediately credited our account with all the over charges. I wonder how many people just pay the increase? We thought our contract was over when they increased our rates. We will still be changing vendors when this contract is up. 

See my new rock! The one behind it has been hit and shoved back into the garden too many times. Every one wants to drive close to the dumpster to sling their bags at it and not get out. Then they proceed out the drive and drag their travel trailers and 5th wheels over the rocks and through the garden. I had them put there after someone turned so sharp they took out the fence post and flipped the dumpster. 

The man came in to tell me he knocked my "trash can" over. "Well, pick it up." I said. He then told me he couldn't and I looked out to see what he had done. He had way more damage than we did. Just how lazy do you have to be? My parking lot is huge, with plenty of room to swing wide. I am hoping the sign that announces "wide turn" will encourage people to do so. Hope runs deep.

Oh, look! My efforts are already paying off!

HeWho Gives Me Headaches!

After a long day spent cleaning my living quarters my mood has lifted considerably. The heatwave has lifted slightly. I still have a lot to do, but it feels doable today.

As the next holiday weekend approaches, I am looking forward to fall. When the pool closes for the season my freedom increases. This will afford more time to spend outside in my gardens.

This seed was called teddy bear sunflower. 

After a long restless night listening to the man of the house moan and complain about how bad he felt, I insisted he haul himself to the clinic. He has bronchitis and a brown recluse spider bite. Where the spider bite happened is a mystery. When I consider how much dust and dog hair was blanketing my bedroom, it could have been in there. Probably outside in one of his "sheds". I am thinking the one that houses the pool pumps and equipment. We had to purchase two new pumps this season and he spent a lot of time after the sun went down out there.

Anyway, he has prescriptions for the spider bite, the bronchitis and nausea. The one for nausea/vomiting can cause a headache. It has definitely given ME one. Like all men everywhere, he will not listen to his wife. He is itching to go out into the intense heat to mow. Really not a good idea. 

So far I have managed to keep him inside, telling him to wait until it cools down a bit. Then we will both go out and tackle the growing grass. 

Sucks To Be Me

I really do not have time to sit here and write, but I am taking 20 minutes for myself today!

Making signs and nagging until they go up. I am hoping this sign will convince drivers to make a wide turn and avoid dragging their campers up and over the big rock and through my garden on the other side of the exit drive. Maybe …...

Hoping this one will help with the bottleneck in the entrance drive, but not too hopeful.

Needed a new entrance sign and I decided to go with BLUE. Mainly because I happen to have a lot of that color. It is nice and bright, though.

This is one of the stop signs that are posted at the entrance of the park. One on your right and one on your left. So, if you are unlucky enough to blow through my signs while I am pulling weeds, you will be treated to a gentle tongue lashing on the spot.

Since this picture I have had some limbs cut from my pitiful looking apple tree and cleaned up most of that garden. If I had my way I would be outside all day long in the gardens.

I am tired of people. It has been unusually busy lately and I have had to deal with tired and very rude travelers who did not think to make reservations before they started out on their adventure. They would appear to be holding me responsible for their short sightedness. While you would think they would appreciate that I reopened my office to accommodate them, they prefer to call me to complain and interrupt my personal time.

This is not a good idea, as my alone time is for the benefit of the people I will deal with while I am open. I lost it yesterday and told HeWho occasionally hangs out in the office that he needed to take over for me, as I was feeling homicidal. He tried to stay near the office, but he kept "remembering" things he "needed" to do. I did manage to clean my kitchen and cook the only decent meal we have had in a week. I even cleaned out the fridge. When I was finally able to lock the door at 5:00, people kept coming up and making the doorbell ring. I yanked it out of the wall and ignored them.

After a good night's sleep and some quality time with my doxies, I pulled the sheets from my bed and managed to get 3 loads of laundry done before it started all over again. I am now in the same foul mood I was in yesterday. I want to clean my living quarters, but I cannot seem to grab enough time from the day to get anything done. When I try to, I get interrupted so much that I never finish even one task. Sucks to be me.