Friday, June 1, 2012

April/May 2012

I may be back home in Michigan, but I don't have any time to rest. In just 44 days after my arrival home, I'll be cooking for the Picnic and, in 53 days after arrival, I'll be leaving on my summer camping trip. In the interim, there is MUCH to do. First of all, I've got to unpack from Florida. This ends of taking the better part of a week between the actual unloading and the washing, cleaning, replacing, etc. While my house actually looks pretty good despite five months away, it requires a thorough "top to bottom" cleaning. So, over the course of two weeks or so, I'm going room by room...vacuuming, dusting, cleaning and reorganizing. Next, I've got a lot of work to do on the Picnic...finalize the menu, send out the invites, photocopy recipes, prepare a shopping list and place orders. That whole process ends up taking the better part of a week...of full eight-hour+ days. From June 4-June 9, it's Picnic week...which means eighteen hour days of shopping, cooking and prep work. Then, once the Picnic is over, I've only got three days to clean up and get ready to leave on my camping trip. So...I started packing up for camping the middle of May. This is a lot more involved of a process than you might think. I have to prepare a packing list, clean and perform maintenance on all of my equipment, identify things that I need to buy, and then pack things up in a variety of milk crates, Rubbermaid storage containers, and duffel bags. As you can see from the photo here, my bedroom is now one big "staging area" for camping. Everything is pretty much packed up except for kitchen stuff...I'll have to wait until after the Picnic to pack up that stuff. I also have to make reservations for ferries, campgrounds, etc. because I will be camping at the height of the season when things get booked up quickly and far in advance. One of the great things about camping is that it's a year-round project. When you're not actually camping, you're planning your next trip, cleaning your equipment...and...researching new equipment to buy. This particular "off season". I've made a few interesting purchases. In addition to a new backpack and backpacking tent (the tent weighs less than two pounds!), I bought a small portable solar panel (see photo) from a company called Goal Zero. You can attach it to your pack and, while you're hiking, it's charging your cell phone...or iPod...or whatever. I also got something called a Steripen (see photo). It's a device that uses UV light to sterilize your drinking water. You scoop up a liter of water from a lake or stream, filter it into a nalgene bottle, and "stir" the water for ninety seconds (per liter)...and...voila...your water is safe to drink. I also acquired a new backpacking stove, the MSR Whisperlite Universal (see photo)...very cool...it runs on canister iso-propane, regular propane, kerosene, white gas...even unleaded gasoline! I've been concerned for awhile about Cleo...she's been losing a lot of weight, and she's been really listless of late. A trip to the Vet confirms what I had been expecting...her blood sugar is sky-high which means that her diabetes has returned. So, she's been getting four units of insulin in the morning and evening with each meal. The good news is that the insulin is doing it's work, and Cleo's blood sugar is back to "normal". In addition, my new cat, "Nola", has adapted well to her new home (see photo)
...and the five of us are one happy family. Ah...and then there's the "Spike factor". I would never be able to go on my camping trips were it not for Spike. While I'm away camping, it's Spike who's taking care of the cats. And this job isn't..."Hey, can you feed my cats once or twice while I'm away for the weekend?"...no...this is 180 trips over to my house to feed the cats and changing the litter boxes each week, and taking care of my mail...and a million other things. This is a tough job, and I appreciate very much what Spike does for me. So...everything was going according to plan...until the night of May 11...that's when Spike stopped over to tell my that she was flying down to St. Kitts to visit her parents "for awhile". Although I was assured that she'd be back in time for the Picnic and my camping trip, I was just getting a bad "vibe". Once she left, she was totally "incommunicado"...no phone service, no texting, no email...completely unreachable. It took me about two weeks to come to the realization that there was a significant chance that she would NOT be back before I left camping. Now I have to come up with a "Plan B". So...I started to ask friends about this...but people are understandably reluctant to sign on to a three-month commitment. I checked with a bunch of local Vets about boarding the cats...not a viable option at $20/day for the first cat and $10/day for each additional cat. Let's see...$50/day for ninety days equals...well...a LOT of money. I placed an ad on Craigslist for a "cat sitter"...well, it was cheaper than a Vet, but not by much. Let's see $30/day for ninety days equals...well...still a LOT of money. Plus, I just wasn't comfortable with only three weeks to "vet" prospective sitters who would be coming into my house 180 times while I'm gone. I have to tell you that this situation has created a high level of anxiety over these past few weeks. But...there is a "happy ending" to this story. My friends, Terri and Carl, have agreed to take the cats (all of them) and care for them while I'm away. So...a great weight has been lifted from my shoulders. Speaking of Terri and Carl, their willingness to take in the cats is all the more amazing considering the horrific accident that took place over the weekend of May 26-27. Terri, Carl, Terri's mom and Terri's aunt were camping in their motor home along the Rifle River up near Saginaw. On Saturday afternoon, they were all napping when a vicious storm blew through the area. A very large tree was uprooted in the storm and fell directly onto their motor home...crushing it (see Photo). Terri, Carl, and aunt Sally suffered cuts from flying glass. Terr's mom suffered a back injury and is still in hospital. They are all lucky to be alive. So...now it's only a few days before the start of "Picnic week". I'm just finishing up a few things in advance of that...took the "Little Guy" in to have the screens replaced and the wheel bearings packed...to the Explorer in to have the oil changed and the tires rotated. Then, I can "relax" on Saturday and Sunday. Then, it's "Picnic week"...followed by the Picnic itself. And finally, three "frenetic" days to clean up, load up and set out camping. You may have heard me say this before, but it's still true...I can easily identify my happiest moment of the year. It's when I pull out of the driveway at the beginning of my camping trip. And...that moment is only twelve days away.

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