Trial by (camp) fire!

Might need a little more room for 4 of us!

My husband and I have been infected by the camping bug! We used to have a pop-up camper–that taught us valuable lessons like when to know if the hitch is Really connected, and how to tell if the trailer salesman is lying when he tells you of Course your mini-van can pull the camper! (Trust me–if his mouth is moving–he’s lying!)

Most recently we had rented cabins when we went on vacation. Always with indoor plumbing–kind of a 1-unit hotel. Nice but at $150-$200/night, a bit expensive. We have also looked at trailers and motorhomes–Especially nice if you have an extra $40k or $50k. My husband did the math on how many times we would need to go camping in order to justify that kind of expense–pretty sure we would have to pass the thing down a couple generations!

So we went back to the way we camped when we were first married–in a tent.  Actually still had the tent so we set it up in the back-yard. It soon became obvious that a 7′x7′ tent was too small for our larger “family”–2 dogs and 1 cat. So we got a 12′x12′ tent–large enough to accomodate all of us but still easy to set up. We thought……

Whoever writes the instructions for pitching tents has an evil sense of humor! They give you just enough information to make you feel totally incompetent (ironic, that there is a “tent” in incompeTent!). In fact the only valuable and accurate piece of advice is the suggestion that when you first set up the tent you should do it at home and “not at the campsite, in front of family and friends”!

We did get the tent set up finally. The dogs did their part by walking on the tent when we were trying to pull it upright, and the cat throughtfully crawled under the tent.  Ralphie (our male Black Lab) was under Strict orders not to “christen” the new tent like he did the old one, by peeing on it. And Milly (our female Gordon Setter) was warned about Not putting her paws on the windowsills to look out, like she does at home! Koa, the cat, was extracted from under the tent.  With all animals present and accounted for, we set up sleeping quarters and collapsed for a nap! Next time we will have a better idea of what to do!

Can’t wait for the “real thing” next week! I’ll keep you posted!

Life in the fast (car-pool) lane!

Thoughts come to me out of the blue, like tiny bolts of lightning.  The other day, driving home on the expressway, a car passed me in the car-pool lane. This lane is reserved for cars with two or more people. The guy who went tearing past everyone, however, had no one else in his vehicle. Some time back, a driver was caught in the car-pool lane with a mannequin in the passenger seat. His punishment was to stand by the expressway, holding a sign-something to the effect of “don’t be a dummy, the car-pool lane is reserved for cars with 2 or more People!”

Anyway, the speed-demon who went whipping past all of us law-abiding citizens obviously was violating the “2 or more” law. Which got me to wondering…if he had been Diagnosed with multiple personalities….would that hold up in court?

That guy may have gotten ahead of all the cars, but I had the last laugh.

Thrift store humor

You find the most interesting things at thrift stores. Last week I was scoping out my favorite thrift store, searching for more jigsaw puzzles. (My husband claims there must be a 10-step program for puzzles addicts) While waiting in line to check out, I scanned the racks of the new 99-cent merchandise. Got some real deals there for you bargain-hunters! There were hairpieces that reminded me alot of the dolls I played with as a child. About the same size too–maybe they were for women who just needed a sprig to “fill-in” here and there. There was the usual selection of plastic cooking utensils. Great idea for those of us who tend to melt ours frequently.

Still waiting (the woman in front of me had a cart-full of china and glass), I scanned another rack. Then did a double-take. The display had a whole side devoted to…..pregnancy tests! Really! For 99 cents! I had to laugh. Imagine the scene at the dinner table that night:   ”Hey, hunny? I stopped by the thrift store today and–guess what!”

Yep–you just never know what you’ll find at the thrift store!