Been There, Done That

Our camping season had gotten off to a rocky start, it rained just about the whole month of May and we dealt with catastrophic electrical issues in June.

Dave and I have been together for more than 40 years now and have had a vegetable garden for almost all of those years. Now that we're in our 60s, (holy moly, is that a thing?), the big 30x40 garden at the way-back of the property was too much. Our son built us beautiful 4x8 garden boxes right behind the house.

As with every year, Dave and I were eagerly anticipating the start of the camping season. Maybe even a little more this year. We have a new-to-us camper and a new-to-us campground and we really just want to get settled in and relax. We won't be seeing our usual summer friends every weekend anymore, but we are looking forward to making new friends on our new adventure.

When Dave and I moved to our house 30 years ago, the daffodils were already here at the end of the driveway. And they're still right there. They've been mowed down and run over many, many times.

At 13 1/2, our Beagle Boy Cletus is starting to show some signs of slowing down. He's still got a voracious appetite and a high demand for a constant supply of chewsticks and fancy treats. But we're better off to just hand the treats to him.

I try not to pay any attention to the commercials on TV. When they come on, that's my cue to leave my puzzle alone and go knock something off my to-do list. I say I "try" because lately a half-hearted attempt is all I've been able to accomplish. One, the volume alone makes it difficult to ignore them completely.

Are you ready for Christmas? That's been the hot question this whole month. And my answer has been "yes." We had a few gifts yet to get but for the most part, we are ready. Santa has been very good to us this year.

We had a few weeks to kind of settle in at our new camper, new site and new campground. We are very much looking forward to our new adventures in the spring. In the meantime, campground season is over and we are back at home, doing the usual end of summer juggling game trying to fit all of the doubles into just one household.

This summer started out like every other — high hopes for good weather on the weekends for time spent at our camper. Well, so much for that. By the end of June, I was demanding a refund because of the weather: cold and rainy every single weekend. Little did I know that within a month’s time, the weather would be the least of our worries.

Crocs, you either love them or you hate them. I happen to love them. I like light and airy shoes in good weather just like the next person, but no sandals or flip-flops for me. I’ve suffered too many broken toes over the years for that.

Dave and I have had a camper at a local campground for the past 21 years. Considering we’ve been hanging out in the woods with lots of nature all around us all that time, I’ve managed to survive with very few horror stories, even though I’m a natural born klutz. As a child, I tripped over every tree root and sidewalk crack I came in contact with. As I got older, I got more creative with my trips and falls and tragedies.

I finally found time in my schedule to do some weedeating in our one-acre yard. I weedate? weedeated? weed-whacked? OK, trimmed for over an hour and still only did about half the yard. I tanked two arms, two cold refreshing beverages and two batteries in the process.

We look forward all year long to the beginning of camp season. Literally from the minute it closes in the fall, we start making plans for next year. We’ve been at our campground for just over 20 years now. This is our third site and fifth camper, but I think we’ve got the best set-up now that we’ve ever had.

So we got the new-to-us car in November and we were perfectly happy with it — until our son was showing off his new ride. A 2017 F150 pickup truck.

Our Beagle Boy Cletus seems to be more and more like his “big brother” Duke all the time, even though the two never actually met. Dukie crossed the Rainbow Bridge about six months before Cletus’ Gotcha Day.

Dave and I are still getting used to our “new” car. We traded in our paid-off 2010 Ford Escape with 188,000 miles on it for a 2019 Jeep with 84,000 miles. A great deal, but it came with one big downfall – a payment book. I guess I had my head in the sand to think a 15-year-old vehicle with that many miles was going to be my forever car. The biggest adjustment has been the remote start. It’s awesome […]

Our son recently showed me a picture of a nice looking loveseat. It would match our living room perfectly and had an automatic recliner on both sides that lays totally flat, with a console in the middle. Wow. That’s nice. He asked me if we wanted it.