Camping Tales and a Broken Heart.

Well first I want to thank all the service men and women. Our experience at Christmas showed us what truly wonderful these guys are. My brother was a Marine, and served during Desert Storm. I am happy he is retired from the military and lives only a few hours from me. My heart goes out to all the parents who can't share this holiday with their children, and never will again. I have an idea how they feel.

Originally we planned to be camping this weekend. When we saw the weather reports for this weekend we decided to wait. I do not like to be miserable in a tent with no way to cool off.

The boys came out Friday afternoon. We were expecting the kids Friday evening. Their dad sent me a text saying his folks wanted them that night and he would bring them out Sat. morning. Then it was they wanted to go to a friends birthday party so he would bring them out Sat. evening, then is was they want to stay all night with the friend, he would bring them Sunday morning.  After I sent several texts, he got back with me Sun afternoon that they wanted to stay with him, he would bring them out Mon. so this morning I get a text, the kids don't want to come out so he is keeping them home. Right. Whatever. I pray no one else has to go through what we do just to see our grand kids. The only time they see their siblings is when they are here. Very sad.

We are in desperate need of rain, have missed all the systems that have gone through. The corn is firing which is something we normally don't see until August, not good. The wheat is ready and harvest will start tomorrow. It is a little scary cutting wheat when it is this dry, one spark and the whole field can go up in flames. Seen it happen a couple of times now with neighbors.

Had a great visit, as usual, with my boys. They set up a little pool for the  lil kids. The lil ones didn't get to use it but these three nuts did. The water temperature was a balmy 62 so they tortured each other pushing them in or splashing each other. We are in the process of draining our pool so we can put a new  liner in. The raccoons have had a little too  much fun in the pool, don't know if they fall in washing their food or if they just like to swim. If they are gonna do it, the least they can do is use the steps to get out. When they try to climb over the side they slash the liner. After patching it for the last several years it is time to replace it.

Speaking of raccoons. About 6 years ago, we took a family trip to South Carolina. Jessika, her husband, his son, our 3 grandsons and baby Ava. Charleston was first up and we spent 4 days there. Then we headed down to Edisto. The town is an "island", and there is a state park there, We had reserved 2 spots months in advance. Our spot was just the other side of the dune and we fell asleep to the sound of waves every night.

Our first night after setting up I got up to use the portapotty. We were surrounded by trees and brush so it was a very private site and due to the heat we left all of the windows down. So I am sitting there, minding my business and I feel someone staring at me. Yikes. I slowly turned my head around to the side of the tent which was all screen, and standing there on their hind legs watching me were 4 raccoons! Ok, heart you can slow down now. We got up the next morning and headed to get groceries so we could eat the next few days. We came back (it just outside the park) and started unpacking when I looked up, there was one of those little fences around our site, like a snow fence. There were rows of the little bandits watching us put our groceries away. I swear there was one there with a pad and pen taking notes! We spent the day on the beach, and at bedtime we all just crashed. When we got up the next morning we saw the raiders had been busy, bread, cookies, chips, and fruit and veggies from the cooler! They opened the cooler! After that we stacked things on the cooler so they couldn't get in. It was annoying, but funny too. Bill went to replace our goodies. We then stored the food in the back of the van where they couldn't get to it. A couple days before we were to leave, we all went crabbing. We got a crab trap and some food for bait and headed to an area where the ocean met fresh water, along the marshes. Rase and I spotted a shark in the water just off the dock when we first got there. He soon disappeared and the crabbing began. There were hundreds of little "tree/hermit" crabs running everywhere. The boys caught some and wanted to keep them. I said one, you can keep one, but whatever you do don't let it loose in the van. We headed back to camp to cook all the blue crabs we had, stopped and got some shrimp fresh off the boat also. Supper was heavenly. Even if we did have an audience. There had to have been well over a dozen raccoons standing around watching us. We took pity on them and gave them our scraps (like they weren't gonna go thru the trash to get them). When we had first gotten back to camp the boys stayed in the van. Now, it was 105, who  knows how hot with the heat index, but way to hot for them to be sitting in that van. I hollered for them to come on, they got out and all 3 of them were hanging their heads. Oh boy. So, I said what? They kind of stuttered around and finally the middle one says, you know how you told us not to lose the crab? Well, we lost it. For days we searched for that little crab, never did find it. I am guessing it jumped out at some point.

Ok, enough stories. It was a fun trip. I would love to do it again someday, without the heat. Thank you for reading along, this has lightened my mood quite a bit.

Blessings