Skip to main content

Camping HELL


I just experienced the camping trip from HELL. Sacrificed 1 DS, 1 Playbook, 1 Blackberry and 1 Satellite radio .. as a storm sent a river through our tent.  The afore mentioned electronics spent days resting in zip bags full of rice, in hopes the water would be sucked out and they would once again, zip, brrrrrrrrrg and ring to life.

 Ask anyone – I am NOT a camper, but, this past weekend, we joined some friends at Sandbanks Provincial Park, to surprise one of my best girlfriends for her 40th Birthday.  I watched the weather forecast ahead of time, wishing the threat of rain away – yet determined to make it for one night to surprise my pal. On Friday afternoon, all was looking good.  No rain in sight, blue sky, and another friend texted they had already set-up the tent for my family to sleep in.

 We arrived at Sandbanks, unpacked, and joined our friends for a BBQ and campfire.  After a night of great company, food and a bottle of wine,  I awoke at 8am to find my husband pulling electronics out of a river on the floor of our tent.  So great was his frustration, that we immediately packed up, said goodbye to our friends and headed for home. 

 As we were driving away, we saw a great number of tree branches down and it opened our eyes to our luck to be uninjured, have our kids safe, and only electronics as casualties of the storm.  The feeling of frustration was beginning to give way to relief.  Only then did I allow myself to suffer from the bottle of wine I had drunk the night before.  I opened the window to let the cool air abate my nausea.  My husband told me to open my mouth and stick out my tongue … it would help.  I did, it didn’t and I turned to look at him laughing as he drove the van.  I said, “it didn’t work.”  His giggled response was, “sure it did!  I feel much better.”  Another crisis averted with humour.
                                                                                        We had stopped at the first store to buy Minute Rice and Ziplocbags (and loads of cookies for breakfast).  The rice had worked for us once before with a camera that had gone swimming in a pool. Three days later, we are still down one DS, the satellite radio plays music but only works by remote in its cradle, the Blackberry can send and receive calls but no longer takes pictures or allows for apps, and lastly, we have a fully functioning Playbook – that our daughter says now looks  little 3D, because of the condensation still present in the screen.

 What sense came out of this adventure?  Rice works!  Tents don’t.  Losing a few electronics is nothing as long as our kids are safe!  And – it’s worth it to look like a dog in heat if it makes your frustrated husband laugh.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

It Only Takes One

My son's daycare had five amazing, 8-foot sunflowers growing in their garden this summer.  My own sunflowers didn't do very well so we asked if we could have some of the seeds from daycare to plant in our garden next summer.  Shawna began to harvest the seeds from the faces of the sunflowers.  She took some home with her and a creature destroyed most of them - only a few remaining in their shells.  She returned to daycare to learn that the heads of the remaining sunflowers had been stolen right off their stalks in the yard of the daycare.  The ladies were upset and disappointed that they might not be able to carry on the tradition of their sunflowers. Cornell Sunflower - see the attempt at taping the stem ... When my husband got home from work today he told me their story and asked,"hey - do you have any more of those books with the 'Cornell Sunflower' story?"  A story I wrote was published by 'Chicken Soup' and the similarities to th...
1 comment
Read more

Elvis the Cat

Elvis the cat went missing last Thursday night.   For 14 years Elvis the Cat lived with me indoors. He was afraid of the outside.   Due to kidney disease, he has been living on borrowed time but was still vibrant, fat and happy.   Lately, he seemed desperate to get outside.   I had been warned he might run away to die.      I searched for two days and nights, was sad, and began to look back …. We met at a farm in 1999.   He was undernourished, with mites and fleas.   I was embarking on a new, independent life.   We knew instantly that we belonged to each other.   I nursed him back to life – physically, and he nourished my spirit.   I didn’t hear him meow for the first few years of his life.   I always thought it was because I saw to his every need before he knew he had it.   At night, he would sleep curled in my arms.   If he heard a noise, he would perch on the end of my bed between me and a potenti...
Post a Comment
Read more

Cornell Community Soup

“Cornell Community Soup” is more than just a metaphor for the melting pot of cultures, religions, beliefs and politics we embody.  The Village of Cornell is nestled in the eastern boarder of Markham, Ontario, surrounded by sister villages that continue the tradition of service and support throughout the community.  I have lived on my block in Cornell for 16 years.  Bigger houses with lower prices from the north continue to tempt, yet the warm hug of this community always keeps us home.  In anticipation of another exciting Blue Jay’s post season game, a pot of turkey soup is simmering on our stove.  Turkey from the Markham Butcher , and carrots and garlic from Reesor Farm .  Both local small business run by families who suffered losses this month.  The Markham Butcher and his wife lost their precious baby son earlier this month.  An unfathomable tragedy.  Reesor Farm was   targeted by trespassers and looters  on Thanksgiving Mon...
Post a Comment
Read more