Summertime Blues and Broken Records

I know I sound like a broken record but dang….another week of summer gone. Can’t complain about the weather we been getting though…it’s been sunny and warm most every day. I could handle this for the rest of my days easily, who needs 4 seasons anyhow?

Today is / was Jennette's 22nd birthday. Hard to believe that she's an old married lady with kids. Hope ya had a good day kiddo....maybe we can get together for the 23rd one.

This past week was pretty much a quiet one. I spent a couple evenings working on my little cooking cabinet project for the campsite, did some dog walking at dusk and tried to make the most of the warm summer evenings while they’re here.

For the weekend we headed up to the compound once again. Wanda and Chris took off during the afternoon, I left about 5:45 and pulled into camp right at 7:00. We had our traditional Friday evening camp meal of hamburgers and chips. After dinner I putzed around camp a bit until the light gave out on us. The days are already getting shorter and in the woods it gets dark quick once the sun goes down. Wanda and Chris were in bed by 10:30 leaving me, Mercury and Bailey to tend the fire and stand watch. It was a clear, cool evening and the stars were out in full force. You could easily see the Milky Way stretching across the sky. Used to be the only time I got to see that was when we were up at Wilderness for our one week a year trip. I miss not having been up there the last 3 summers, but it is nice having the same view a bit closer to home and more accessible.

Saturday morning I got up around 8ish and took a couple dogs out for a stroll around the grounds. Had a quick breakfast of cereal and juice when we got back and then jumped right into it with the weed whacker and went fern hunting. Once that battle was taken care of the next thing on the list, the project for the weekend actually, was to finish taking care of the brush pile from last year. I broke out the chain saw, put the newly sharpened blade on it and got to cutting fireplace length logs. With Chris helping me we got the bulk of it done Saturday and Sunday, after they’d headed for home, I finished up. Got all the wood stacked, the brush in a pile, ready for future fire starting and raked up the debris that was left into a compost pile.

We worked on the brush pile until about 3:00 and then decided it was time to take a little ride into town to get the hardware I needed to finish up the Cooking cabinet. Along with a stop at Home Depot we also hit the Dairy barn in Scottville before heading back to camp. Before I had completed attaching the doors and the latches to the cabinet Wanda had supper ready. Steaks grilled over the fire and corn on the cob. A good meal. After the feast I finished up the cabinet and pretty much called it a day as far as working goes. Me and the wife went up to the lodge and got an ice cream cone for desert and then went back to camp and played some of the goofy dice game she taught me. It wasn’t quite as clear and cool as the night before but the stars were still out in force and I spent awhile with my neck twisted back, looking up at the billions of little twinkling lights.

Sunday morning I woke up and was pissed. I must’ve been tired from Saturday’s efforts cuz when I came to and looked at the clock it was after 10! Damnit…I’d missed by early morning dog walk and breakfast was late also. I got busy and fried up some sausage and made pancakes for myself and the dogs. By the time I had things cleaned up and put away from breakfast it was about time for Wanda and Chris to head out for town. I saw them off and then went back to the brush pile and finished that up like I said earlier. By the time I was done with that project and had put everything away, packed up and locked up it was about 5:00. Days go by so fast there it’s just not fair. I was not ready to go home yet, but I got Bailey and Merc in the truck, locked the gate and headed for town. Once we got home I did the usual Sunday night stuff and then it was time for bed.

It looks to be like it’s gonna be 3, maybe 4 weeks before we get up to camp again. I’ve got a big car show weekend coming up this weekend (Wayland and Grand Haven) and the next weekend is Coast Guard Festival. I’d thought about skipping the festivities in town and going up to camp for the weekend but Wanda is leaving for a week that Sunday morning early for band camp to be a Chaperon so it doesn’t make much sense to go up for one day. The next weekend is the Coopersville Cruise and Car show, Friday and Saturday. She’ll be coming home that Saturday and then the next weekend after that will already be August 18th / 19th. I guess it’s true about time waiting for no man, it’d be nice if it’d just slow down a bit though……

Time for sleep.

TC