We’re home for a grand total of about 18 hours before the next leg of our roadtrip. Sorry, no pictures yet, since I’m not entirely sure where the camera is. And there probably won’t be many even once I find it, since it is hard to hold a camera in the middle of a FREAKING MONSOON. First of all, I’d just like to say thank GOD I bought that screenhouse. Second, I’m never tenting again, so I can cut someone a really good deal on a slightly used one.
Yeah, so it rained. Not all the time, but when it did, it was torrential. My trusty and much loved Eureka tent, which has survived many a thunderstorm intact, finally failed me – although I think any tent would have done the same when surrounded by a two or three inch deep lake. And once everything is soaked and covered in sand, tenting really starts to lose its charm.
It was sunny when we got home (of course) so I pulled out all our stuff to start trying to dry it out. Set up the tent, draped tarps on the fence, etc. Half an hour later? Thunderstorm. I can’t even get the inside of the car dried out at this rate. So the tenting portion of this week’s plan has been axed.. I just haven’t broke it to Sport yet. (I don’t think he will take it too hard though. Once his sleeping bag was wet, he suggested that maybe we should find a hotel. Read my mind, there, Sport.)
Filed under: travel
Well, I’ll still take a picture, but the pack mule aspect of the car will no longer be quite so impressive. I spent about 45 minutes this afternoon figuring out how to attach the bike rack (with no instructions or pictures) and did get it on pretty securely. I tested it with my bike and it seemed fine. Then I pulled out Sport’s bike… yeah, no dice. His bike is too small to go on the rack – there’s not enough room under the top tube for both supports to fit. Shoot.
It’s probably for the best – a road trip of this length is not really the ideal time to test out new equipment. If it failed a couple of hours in we would have been pretty screwed.
So we’re heading out tomorrow – and the laundry is not done, the house is not clean, bags are not packed, etc. What else is new.
Filed under: homestead
Bunyan, that is.
I just cut down about 15 trees. Oh, relax, they were neither big nor beautiful trees. They were crappy scrubby weedy just-grew-nobody-planted-on-purpose type trees that were blocking most of the sunlight from my yard, and were only a few feet away from getting entangled in the phone and hydro wires.
Next step: calling a tree service to haul away the carcasses, and to remove the remaining 8 or 9 trees that are already entangled in the wires. Which will leave me with a parking pad that will allow me to exit my car without poking an eye out on random branches, and a back yard that is brighter and about 8 feet deeper. Next step: some shrubs, some mulch, and a few bags of grass seed.
Filed under: life in general
A Canadian agency which facilitates adoptions from Ethiopia has gone bankrupt. It will likely hit the media tomorrow. For my friends or family members who may be concerned – no, it’s not my agency, so I am not directly affected. But four hundred other Canadian families are. Some of them are my friends, and some of them have been matched to their children, and they are now terrified and have no idea what is going to happen next. I am just sick for them, for the Ethiopian staff who are no doubt trying their best to hold things together, and for the children who may now face yet another disruption in their young lives.
I’m sure that prayers, good vibes, positive thoughts… whatever your style… would be appreciated.
Remember that rooftop carrier I was going to get for the car? I never did buy it, partly because I was kidding myself that I would be able to afford to buy a new vehicle this year. I had to face reality on that one though, especially after sinking a large sum of money into the current vehicle on a somewhat necessary repair. (Hey, have y’all heard of tie rods? Turns out that’s what holds your wheels to the axle. Which is, well, critical.)
But once again, procrastination has come through for me. The $140 Thule cargo bag that I was considering is on sale right now at Canadian Tire for… wait for it…. $40. Score! I picked one up on Saturday, and it looks great. Then on Sunday the Schoolmarm came by with a freebie for me – her old trunk mount bike carrier, which doesn’t fit her spiffy new SUV. Even bigger Score!
Picture it… we will be setting off on our 2 week, 1700 km roadtrip with the wagon packed to the gills, a rooftop carrier, and a bike rack with 2 bikes. It’s not a car, it’s a pack mule.
Filed under: life in general
It’s officially summer now – it’s hot and sunny, with lots of thunderstorms, and I am barbecuing nearly every night. We’re almost a week into the new routine of day camp for Sport and (cheer it with me now) NO MORE DRIVING FOR AN HOUR TO GET HOME! Day camp is a two minute drive from our house, so the whole process of getting out of work and driving to pick up Sport and coming home now takes half an hour. Half an hour, people. I get home at 4:30. The luxury! I can sit down and check my email or read my book or otherwise decompress for half an hour before I even have to start thinking about supper. That extra half hour may not seem like much but it is a real sanity-saver on our busy weeknights. The extra half an hour of sleep in the morning is almost as good… not quite, but almost.
And in a week and a day I will be on holidays… during which we will put about 1700 km on the car, since road trips are the best. vacation. ever. Camping, swimming, and hiking, here we come.
Filed under: off topic
Well, according to comics from the 1950s, all KINDS of reasons.
Like being a fool. Or losing a bundle at the dog track. Fear of leaves. And, my personal favourite, not being able to afford go-go boots.
Filed under: random whining
Ladies! Behold, a new and improved method to try on bathing suits: go to the Lands End website. Now go to the swimwear section, and find a suit you like. Then look for the little link with a star that says “Try it on! My Virtual Model”. Click on “Personalize”, and you can make the somewhat-scary little two dimensional lady look sort of like you – change the skin colour, hair colour, style, etc. Oh, and of course the height and weight. Adjust the figure at will. Ok, done? Now click back on “my virtual model” to see the swimsuit on the somewhat-scary little two dimensional you.
Well, at least, that’s what *should* happen. If you’re me, what will actually happen will be the appearance of an error message that says “some items are incompatible with your model, and have been removed.” And every single swimsuit I picked has disappeared from the list. Some sweatpants and hoodies are shown instead.
Voila. I no longer have to actually try on a swimsuit to discover that it would be some sort of crime against nature to appear in it. All the humiliation, and I didn’t even have to leave my desk!
Filed under: random whining
Today I had the following conversation. (And it wasn’t even the stupidest thing that happened all day.)
“I want to do X.”
“Well, unfortunately, we can’t do that. “ (Followed by an explanation of why not.) “You may do A or B.” (Followed by explaining options A and B – both of which are perfectly viable – at length, using small words.)
“That won’t work!”
“Well, those are your choices. You may do A, or you may do B. So what would you like to do?”
“I want to do X!”
“Again, that’s not an option. If you don’t want to do B, then you can do A.”
“I don’t want to do that.”
“Ok, then you may do B.”
“No, I don’t want to do that either.”
“Well, those are your options. Would you like to have a seat and think about it for a bit, and then let me know?”
“No! Neither one of those work. Why can’t I do X?”
“As I already explained, because (XYZ). You may do A or B, ma’am.”
“Fine, I will do A, but I want Q.”
“Ah… no. Q is not actually possible.” (And I meant that in the sense of not possible due to laws of time and space, for starters.)
“Well now you are just being unreasonable.”
I’m being unreasonable?? I AM? Seriously, lady. A. Or. B. My kid understood about choosing between two options by the time he was 5, what’s your excuse?
(Admit it, you thought this was a conversation with Sport, didn’t you…. sadly it was not.)
