Last week we were supposed to go camping, but we were supposed to get the remnants of Hurricane Isaisias. I don’t always trust weather forecasts because of t a few times when school has been cancelled for bad weather, only to result in beautiful, cloudless days.
Holding on the hope, the weather man was right, and I threw in the towel at the last minute. Camping in 2-3″ of rain would not be fun for anyone.
So I was able to get a camping spot at the closest state-park available, 2 hours away at Lake James. Mercy, me, and the dog.
It was a terrible night sleep.
There are things to figure out when travelling with the three of us. The first thing is, how will the dog do in the car when the kid is eating her delicious Chik fil a kids meal? Will the dog be annoying in the back seat, where I can’t help the situation?
The answer is yes; yes she will be annoying. But, I learned that our shock collar has a “vibrate” feature, and using it makes me feel less abusive than a regular shock, so after one quick vibrate on the jugular, she laid down and let Mercy eat her kids meal in peace. +1 for Luke.
Its a beautiful day. The low is 38 degrees for the night. We don’t camp as often as I wish that we would, but I am trying to convince myself that this is a great idea. So far, so good. By special request, Mercy wanted to go fishing as well. Honestly I have always been a chicken when it comes to fishing because I was too afraid of getting in trouble for fishing without a fishing license. This time, I got my 10-day inland fishing license (just $14), and was fully and legally prepared.
It was just a short 5 minute drive from our campsite down to the lake. Though this wasn’t Mercy’s first time fishing (we went in Merriewold last year), it was her first time alone without Rosie.
Don’t let the picture fool you; her fishing interest was lost in about 5 minutes. No one else was catching anything either, and I didnt want to push her to stay when the temp was dropping and I knew we wouldnt catch anything, so back to camp!
It was super early, and we tried to drag out the night as long as possible and did all the normal things.
Made a fire, played on dead trees, ate a delicious dinner of green beans and hot dogs. It was a blast. I forgot to bring games though, so Mercy just taught herself how to play with sticks in the fire. Since there were no other kids or things to take my attention away, I just rolled with it and under great supervision, she did fine. We learned that burned sticks make charcoal on the end, which is great for writing names.
And, off to bed. Early. Like, super early. I wasn’t tired at all, and we still had cell phone service, so I watched some of the Notre Dame/BYU game on silent, and Mercy was sawing logs in about 15 minutes. It was all downhill from there.
At 11pm, Hazy started getting weird. She was pawing at the door, and then coming and sitting right beside my head. “Ok”, I thought; obviously she has to go pee.
Nope, she did not. I took her out, and that dog just lolligagged for nothing. After getting back in the tent, she started doing it again. So, I asked my buddy ChatGPT, “Is 40 degrees too cold for a dog to go camping?”.
The response, “What kind of dog is it?”.
“Thats a good question Chat. I dont know. I think its a hound/boxer mix.”
“Yes, those dogs are known for getting cold. Camping with just a towel on the ground is a terrible idea. Your dog is cold and will be restless and act like a jerk until she is warm. You are an idiot and should have brought blankets for her to sleep on.”
“What should I do?”
“You should put her in your sleeping bag for the night”.
How the heck am I supposed to do that? So, I emptied both Mercy’s bag and my bag of all clothes, and made a “pad” for the dog. Eventually she was shivering, so I unzipped, and tried to stretch what I could over the dog. And put a towel on her.
Long story short, I had to spend the night cuddling the dog. Instead of “cute”, it was just terrible. My arm hurt. I couldn’t sleep. I was wide awake in discomfort for hours.
Mercy just slept wonderful though.
Will we do it again? Absolutely. Now I know my dog is a wussy kind of breed that ChatGPT says should wear a fleece.
My dog will never wear a fleece; Im not that kind of owner (no disrespect if you have a dog with a fleece, Im sure they are wonderful).
Mercy and I did miss Rosie, but will do it again in the spring when we get a spot at a place, and take Rosie as well. Tay isn’t really a fan of camping, so at this point she is on the “tentative” list for that trip.
Page vs Grimsley.
It was crowded. Grimsley hasn’t lost a regular season game in 7 years. Their QB from last year is the starter at Tennessee. I used to go when I was in elementary school, and I remember it feeling a bit chaotic and unruly then; things haven’t changed.
You may be wondering why we have a picture of Rosie behind the chain link fence?
In the midst of that crowd, a fight broke out. The teenagers started running en masse, and Rosie go scared so she “jumped the fence” to escape. There really isnt much more to say; when asked for details, she said “I dont really know, it just happened.”
I asked her to show me the fence.
That isnt a small, barbed wire fence. Somehow she jumped, uninjured from the barbed wire or the fall. Im a little proud and impressed at her abilities, and don’t really know what the lesson to learn here is.
Page was in the lead, but we decided to leave at halftime.
Grimsley ended up winning again.
Pumpkins
We did the pumpkins again, as Mercy was so, so excited this year. I didn’t get a picture of the finished product, but here are a few pictures of us doing pumpkins over the years. Time. is. flying!
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