Grape Did It

Backyard bayou

and also, I don't know if it's because the water is beginning to rot things or what, but it smells like a chicken coup out there.

Running in the Family

I just finished reading the book Running in the Family by Michael Ondaatje, also author of The English Patient. It sat on my coffee table for a while because I was intimidated by what I thought was its literary-ness, but it turned out to be wonderful. Anyhow, here’s a quote from it I thought was particularly amusing:

At one of the other bungalows guests have to sleep behind closed doors, for a bear comes regularly each night, climbs the stairs slowly as if exhausted, and sleeps on whatever free bed is available.

Is this enough?

Aside from potentially painful student experiments, the other thing I like about living in a college town is that every time you say something like, “gah, will this rain ever stop?!” people around you are liable to respond, “tut, tut, we need this rain” or “this town has been in a major drought for 3 years running”. I don’t know where they get their information – probably at the same website most know-it-alls visit – but everyone around them usually nods and I end up muttering, “Well, right I know, I just meant, like, hopefully it’ll slow down once all plant life is properly nourished.” As if I want all the flowers to shrivel up and die of thirst or the pools in the neighborhood to close, “Sorry, pool closed - all out of water”. Blacksburg has evidently been in a drought since I showed up 7 years ago but I think this year there is some hope. Either way I’m keeping my mouth shut.

Bions and Tigers and more Bions - oh my

Last night Bud and I went camping for the first time with our new tent. We held off going until Saturday to avoid the rain Friday night and we also went closer than we were planning just in case the weather failed us. Which it did anyway. After setting up the tent, digging and making a fire ring and collecting the driest sticks we could find, we just sat. Had a beer and sat and remarked on how little just sitting anyone does anymore. It wasn’t so much a judgment – I think we both like constant stimulation as much as the next person – but just sitting and talking when you feel like it was surprising in how good it felt.

We made dinner – hamburgers, Doritos and corn – on my little cast iron grill Bud got me for Christmas. Around 8 we started to feel the first raindrops and heard something I’d never heard before – the rain coming. As in, we could hear it on one side of the woods getting closer and closer. It has an ominous feel to it when it comes in that way. Since I had Sadie in my lap, I shoveled her into the tent and then dove in after her right as the storm hit. Bud stayed outside covering our stuff with a tarp, stoking the fire and trying to wait it out. When he realized it might stick around a while, he came in too. I was happy for the storm. Sitting inside a tent warm and cozy while the rain hit the roof was fun. Once the rain let up we stood around the fire a while more but then a fresh wave started to pour down and we got in the tent for the night.

I woke up somewhere in the witching-est hour of the night and had to use the bathroom. I crawled out of the tent, allowing just enough room to squeeze through the opening so as to not let in extra water, and stumbled around blearily trying to find a suitable spot. It was hard because one part of me was terrified to go too far from our tent, the other part of me was disgusted to go too near. I ended up about 20 feet away and started to squat when I heard this SCREECH! I think if you look up the definition of hauling-ass you will find a picture of me stumbling towards the tent and diving in head first, heart pounding. It was a moment of pure instinct and I must’ve crossed that ground and thrown myself through the small opening faster than it takes me to tear open a bag of Doritos. Bud thought it was a screech-owl, I thought I wasn’t taking any chances. The problem was, I still had to pee. I resolved to wait until morning – daylight feels so much safer, even if some bear/mountain lion hybrid is still lurking right near your campsite – so I tried settling down. I must’ve not done a very good job because a few minutes later Bud insisted I go out and he would go with me. Thank goodness Bud is not afraid of Bions. Here are some pictures from our trip:

I DO TOO

I was looking up recipes online and typed in "easy bread recipe" and found this:

2 2/3 cup SELF RISING flour in bowl
Stir in any brand of 12 oz. beer (I LIKE CORONA)

ME TOO. ALSO MY CAPS LOCKED BUTTON. ALSO ADDING THE WORD "BOWL" TO A FOOD LIST.

It makes it more bearable

Email exchange from one of my favorite coworkers:

Me: Thanks B!

Her: You are very welcome, chum.

Tent!

We got our new tent! I’m disproportionately excited about it – maybe because of the promise of trips un-traveled, the romance of living the rustic life or the fact that I had a Popples tent over my twin bed when I lived in my very first house, on Laurel Forest Drive.

Looking in

at the mirror I just hung.

Addiction

I have an addiction to taking close-up flower pictures, but this magnolia outside my house is magnificent - as my mom might say. And its smell is one of those childhood memory triggers I can't seem to get enough of.

More child abuse

Here we are trying to get Grace Ann to ride Sadie. It didn't work so well but the pictures are worth it.