Hang Up Your Chairs To Better Sweep...
I have a dog again! :-D Only for a couple of weeks but I'm still happy to have her back. She's got me a little bit worried, though, as she's not eating like she normally is. She's a dog that generally inhales her food (typical of Chocolate Labs) but now she's letting it sit in her bowl all day. She only eats it after Mom & I have eaten supper & it's almost like she only eats it because she realizes it's dinner time & she won't get dinner if she hasn't eaten breakfast yet. R the Vet Tech told me that it might simply be the heat but it was hot down in Virginia before she came up here so I don't know.
Sis turned Hurricane Hannah back over to Mom & I at the Smith Family Reunion Campout this past weekend. It was, as is typical of any gathering of Smiths that involves my branch or Uncle G's crew, zany crazy fun. How zany? I spent enough time in the sun to actually get a sunburn. (OK, it's not really so weird- I was in a pool swimming. Which is about the only way I ever spend lots of time in the sun).
Oddly, for being a Smith Family Campout, there weren't a lot of Smiths there-- which is saying something, considering that there were 15 kids in my Dad's family. Still, I did meet another cousin I'd never met before; this one was the granddaughter of Uncle Greenie-- whom I'm not sure I've met, either. Greenie's either the oldest of all the kids or the oldest boy- I'm not sure which. My Dad was the youngest boy, with just 2 sisters younger than him, so there's quite an age difference. In fact, I think Greenie & Aunt Rachael (oldest sister & other contender for oldest sibling) are actually older than my maternal Grandmother, which would put them in their 90's. And there were probably people there I was related to more distantly as there were certainly a lot of people named Smith at the campground we were at.
The campground was Christmas Pines, the same campground that we used to camp at when I was a kid & we went down to visit Grandma, Grandpa, & Uncle George & his family. We had this ancient pop-up camper back then that was pretty tricked-out, considering. It had been Grandpa Crotty's & being an engineer, he built cabinets & such into it. Back then, they didn't have all the fancy fold-out tables & such that they do now; they were just an empty space. Grandpa wasn't one to settle for empty space when it could put to use with some creative carpentry (those of you who wonder where my urge to fill every available nook & cranny comes from may now wonder if it's genetic. So may those who've seen how much stuff I take with me when camping).
Whilst we adult types were sitting around the campfire Friday night, we could hear Cousin Marie's kids acting up in the tent they were supposed to be sleeping in. Marie turns to her husband & says, "Is it your turn to flog the kids or is it mine?" He replied, "Oh no, dear, it's definitely your turn for the fun." So Marie goes down to the kids tent. She comes back with an impressively large tow chain & as she plopped back down in her chair she commented, "Flogging is so much more fun with weapons." :-) Yes, we're all warped. (For those who might be concerned, no she didn't actually flog the kids with the chain- or at all, really. It turned out that the ruckus in the tent was her son scaring his younger sister by rattling the chain & making ghost noises. We're not just warped, we're warped from a young age).
Things to remember:
A billboard for "Troll Beads". I sooo wish I could have stopped to check that out! (Yay! Google for the win! Trollbeads online. Wow, are these cool... I have a sudden urge to start buying them for my niece.)
Thunder Chicken! This was a motorsports store that we passed. The Thunder Chicken itself seemed to be a large yellow monster truck that was rusting out next to the building.
The tent camping sites composed of kindling. Seriously. GeekBro wasn't sure that his tent was actually staked down into anything solid. We *do* know that there was dirt underneath all the wood chips because Hannah dug herself a burrow down to the actual dirt, but it was at least eight inches down.
"1 Way Jesus" I saw this graffitied on a couple of bridges & it struck me that it would make a good band name. And then I thought it would be fun to have a summer festival tour composed of bands with "Jesus" in their name- The Jesus & Mary Chain, The Jesus Lizard, MC 900 Ft. Jesus, Jesus H. Christ & the Four Hornsman of the Apocalypse (what a great name!), Jesus Jones (but only if they stick to songs from Liquidizer)
Frackville. Battlestar Galactica geeks may all commence giggling. I giggled the entire time Mom & I were driving through the town- not that it took long.
Drunken Monkey- the bar in Frackville.
Sis turned Hurricane Hannah back over to Mom & I at the Smith Family Reunion Campout this past weekend. It was, as is typical of any gathering of Smiths that involves my branch or Uncle G's crew, zany crazy fun. How zany? I spent enough time in the sun to actually get a sunburn. (OK, it's not really so weird- I was in a pool swimming. Which is about the only way I ever spend lots of time in the sun).
Oddly, for being a Smith Family Campout, there weren't a lot of Smiths there-- which is saying something, considering that there were 15 kids in my Dad's family. Still, I did meet another cousin I'd never met before; this one was the granddaughter of Uncle Greenie-- whom I'm not sure I've met, either. Greenie's either the oldest of all the kids or the oldest boy- I'm not sure which. My Dad was the youngest boy, with just 2 sisters younger than him, so there's quite an age difference. In fact, I think Greenie & Aunt Rachael (oldest sister & other contender for oldest sibling) are actually older than my maternal Grandmother, which would put them in their 90's. And there were probably people there I was related to more distantly as there were certainly a lot of people named Smith at the campground we were at.
The campground was Christmas Pines, the same campground that we used to camp at when I was a kid & we went down to visit Grandma, Grandpa, & Uncle George & his family. We had this ancient pop-up camper back then that was pretty tricked-out, considering. It had been Grandpa Crotty's & being an engineer, he built cabinets & such into it. Back then, they didn't have all the fancy fold-out tables & such that they do now; they were just an empty space. Grandpa wasn't one to settle for empty space when it could put to use with some creative carpentry (those of you who wonder where my urge to fill every available nook & cranny comes from may now wonder if it's genetic. So may those who've seen how much stuff I take with me when camping).
Whilst we adult types were sitting around the campfire Friday night, we could hear Cousin Marie's kids acting up in the tent they were supposed to be sleeping in. Marie turns to her husband & says, "Is it your turn to flog the kids or is it mine?" He replied, "Oh no, dear, it's definitely your turn for the fun." So Marie goes down to the kids tent. She comes back with an impressively large tow chain & as she plopped back down in her chair she commented, "Flogging is so much more fun with weapons." :-) Yes, we're all warped. (For those who might be concerned, no she didn't actually flog the kids with the chain- or at all, really. It turned out that the ruckus in the tent was her son scaring his younger sister by rattling the chain & making ghost noises. We're not just warped, we're warped from a young age).
Things to remember:
A billboard for "Troll Beads". I sooo wish I could have stopped to check that out! (Yay! Google for the win! Trollbeads online. Wow, are these cool... I have a sudden urge to start buying them for my niece.)
Thunder Chicken! This was a motorsports store that we passed. The Thunder Chicken itself seemed to be a large yellow monster truck that was rusting out next to the building.
The tent camping sites composed of kindling. Seriously. GeekBro wasn't sure that his tent was actually staked down into anything solid. We *do* know that there was dirt underneath all the wood chips because Hannah dug herself a burrow down to the actual dirt, but it was at least eight inches down.
"1 Way Jesus" I saw this graffitied on a couple of bridges & it struck me that it would make a good band name. And then I thought it would be fun to have a summer festival tour composed of bands with "Jesus" in their name- The Jesus & Mary Chain, The Jesus Lizard, MC 900 Ft. Jesus, Jesus H. Christ & the Four Hornsman of the Apocalypse (what a great name!), Jesus Jones (but only if they stick to songs from Liquidizer)
Frackville. Battlestar Galactica geeks may all commence giggling. I giggled the entire time Mom & I were driving through the town- not that it took long.
Drunken Monkey- the bar in Frackville.