Be Careful when you go out in the woods tonight...

Departure Delayed...

I'm alive and able to take nourishment. Plans to get the heck out of cold country for warmer climes earlier this year than in the past have come to a screeching halt. The culprits are bureaucracy and procrastination. Due to a rescheduled mediation concerning my wife's claim for workman's compensation, it is looking like it will be the end of November or early December before being able to depart Maine. Ouch!

Did you know that the earliest snow around here is October 6, while the average date for accumulative snow is October 19, according to information provided by the forecasters at NOAA/NWS in Caribou, Maine to the local TV Weather Weenie? Well, I remember plowing on October 9 once. Had to stop butchering a hog to help my step-monster put the plow frame back on the truck (we'd had a camper loaned to us and needed to mount the spare tire carrier on the front). I know I said it back then, but once again a sincere "Thank you, Matt" is in order for the effort he expended on my behalf that night.

Anyway, I thought I should let y'all know what is doing in "Vacationland" with the Old Dog and his SWMBO. See you soon. Just not as soon as we had hoped.

Now, where did I put the monkey wrench? I have to pull the pump and the waterline strainer out of the lake before it freezes -- they're forecasting freezing temperatures for tomorrow night. Cast iron may be strong -- but it is no match for the power of water freezing solid.

A final note -- you'll love this funny tale by Ken Futch explaining how he shot himself and the aftermath of that action. Wonderful story-telling. And a special tip of the hat to the Bayou Renaissance Man, from who's blog the YouTube video was first viewed by Yours Truly. Get well soonest, old man...

Enjoy!

Summer's End

I've been remiss, posting here.

We've finally had summer and I have been enjoying it as much as possible.

But now, autumn is approaching. Summer is a grand old dame and we have had a nice two week run of warm, sunny days and cool, clear nights. Tonight, though, they are forecasting patchy frost and temps in the high 30's. Time to start getting the urge for going . Chevrons of geese family groups have been coming to the beaver pond down back ... I hear them squabbling at dusk and dawn' occasionally they'll take flight.

Jumped three does in the old garden spot at dawn yesterday. Funny watching their flags a bobbing as they took off across the field while the buck snorted up a heck of a racket in the hedgerow over the smell of my urine. Iggy, usually the whirling black dervish, ignored the does and huddled behind me after the buck started in with his foolishness. Guess the little monster is learning a little caution as he gets older.

I miss writing here and I don't. We hired broadband from the local cable company, Time-Warner, as well as cable tv service. Of course, that was when I thought we'd spend the summer at the camp. Well, a number of issues prevented that plan from coming to fruition, so computer Internet access has been spotty and competes with TV.

Guess which one wins out most often?

Exactly. I am a couch potato.

So what do you think? Should I shut this place down, rather than allowing it to become one of the derelict sites on the blogosphere? Or just keep on with these very sporadic entries?

Inquiring minds want to know...

In The Good Ol' Summertime...

I know I kvetch about the weather. A lot.

Still, it is omnipresent and immutable by mere individual action.

Closest thing to a god I've ever seen.

Maybe there is something to that old story about Noah -- we've just come off damned close to 80 days of rain and overcasted gloom and doom.

Yesterday and today? Absolutely gorgeous. The kinds of days that make putting up with a Maine winter almost tolerable.

Not that I have any intention of spending another winter here, mind you.

Here's hoping that Summertime is really here, finally.

Y'all come see us, y'hear?

And Noah only dealt with 40 days of rain...

Howdy, all. Missed you too. Just got internet access today, courtesy of SWMBO and Time-Warner. Talk about major withdrawal - it's been since before Memorial Day! SIX WEEKS! Egads and gadzooks. Too much to tell and it will all have to wait. However, you'all will appreciate this - it has been raining almost every day since the first of May here. Talk about soggy -- inside. Yep, both the house and camp roofs leAnd Noah aked and much has been destroyed. Damn. Can't catch a break, it seems.

Anyway, I'll get back to you ASAP, but we're both OK and merely mildewed...

Mill-doing

Hanging tight in P.F. due to wx forecast of severe thunderstorms. Yesterday drove up and over the Great Smoky Mountains to Cherokee, N.C. What a depressing reservation (and I've been on quite a few). The people are wonderful, though and are a handsome mix of Amerind and Eurowasps. Fell in love with a half dozen maidens working in the shops. None even glanced my way (pout). They sure liked my wife and her c.c. - she added to their coffers with the purchase of an Airstream-shaped birdhouse while I went off on a musical bent with a Cherokee traditional flute from the Wolf clan and an ocarina from Peru (don't ask).

If ever you get over that way, take a moment to stop at the Oconaluftee Visitor Center on the Cherokee side of the park. It was built by the CCC - the Civilian Conservation Corps - in 1941 and is trimmed out inside with stained American Chestnut. Oh my, what a wonderful wood and such a shame to have lost it all to blight. Also check out the working grist mill up the road - Mingus' Mill - and the Mountain Farm Museum next to the visitor center.

We plan on leaving tomorrow. Taking today to relax and regroup.

Shanghaied by Christians!

Bloody awful hot on Friday. Only made 300 miles or so. Made the mistake of getting off the highway at Pigeon Ford, Tennessee. That's right, home to Dollywood and about 1000 outlet stores, theaters, restaurants and other tourist traps. The main strip puts me in mind of Myrtle Beach, NC. All that is missing are the honky-tonks and strip joints. Pigeon Ford is all about family fun.

Anyway, pulled in to the River Bend Campground after deciding that two previous facilities looked at were a bit too religious, what with Jesus in flashing lights on the office rooves. It was what seemed like a reasonable hour -- 8 o'clock. Darned if the office wasn't closed up tight (turns out we'd crossed a timezone line and didn't know it - it was late, after all). Finally a tall skinny fellow gets out of his motorhome next to the pavilion and introduces himself as "Pastor Ron". Bloody Jesus-folks snuck one by me, dang-it-all! He helped get us signed in, but only after extracting a promise from my wife that we would attend the Saturday night gospel singing! If you hear of a pavilion collapsing on a bunch of gospel singing folk, you'll know why.

We'll be here a few days to play then onwards towards the soggy Northeast.

We're off!

Lots of false starts and failed attempts later, but we have departed for points North. Hard slog in 95° heat and high humidity. Put some miles on, despite a lateish departure time. Saw one bad accident (fatalities, I think) involving a 15 passenger van, a pick-up and a couple of cars. Somehow, two more cars and an 18 wheeler got tied up trying to avoid the mess.

Arrived at the Good Sam Campground - Birmingham South (in Pelham, AL) just at dark. I think I described it as a "rabbit warren" in an email to family. Lots about 25' by 60', small concrete pad with picnic table, hook-ups. No shade to be had. All for the low, low price of $37 a night with our club discount. Now, to be fair, they have significant overhead, pool, restrooms, mowing, etc. Still, even with lots of headaches and high taxes, it is a money maker, for sure.

Heading further north today . Haven't decided whether we're going up the east side or the west side of the Appalachian Mountains. Have to wait to see how the better half is feeling. She has developed a sore throat and laryngitis. All that money spent for cell phones and now she can't talk.

And So It Goes...

Where I've Been ...

is a very bad place, indeed.

I started to write about what has happened back in the middle of the month but just could not do it. Still can't, actually. So here's the bare bones. Willow ze Wunderhund has had a lump on her butt that started just before Christmas as we made ready to leave Maine for Louisiana. By the beginning of May it was the size of a golf ball and causing no small distress. So off to a local vet we'd used for Iggy's shots. They performed a lumpectomy which resulted in a 12" incision that they attempted to close with staples. That failed after four days. Back for sutures - they failed in three days. Lab results came back. the tumor was metastatic. I wouldn't prolong my own or my wife's suffering with futile treatments. I be damned if I would do that to a dog. So we agonized for a day and then took her to be euthanized. It was very, very hard. She'd been "our baby" - one of two fur friends that had been with us since the start of our marriage and we'd lost the other one just before leaving Maine.

So to those friends and family who have heard nothing from us for a while, the explanation is simple. Not in the mood for conversations. Light banter not currently in our repertoire. Tolerance for both criticism and sympathy virtually nil. Silence is golden.

So, we were getting ready to leave about a week after this all came down and we got the bright idea to have our air conditioner on the trailer worked on. We'd been limping along with a 20 year old unit that needed to be recharged. We could use it for maybe 24 hours before it would freeze up and have to be shut down and thawed. So we had a local A/C firm come in and they diagnosed it as needing to be charged up. Took some freon and put some ports on this sealed system and charged it. Unit was blowing really cold air for the first time since we bought the trailer. Happy, happy, joy, joy.

Four hours later (on a Friday evening) no joy in Aluminum Tube-Ville. Outside temperature 86° -- inside temperature 86°F and steadily climbing. No answer at the A/C service company. Monday became Tuesday became Wednesday before they came out. Tried a recharge to no avail -- the evaporator coils are "leaking" . I located a potential source for parts in Houston and gave all the info to the service tech with the understanding he would order the parts and install them by Friday, May 10. Friday came and went - so Saturday I called and left a message. Owner got back to me - claimed no knowledge of the situation and would have the tech call me on Monday. Monday, Tuesday came and went - called again. Long story short, got the royal runaround until the weekend and then told to go 'F*** myself' by the owner after my step-daughter complained about their shoddy treatment of us! Screwed without benefit of lubrication or even a "by yourleave" and still no cold air.

Did I mention it has been averaging 90° for the past two weeks?

So began the unsuccessful search for a replacement. The one we have now, a Coleman "SuperMach" is a 13,500 BTU unit. It wouldn't have been up to the needs of our trailer in Louisiana, anyway. So we started searching for a 15,000 BTU unit (the next larger size). Coleman has changed the design of their A/C's enough that the drainpan can not be re-used with a new unit and no one has a drain pan that fits. I have spoken at length with Coleman and Airstream and each is pointing the finger at the other like two eight year-olds with a broken window. No drain pan means water would be streaming down the sides of the trailer, at best. At worst, it would be streaming down onto the floor after being sprayed around the inside of the trailer...

There are two other A/C manufacturers in the RV industry - Dometic and Carrier. Carrier has the shortest tenure in the industry and a horrid repair/failure record by all accounts. The big gun, aside from Coleman, is Dometic. Guess who had a really massive fire that destroyed their warehouse and much of their manufacturing facility, resulting a a worldwide shortage of RV awnings and air conditioners? Yep, you guessed right. Dometic.

All attempts at acquiring a unit that will work, is big enough and won't give me a cold shower every time I pour a cup of coffee have failed. Dometic isn't able to ship until mid-June at the earliest and they intend to fill backorders in the order they were placed.

Did I mention how hot it gets inside of an aluminum tube when it's 90° in the shade and the trailer is in full sunlight? As I mentioned on Twitter this morning -- just call me "Tubesteak".

We've given up and resigned ourselves to driving back to Maine with no air conditioning when we stop. This is affecting our trip planning no small amount, of course. As of now, we plan to drive North in a forced-march fashion during the warmest parts of the day, stopping only for food and bathroom breaks. No sightseeing, no visiting. Sorry guys, maybe next fall when things are fixed. At least the temperature has been more moderate in Maine lately...

There you have the broad outlines. Lots of annoying details omitted to protect the innocent.

And So It Goes...

Buddy, Can You Spare A Dime?

The daughter of my friend Bob up in Brampton, Ontario is seeking pledges for an upcoming "Relay For Life" walkathon to benefit the Canadian Cancer Society.

"The Canadian Cancer Society Relay For Life is an overnight non-competitive relay that celebrates cancer survivors and pays tribute to loved ones. It's a night of fun, friendship and fundraising to beat cancer. "

This one hits particularly close to home with the removal of a tumor from my big dog's butt last week that is only going so-so (we had to redo the whole thing after the staples pulled on the morning of Day 2 of her recovery). I've had several tumors (melanomas) removed over the years and no doubt, will have more off in future...

So buddies, if you can spare a dime or dollar, your support will be greatly appreciated.