CAMP WILLOW CREEK

Mums the Word

Rock, Paper, Scissors

Word on the street last night was that the moon was supposed to be full and bright and amazing. Get-your-camera amazing. Well, it was cloudy and it rained, just to make sure. I got my camera anyway. Here’s some dark pictures of rain with no moon around anywhere

In the meantime, I also kept busy brewing beer for the upcoming Super Bowl party at Camp Willow Creek. And yes, of course you are invited.

Snow Camp

Its really for real snowing. And even sticking…a little.

Hey Dad! Look what I did!

10 Minutes Late

“Ten minutes late” turned out to be the theme for the day – and I didn’t even have to go to work!

It started with the gym. Class started at 9:30. I didn’t really want to go. But I went. I was running a few minutes late, but sometimes class starts a few minutes late. So when I got there, I drove by the window twice to see if I could see if they started yet. This made me more late. It didn’t look like anyone was in there, but I figured if I made the effort to get dressed and leave and drive around the parking lot twice, I should go in and at least see if there really was a class I was missing or not. So I went in. The instructor told me I was 10 minutes late, but no one was there, so no class.

Since there was no class, I figured I had some extra time to kill. I went shopping at the garden center to see what they had. I found a few things, but apparently I took too long to decide. I got home and had about 10 minutes to get ready for my hair appointment. So I ended up getting there about 10 minutes late too. It didn’t seem like a big deal since the place wasn’t very busy, but it turned out that there was a woman who was supposed to go after me and she ended up leaving before getting her hair cut because she had to get back to work. Oops.

After a quick stop for a mini sushi lunch, I headed in to pick up our shower gift from Mom & Dad – a patio set. The pick up went smooth and easy as did the getting home, getting it out of the truck and the putting it together. The only problem was that I was about finished – just had to tighten the bolts on the table, about 10 minutes of work – when the skies opened up and the rains came down. If only I had started 10 minutes earlier.

Happy Easter

In the spirit of the pending Easter Eggs hunts slated for Sunday morning, I’ve uploaded lots of “new” pictures. Instead of a handy dandy link, I’m going to let you roam through the gallery searching for them.

Happy Hunting!

Trees

They watched us.

They stood nearby planning, plotting, pining.

They warned us last April. As a tornado passed through, they sacrificed one of their own to send a chilling message to us through the Dollhouse. Landing just inches away and pushing her from her foundation, they taunted, “Next time it could be you, or even your big friend up there with the electricty and running water and the people inside.”

Though the summer and winter they dropped hints and brown pine needles. They leaked secrets and green goo. It didn’t take long to figure what they had in mind.

“Just make it through the winter,” they thought. “Just make it to spring.”

Between March’s lions and lambs and April’s showers and flowers, the rotting, dying, evil pines hoped to fall fall fall out of their misery and into our master bathroom. But we beat them at their own game. We called Bob and Bob sent men and the men over-powered the trees and won the battle. Many wounded soldiers were carried off when it was done — an ugly, muddy mess.

But today there is sunshine. Sunshine for the dogwoods and other who could not see the light of day for brown pine needles. Today there is a clear view of the southern sky for the satellite dish who had battled first-hand with the mighty trees.

Rain Rain

…Please don’t go away. We’ve finally had the first serious rain here at Camp Willow Creek in the last two weeks or so. I can’t even remember. Maybe longer. It’s good because I’m still wrapping my brain around the concept that grass is a plant (many in fact) and as such it requires water. Sometimes I try to remember which happened more recently – rain or plant-watering. That alone should be enough to signal me to unravel a hose, but its never that easy.

A Few Other Updates

I’ve been falling behind on the updates, so I recently put up four albums. One is in the post below (Easter Sunday). The others are here.

The day after those mini tornados rolled through here, JDB and I were out buying chainsaws and things at Sears for a better part of the afternoon. When we came home, I found a smashed monitor and crumpled computer case lying on the laundry room floor. Quickly, I calculated that the shelf which was once home to these items had given way and came crashing down along with them.

I already ready hated the vinyl flooring that was shrinking and pulling away from the edges of the room exposing the particle board beneath. I was also disturbed by the tale told by some random spackling of some shelves that once were, but were no more. The fresh electronics carnage on my laundry room floor was the last straw.

Armed with channel locks, a can of paint, a box of flooring and a new shelving support system, I engaged in battle. After evacuating the civilians (laundry detergent, ironing board, networking cables and cat treats) from the war zone, I tore the shelves off the wall.

That left me with four walls that appeared to be riddled with bullet holes. I filled the holes, sanded them smooth and painted the walls. I put down half the flooring and then I pulled it up and started over as I realized I didn’t really measure in a way that would cause the squares to be anywhere near square with the walls.

Finally I hung the new shelves. They are on a track system instead of the arm supports and they seem much more stable. I also have more space, so I can spread the load out a bit.

The other update I have is just a few new pictures of the Mailbox as a sort of progress report. There are actually more plants in bloom now, but the grass needs to be cut and I don’t want the 4-foot tall weeds to overshadow my mailbox garden in photos.

Silver Lining

The storm clouds definitely had a silver lining.

Dead trees fell down and only hurt a few other dead trees. We got to buy a chainsaw. This helped us produce tons of firewood. Most of the dead trees were once pine and therefore, not really fit for in-home fire consumption. We hauled some down to the curb for the county to pick up. But that was a lot of work. We found a much less demanding solution after a short drive to our local Home Depot.

I present to you, THE FIRE PIT!