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John and I started off the month of June at the hunting camp in northwestern PA. I crashed the "guys’ weekend". John’s dad, brother Phil, his two buddies, Uncle Dan, Uncle Joe, Mike, John, and I, plus the dogs, Pete and Jake. John and I camped out by the creek, most comfortably in my deluxe cabin tent with 6" thick air mattress. It was quite cool during the night and the dogs ended up piling on our bed to snuggle. We had a great time biking, riding the 3-wheeler, fishing, shooting, cooking out, smoking cigars, and hiking. I did not pee off the porch, spit, fart, or belch, as the guys claim to do every year! They sure know how to cook, although 40 eggs for one breakfast was a little bit much. Any cholesterol checks lately? Phil and one of his friends did see a bear at two separate times, and that caused a little concern for those of us who slept in the tent. No further sightings, however. John took off for a business trip to Israel in the middle of June. He visited with one of his company’s big suppliers, NAAN , an irrigation company. Stayed in Tel Aviv and toured the farms, desert, and factories for a week. I stayed home, worked, and dealt with two dogs whom obviously didn’t like the new schedule of John not being in and out of the house all day. Since we moved, I can’t drop home during the day as I used to do. We all ended up at the vet mid-week. Pete had stress colitis (diarrhea), and Jake is suffering from separation anxiety. It was a trying week, dealing with pools of drool all over the house, clinging dogs, and I could have used some Valium! We put a dog door in and the fence around the back yard was completed, so we thought this would be good for the extended times that we were gone. John left for another week of trade shows the following week. Here we go again! The dogs picked up on the dog door quickly, but now Jake would immediately go outside while I got into my car, start barking, and paced back and forth, leaving a beaten path across the yard. At least I didn’t have to mop up dog drool. The weather was heating up, and I was concerned that I’d get home and Jake would be dead from heat exhaustion with all his activity. Now they stay in the cool basement and I have to mop dog drool off that floor. It seems to be improving, however, since he is now on Clonicalm! I know, I know, these dogs are ALMOST worse than having kids. Finally, it was my turn to have some fun. Rachel, Joy’s 12-year old, came to visit for a weekend during her 2 weeks at Mom and Dad’s. We played miniature golf at Pine Creek, one of the best courses I’ve ever seen. It was very very hot by then, and it was pleasant to have moving water through almost very hole, big fountains and ponds all around. They have two courses, one more difficult than the other. Rachel beat me; I was definitely out of practice. But it was fun, picking the balls out of the water and getting wet in the process. The next day, we went rafting on the Delaware. We had two 4-man rafts, one for supplies (cooler w/lunch, paddles, life vests), the other had the two of us and the dogs. The river is very low and we waded a lot, but it was fun. Pete is a born river dog and we had to continually throw a stick for him to retrieve. We would hide it under the raft when he wasn’t looking, then 10 minutes later, there it would be floating next to us with Pete spotting it. It took us 4 ½ hours to go 3 miles, but we had a great day. We stayed wet and cool and had dog hair stuck to us! My vacation started Friday, July 2nd. I drove Rachel back home to Massachusetts and camped out in Joy and Mike’s yard with the dogs. On Saturday, we all headed to Hingham for a picnic with the Mount cousins. It’s been about 10-years since I’ve seen them and it was a lot of fun to visit, see their children, Uncle Lee, and their home which has always been one of my favorite houses of all times. It sits up on a hill from the bay, across from Boston, and has a huge front yard. Alan arranges a picnic every year, since this is usually the only time of year all the kids come home from Vermont, Texas, and Washington. It was another hot day, but we managed to cool off in the frigid bay water. The kind of cold when you just can’t put your arms into the water! I headed home on the 4th to wash my clothes, repack, and see John. He had started the "bathroom project". Removing the loose tiles in the shower to assess the water damage. Luckily, the wood supports weren’t rotten, so he JUST had to replace wallboard, retile, and grout. Trying to get things to dry in the heat and humidity was the time-waster, but as of yesterday it is done and looks better than the rest of the tiling in the shower! My friend, Beth, and I left for Spring Lake, NJ, on the 5th. We were still in the 100 degree weather and hoping for some relief at the shore. Unfortunately, the wind was from the west, bringing the heat, instead of a cooling breeze from the ocean. We suffered through it, however! The ocean temp. was 66 degrees, which is very cool for July, but boy, did it feel good. I have never seen the Jersey shore look so pristine. The water was clear with the shades of green and blue that are only seen in tropical seas. We bought boogie-boards so that we could stay in the water continuously, but eventually, the goosebumps made us come ashore. A rolling blackout through Monmouth and Ocean Counties made Happy Hour at the Pt. Pleasant boardwalk interesting. Have you ever been on an absolutely quiet boardwalk? Very eerie. We did find one restaurant that had electricity (who knows why?) and ordered quickly in case the lights went out. Upon returning to our room, we were met with stifling heat and two fans that were ineffective. We took cold showers and prepared to suffer through an awful night of no sleep. Beth finally said, " I can’t do this, let’s find another room." Luckily, there was a room in our hotel that was available. Air-conditioning never felt so good. Spring Lake is a beautiful community, full of huge Victorian mansions, most still owned by single families. Wrap-around porches, beautifully landscaped gardens, and very green lawns. We have had so little rain in the past two months, it was lovely to see green grass, and right next to the beach. There are 3 lakes in town, and underground springs, which helps keep the old sycamores and vegetation green. It’s a great place to ride bikes, and has a nice boardwalk and quiet roads. One morning we saw over 30 swans in one of the lakes! On our last day at the beach, we decided that we really had had too much sun, so we rode our bikes a few miles, shopped, then packed up. We stopped at Great Adventure on our way home, just to do the Safari. It was so much fun. We laughed like little kids at the ostriches and giraffes that would come right up to the car, putting their heads up to your window! Almost all the animals had babies; the giraffes were especially endearing. Our favorite part was the monkeys. They would jump up onto your car, begging for food, sit on your sideview mirrors, chase each other from car to car. The tiny babies would cling to their moms’ backs, and were sooo cute with their big ears. John and I just finished staining the new fence in the backyard, so this week hasn’t been all fun and games. So, it’s back to work on Monday. Sigh…. Hope everyone is having a fun summer. I promise my next update won’t be so long. |
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