April 4, 2015

I'm not sure how much I actually slept during the night.  It was<beg pardon> fucking cold!  The Marmot bag was a light fluffy ice cube, so against my initial (and usually wiser)thoughts, I grabbed the HUGE hand crocheted blanket my sweet Tanti had made for my mom when we had the cabin in Austria.  This blanket was thick, this blanket was WARM!  I know I did a lot of tossing and turning; as I would get comfortable in one position and soon thereafter I would have to change because my body started to get sore.  This made me think of childhood thoughts I had with my sister.  Late into the night, we would discuss ways of taking of arms or legs or whichever offending body part got in the way of a comfortable night’s sleep.  Of course,  I had to pee twice:   usually it's only once, but  since I was in a bus,  I guess I decided to live for the occasion. It was easily below freezing outside and sleeping in the bus really didn't make that much of a difference.  The bus has no inner-paneling, which might help a little bit, I don’t know, but that’s something I can work on down the road.

I heard Ethan get up, told myself I had to sleep, but couldn’t, then saw him outside the fire that he had rekindled. I went outside, noticing the sparkling frost all over the ground;  the dog’s water bowls were pure ice.  It wasn't long until Maggie also woke up and we decided to get started with breakfast. The cast-iron grill quickly filled with grease, so naturally the bacon is cooked a little more than it needed to be, as were the eggs, as were the rolls… but it was still a lot of fun.  For whatever reason, Annie was going from area to area during this camping trip, digging  holes everywhere.  She had about seven or eight of them done by breakfast and it was hilarious watching her. Mabi, on the other hand, was obsessed with us throwing a stick for her and would whine constantly….  The table are turned now and Annie is the quiet one.  Mabi…that dog never learns.

After breakfast, Maggie went back to bed for a little bit and Ethan and I sat and talked, enjoying each other's company.   I noticed a forest ranger pull up and quickly went to grab my fire permit (Yes!  Thank you, Carol!!).  Apparently we were also in an area not designated for public use.  However she was impressed with our fire (a foot deep, surrounded by stones, 2 fire extinguishers and 4 gallons of water) and I told her that we would be leaving in a few hours after we had Ethan's marinated chicken (which was delicious).   After lunch, we started gathering everything up and headed down the hill.  Except… I noticed the engine was choking...and NONE of the lights were working.  Oh hell no, here we go again!

I pulled over on the freeway and waited a bit before turning off the engine (since she’s air-cooled). A CHP officer pulled in behind me and told me to drive a quarter of a mile down where it was safer (trucker scales).  He was a really nice gentleman.  We checked the engine and I told him everything I had done and what the mechanic had done.  Nothing seemed wrong, so he followed me a bit and I made it home – with a really nervous feeling that I’ve had most of my life with cars.  I saw Carol outside and she mentioned the marine battery being too powerful as an auxiliary battery, so I unplugged it again.  Ethan had texted Brent to let him know we would be making a stop to German Auto Werks next week.

As we unloaded, I also cleaned out the shed, got laundry and dishes going.  Then Mags and I headed to the store as we are going to have a special Easter egg hunt – we will each hide eggs for the others tomorrow, then Mags and I will bake a surprise for Brent and his kindnesses.  As for tonight though, we ate Manwiches (YEAH!!) and watched Nature as Maggie and I played a jellybean game about selecting a disgusting or delicious jelly bean.  I did well, every time, but according to her reaction Skunk Stink isn’t very pleasant at all.  My body is sore, tired and feels like sandpaper, and somehow, I have gained painful assfat (lower back, upper derriere area).  I will sleep in an orgasmic state tonight just because it’s my BED!  Oh, heaven…

Pictures:  My sweet kids, exhausted.  Notice Mabi on her Frisbee; My morning coffee; it was horribly strong and I grew hair on my chest; A little Giants GD; Annie busted at her hole digging; This is how we douse a campfire: water, soil, rocks, more water, ice.