Wednesday May 22nd

Hello Wednesday:
   This morning was a mad rush to get the dogs up, and then they had to go back in their cage after only an hour! Mike had another appointment with the pain doctor for shots in the right side of his back today. Once again, the Doc had trouble where Mike's back is fused. That makes for a lot of pain.  We finally got out of the office and made it home about 11:30 a.m. As you can imagine, the dogs were more than ready to get out of their cage.  I guess it's really a huge crate. They finally settled down after I fed them. They always act like they have been in the crate for days instead of a couple of hours. I'll be glad when I can start walking them again, maybe they will settle down a little. I walked around the block pushing our Grand Daughter Charli last Monday. It wasn't real bad but my foot was hurting by the time I got back.  Of course, I only had Crocs on, and not my walking shoes. I hope it will be better with my walking shoes. 

Sunday Weeding:
   I am really paying for weeding on Sunday without my gloves!  I have a few spots of poison ivy on my left hand. Also, I think someone must have been burning wood with it on it. Did you know that the resin oil from it can be carried in the smoke? The worst case I ever had was when I went outside, and looked at a bon fire one time. I was covered with it, and I wasn't even at the bon fire. Friends of mine were there, and they got it too! It was two streets away from where I was standing. So if you get it please be careful around campfires. I ended having to go to the doctor and, get shots and be on a regimen of prednasone for 2 weeks. I hope it doesn't get that bad this time. It is on my neck, the bend of my elbow, and a couple of other places on my legs. My whole family gets it really easy, so I know what poison ivy and oak, look like, and I stay away from them. I sure didn't see any in my flower beds out front. Anyway, wish me luck I know I haven't had any for about five years, and it seems like I get a rip roaring case about every five years, always in late spring if I'm going to get it. If it was just on my hand I would say I got it weeding, but I did make sure I washed my hands as soon as I came in the house, before I touched anything. I hope it clears up before the next wedding in June, or I'll be a mess! Anyway, I am trying to resist scratching even though it itches like crazy!

Fiver:
   Tomorrow I am going to start on the keepsake bouquet in the fiver. Then when I get done I am going to clean, and straighten up the fiver.  A bouquet can take me anywhere from 3 hours to 2 days. It just depends how elaborate I get with it. This one may take the longer time because it is going to be a cascading bouquet, and they do take longer to  get the cascading effect right. Since we're not going anywhere for Memorial weekend, and it is supposed to be cool, but sunny we plan on washing the fiver and giving the Beast (truck) a bath too!  So I imagine anything I don't get done in the fiver, I can finish up then.

Charli:
   Sometimes I get to watch Miss Charli, so she might get into the time frame too. She is Mariah, and our youngest son, Gary's daughter. She is 2  1/2 years old. She is a little smartie pants too!  She can tell you all the alphabet and all the numbers on a clock and in a deck of cards, when you point to them. She knows all her colors, shapes, and animals in her books. Her favorite shape is an octagon.  Her name is Charlotte and her nickname is Charli .  So if I have her I won't be getting anything done, because I'll be playing with her! Playing and doing things with the Grand Daughters is one of my favorite things to do! Just found out that I will have her from 3 to 5 tomorrow, so I can work on my bouquet for awhile tomorrow. Now that worked out good!

Rain/ Memorial Weekend camping:
   We had a rain shower with just a bit of thunder, and it cooled things off a bit, we're down to 67 degrees now. I hope it does not get into the 40's like they have been predicting for this weekend. 
   I know we have spent many Memorial weekends camping, and wearing jeans, with sweaters, and jackets, and eating homemade soups.  They were good times spent sitting around a fire most of the day. If it rained, then we were usually in whatever Rv we had at the time. We have always had a hard shelled Rv's, never a tent or a pop up camper, no we're not Rv snobs. Lol! For one reason or another, we never used a tent or had a pop up. We looked at a lot of pop ups at Rv shows, then we ended up with a used 16' Shasta trailer, that we pulled with a station wagon. It would actually sleep 8, but it was very crowded with 5! It even had a little room with a toilet! It also had lots of storage, and a stove with oven, refrigerator,  a booth for eating, and a little furnace. The only thing it didn't have was hot water and a shower. I used to heat water in an electric 40 cup coffee pot,( like you would use for a large gathering) for dishes. That was actually roughing it for us! Lol! 
   Boy did it get really small when it rained, one Memorial weekend it rained the whole time we were there. Imagine, if you will, 3 small boys, ages  3, 5, and 7 and 2 adults sitting around in a 16' trailer, and all their toys. Can we say  CRAZY? OMG, you talk about going bonkers, we were! Then we got up on Memorial day, and couldn't get out of the camper, cos the awning was full of water, and the door wouldn't open but about a foot. It was one of those little awnings that slid into a little track, and then had poles and ropes with stakes in the ground. I'm surprised it didn't come out of the track on the side of the camper! Mike had to use the handle of the broom to push the awning up enough for him to get out so he could release one of the poles. We made a lot of mistakes that week end, but the biggest was GOING! Haha! Oh well, we can look back on it and laugh now though! The boys have fond memories of the camping trips we took, and all enjoy going camping now, so I think it was worth it.
  I have to say our accommodations have gotten much better, though they sleep fewer people, they have so much more space. Our 35' fifth wheel trailer has 3 slides so it is nice and roomy. Except, when we take the 3 oldest Grand Daughters in June it will seem just as small as that little Shasta Trailer we used to have. Having had boys, I never realized how much stuff 1 teenager and 2 preteen girls had to take with them! Lol!  After having them for 2 weeks last summer, we now know how much room they take up with their stuff. Haha!  It was mass chaos until we figured out where to put things, and they had to put everything back as soon as they were done with it. There were many times I went into the fiver and clothes were all over the place!  Then I had to call them in and make them put everything back in their little cabinet. So lets pray for clear skies and warm temps in June! 

   Well that is going to do it for me for this post, so safe travels, until next time...