Who Dat?

Here it was, October 8th, and the temperature was 74! Herbie is always ill-prepared. As for Moi, I sported shorts and a tank top. It was pure magic to go from the summer-like beach to the autumn woods in less than 5 minutes.




The hiking trails are to die for, and the aroma? Wish I could bottle it and breathe it in everyday.

One happy camper...

We watched the Packer game outside with a roaring campfire. Oops! I guess in all the excitement the fire wasn't exactly roaring, but there was a fire, nonetheless.

On our last night at the campground, we were I was determined to find the owl that kept us awake every night. I just love owls, don't you? They can really put away a Tootsie Pop. I grabbed a flashlight and ran into the woods. Alone. Herbie was comfortable sitting by the fire and couldn't be bothered. So there I was in the middle of the forest, when my flashlight died! Thank God I found my way out. When I got back to our campsite, I begged Herbie to go back with me, with flashlights that worked. He eventually succumbed to the nagging. Dang those crispy leaves! We made such a racket in the woods that the owl fled the scene.

This weekend it's our 30th anniversary! My brother sent me this link about a band of albino deer in northern Wisconsin, and I fell totally in love with them. So on the spur of the moment I planned a getaway. I found a beautiful cabin up there with a wood burning fireplace (gotta have a fireplace, just got to!) The owner gave me some tips as to where we could find the white deer. I'll be sure to take lots of pictures to post later.

Camping Fever

Just got back from a great couple of days camping with family. I have never had so much fun camping in my life! There were 30 of us roughing it out in a rustic campground, with plenty of marshmallows and mosquitos to go around.

My niece Becky taught us a fun game to play around the campfire. One of us volunteers to be the psychiatrist, and goes off on a 5 minute walk. While the 'doctor' is out, we plan a devious plot for him to solve. We come up with a problem that we all have. Example: each of us thinks we're the person to our right. When the doctor comes back, he takes turns asking questions like "what color are you wearing?" or "where do you live?" We answer the questions according to how the person to our right would answer. You can come up with all kinds of 'illnesses' to display. The round ends when the doctor solves the sickness. The best one we came up with? We all had a crush on the psychiatrist. So everytime the doc would ask a question, we would swoon and suffer from heart palpitations. This was a howling good time, especially when all the guys in the group had to 'crush' on my brother-in-law!

See this simple, silly pole? Did you know that you can play a fun game with it? No, not the go-go dancer kind of games, or the Olympic variety. Just the basic simpleton camper game. You stick two poles in the ground, about 50 feet apart. You put a bottle of bottled water (with a cap) on top. Two people stand on either side of each pole, and toss a frisbee back and forth. The trick is, you're holding a drink in your hand, and you can't spill a drop. You have to catch the frisbee in one hand, balance your drink in the other, and should the frisbee hit the pole and knock off the bottle of water, you have to catch that too.

If your team wins the game, you may be tempted to grab the pole like this.

If your team loses, you may want to bend the crap out of your stupid good-for-nothing pole.

Your pet may try to join in on the fun too. We don't have a problem with that.

Get this! You throw a couple strands of Christmas lights on your fire, and voila! You're treated to a rainbow of colors like pink, purple, etc. It's breathtakingly beautiful! The copper in the wires is what brings out all the colors. Now you know what to do with all those strands of lights that don't work every year when you bring them down from the attic. Heck, I'd even buy brand new lights to burn. It's worth it!

The rest of the time? We played in the lake, ate like pigs and celebrated a birthday with a pinata. Man, that thing really had to take a beating to shower the candy! Good times...

Catching up

Where have I been? M.I.A. I finished my book (woo hoo!) and sent the manuscript to celebrities and church leaders, hoping for endorsements (see button on sidebar if you're looking for endorsements). FAVOR, Lord. Please? We've also been camping a lot this summer. And yes, those are my own personal feet in this picture. I hope this doesn't look too risque. Here are some more pics...

Here's Otis, pudding putting some putting pudding into his diet. Gotta get every last drop of pudding. It's very important. Very important! And now, a word from our sponsor: Pudding. Pudding. Pudding. Well, three words.




Ah, Ramen noodles. A kid's best friend. This was a camping trip in May, when it was quite chilly. A hot cup of soup is just the ticket to warm the soul. Check out those dimples!

Eat your hearts out, ladies. He's all mine. Heheh...There's a story behind this strange outfit. We were supposed to go home, but decided at the last minute to stay at the campground a few more days. Not much of a wardrobe to pick from with all the laundry piling up. Mark managed to make do with his pajamas and dress shoes (where oh where did the tennis shoes go?) His t-shirt says "Feeling Lucky?" Oh yeah...


it had a path to our own private beach behind it. But don't ask where this is, it's top secret.


Here's the private beach. We invited some family and friends to join us all week. On our last day a stranger approached us, asking if this was the campsite with the secret beach. "Um....no. Secret beach? Whatever do you mean?"

I have already made a pest of myself with the good folks at Reserve America. Trying to attain this particular campsite all summer long will make their jobs unbearable. Here's me, in a typical reservation conversation:

Me: "Hello? Reserve America? I need site 57. Could you please check if it's available?"

RA: "No Ma'am, it's not available."

Me: "I know it will be available soon. Would you please just keep clicking it until it's available?"

RA: "Sure lady, I'll keep clicking. Click. Click. Click. Still not available."

Me: "Keep clicking! It must be available! Click it! Just click it! For crying out loud, click it!"

RA: "Ma'am, please calm down. I know how to press buttons. That's my job. Pressing buttons."

Me: "Get the manager. I don't think you're clicking that button right!"

Click. "Hello?"

And no, it's not site 57. That was just to throw you off the scent.

And now I'm off to visit all of you. I missed my blog friends!

Where have you been this summer?