Weather‑wise, this was a good camping trip, hotter than Hades though.
We had rain yesterday, but no big deal, just a gentle shower, not a gully washer.
Fishing‑wise, it wasn’t a good year.
Cowboy said that the river was up too much.
For Badger, it was rougher than normal.
I don’t know what was up with her this year.
She didn’t sleep, which is normal, but have you ever been in a tent with an insomniac flashing a flashlight at random intervals all night long?
When she did sleep, she was all over the tent.
She moves more than a hyperactive squirrel.
Sleeping in her own tent is not an option.
She has sensory issues, and she doesn’t really like being in the pitch‑black darkness.
She hears noises, and that’s a nightmare when you have squirrels and owls and raccoons and cranes squawking constantly.
If her anxiety wasn't bad enough, she lost three fillings in her sleep.
Luckily, I had phone service, not much else, but I could make calls.
I found Wi-Fi and Googled dentists and found Dr. M, who works with special-needs kids.
They asked why I was switching dentists, and I told them that after losing three fillings, it's time to try a new dentist.
He just can't get me in for two weeks, so she's hurting and living off Advil.
I tried the dentist we used with the boys, and they couldn't get me in for a month, which is why I quit using them.
They got to where you could never get an appointment.
I really didn't want to try a Knoxville dentist, so my choices were limited.
Two weeks isn't too bad.
We were farther away from the RVs this year, so we had to walk all the way to the front of the campground to get Wi-Fi and get on the Internet.
We just crossed our fingers that someone had open Wi-Fi.
Most of the time, we couldn't find one.
Data was very spotty, and I thought as long as you had data you could get online.
No, that's not how it worked.
So Badger was bored to death.
There’s only so much Uno you can play, so many books you can read, and her bike tore up on her.
I’m to the point of saying no more.
When it's only fun for one person, it's not worth it.
I enjoyed just sitting and reading to my heart's content, but I had to entertain her while she was bored, and that wore me out.
Let's see, we arrived on Wednesday, and it turns out that every second Wednesday is target practice or something for the local police, so from 1 pm until about 8 pm we had steady shooting across from our campsite.
Thursday, Raven, SK, and Eins came up for hot dogs and s'mores.
Friday, we went home to water the animals, and we found Olaf the guinea pig and David the fish dead.
Olaf was about three years old, and David was over four.
I don't know if the heat got them or what.
We had left the air conditioners on and the ceiling fans running on Friday, but we hadn't done that on Wednesday.
Thankfully, no one else was dead today.
I had four fans going in the laundry room and plenty of water and food when we left to go camping, so I don't know why Olaf died.
Saturday, Peacock and Moon came up and stayed until fairly late.
We got to see a truck fire with fire trucks that day.
A camper across from the playground somehow caught his truck on fire.
The campground has a playground, thank goodness, because Moon was bored just sitting and watching Daddy and Pappaw fish.
After they left, we took Badger to the other campground that has a swimming beach, and she got in the water for a while just to cool off.
Today, of course, we are home with a heck of a mess to clean up.
I hate the after camp mess.
I told Cowboy I almost hated to come home.
We'd finally got in the groove and were enjoying ourselves, or at least I was.
We cleaned up the mess it left behind and put Oreo Moo and Bubba in their new homes.
I was going to take them to the animal shelter, but they say they're full, and I don't want them to be euthanized.
I cleaned up the cat mess they left after four days alone and moved them into Badger's room temporarily.
I emptied the litter boxes and took Lucifer's crate outside.
I have the back room ready for the tons of camp laundry I have.
However, Raven and SK came by for a bit, so I was on hold with any more cleaning.
She's going to do blood work in two weeks that will tell her what gender Baby is.
Sounds like science fiction to me.
Fifteen years ago we didn't have that technology.
I only got one ultrasound with all my pregnancies, and if my kids weren't proud of their equipment, we would never have known their sex.
Luckily, all my kids didn't mind spreading their legs wide and yelling “yoo hoo look at what I have.”
She's going to do a gender reveal and baby shower.
After they left, we went out and picked up some groceries.
We didn't need much, thankfully.
Now I'm sitting here in utter chaos trying to decide if I really want to clean up tonight.
I did spritz our pillows with Febreze and put them in the dryer.
I don't want to wake up with any ants again, and two of them won't fit in a washing machine.
I think that may be the only work I'm willing to do tonight.
I am exhausted and achy.
