The weather was not optimum for a weekend at the Little House in the Woods. (Yes, we did indeed trek back up the valley to Harrison for yet another Long Weekend traffic crawl) One day…possibly Saturday, (but in my boggled mind I can’t remember) was decent although not at all summery. Yes, I am pretty sure it was Saturday as tea was served by the pool. The other days it was done in the main lobby. We did swim quite a bit although not in the evening as it was just too darned cold at night to contemplate putting on a bathing suit and trotting across the wet marshland of grass to get to the pool. Actually the walk up isn’t bad but the trip back being wet and dripping over the cold wet grass was daunting. The resort was pretty full on Saturday and Sunday. We ate at the buffet on Saturday night and it was delicious. And James, Nicci the kids and I ate at the breakfast brunch on Sunday. That was really good. I ordered the entertainment book to get the two for one coupons for the restaurants but of course it didn’t show up in time. I did print an on line one though….it made a big difference as they are buy one get one free coupons. I ordered next years book also and the shipping was free and I got a discount for ordering.
Ben was supposed to be going away this weekend but ended up staying home. He started on a project and called now and then which made me nervous as I wasn’t sure what we were going to find when we got home…when he mentioned something about digging a two foot trench I was really starting to sweat….and when he mentioned a pipe broke by the hot water tank I am sure I was hyperventilating and my imagination was in overdrive trying to remember what…besides my doll stuff and the carpet and the bedrooms is on the floor downstairs. I was almost afraid to come in the gate to see what he had done. And the fact that he called several times to see if we had left the resort was really making me nervous as he is not prone to "missing" us when we are away which led me to think he was up to something he needed more time to complete. Once when his number came up as a missed call on my phone I had his Dad call him back and he apparently wanted "nothing"...as the beads of sweat started forming on my brow...I didn't dare tell his Dad I suspected he was "doing" something to our poor house. Well, he wired the carport for electricity as he has the motor cycle out there. He actually did a really professional job of it. The wiring is buried underground, it is all mounted properly and secured and he has done a better job than anyone we would have hired. As for his water leak…well, it seems one of the old copper pipes had a pin sized hole in it and was spraying water. (I am not entirely sure this didn't happen when he threaded the new electrical wire through that area). He is very handy to have around, as it happens. He went and bought new pipe, (after turning off the main connection) and installed it and welded it in place. I really did have to ask him why this task involved taking the 4 litre jug of water I had boiled and put in the fridge for drinking water down to the area by the laundry tub. It seems he needed cold water to cool the pipes while welding. OK...so he needs sterilized water to weld?? In any case, It seems to be doing well so far. I guess when he gets tired of computers he can always go into plumbing and electrical. He has helped a lot of folks out with building different things so he is pretty proficient at it.
Dakotah hadn’t seen the parade at the PNE fair so in all our infinite wisdom, we decided to take her last night as it was an excellent parade. I took my shopping bag and camera along. Of course by the time we arrived the rain was coming down torrentially. But we donned our water proof coats and carried on. The place was packed despite the rain. When we first got there, we came in by the midway and James plunked some money down on one of the games and immediately won a huge stuffed dog of some sort. Sheesh….he somehow stuffed it into my shopping bag (along with his two bottles of juice and pop) and off we went. Pepa had asked us to go back to the Home Depot building to get him Swiss style nuts as he got them the first time we were there and is now addicted to them. So off we went to get that…well…add 5 bags of nuts to the shopping bag….my arm is now breaking…I can’t find my drink in there nor the camera which is in there somewhere but covered in stuffed dog….and of course James, Nicci and Cory tried the nuts and brittle and are also now addicted so they bought a big bag of stuff also. We hung out on the bleachers in the Home Depot building until it was close to parade time then headed back to that area. Found a tree where it wasn’t raining too hard…just happened to be across from the mini donut booth so had to go there as well…add mini donuts to the shopping bag…and waited. Well, 9:00 came and went and finally an announcement came on that due to the weather, the parade was CANCELLED…..OMG….we went all that way, paid gate admissions just to get in for that stupid parade and they cancelled it. Dakotah was very upset at this turn of events and in tears of course. She wanted to see the dancing princesses...sigh... Luckily (for Dakotah, not for the rest of our noses) Gramma spotted the barns and suggested we go in there if it was opened. It was (thank goodness) and we spent about an hour in there letting her pet animals etc. The lovely smell of “barn and animal manure” filled the air and coupled with the inclement weather, made quite a disgusting smell. There is a bull in there that is called Peter and he is huge….he was 110 pounds at birth and now weighs something like 3500 pounds. He is some kind of record breaker. And lots of baby animals who kept trying to eat Dakotah’s rain coat…LOL We finally managed to get her out of the barns and began the trek back to the gate we had come in. We went past the midway and Cory plunked some money on one of the games and they gave him two huge stuffed toys. (the fair ended last night and I think they didn't want to have to pack it all up at the end so were generous with the prizes) And of course I had to try (if the 14 year old could win something...surely I could...right?) so I ended up with one also. Off we went on the 6 block journey in the dark and rain and uneven sidewalks to find the car and here is Gramma, carrying 2 huge unicorns, a humongous stuffed dog (Nicci was carrying the other one) and the darned shopping bag which now feels like it is filled with lead weights. (And James never did drink the stupid cans of juice I packed around all night) Oh yes…and another supply of the kettle corn that Loretta got me hooked on last summer!!! And that was my weekend!
Oh...one more little story about the weekend...on Friday I wandered into the indoor pool and hot tub area and noticed the hot tub was closed...kind of hard not to notice when there is yellow tape surrounding it... The thought entered my mind that it looked an awfully lot like the tape police use at a crime scene but I calmed my over active imagination down and reminded myself Pepa uses that kind of tape at construction sites and we have been known to use it around our homemade graveyard in James Halloween displays in the past so it must just be there to let everyone know it is broken. I didn't think much more about it. Yesterday (Monday) my back and bones were aching from the "oh so comfortable" bed in the cabin, Nicci had Dakotah at the pool and I had my hands free until she could find me so I rushed up to the hot tub and it was now open again. I sat and blissfully soaked for about 10 minutes until my back and joints felt somewhat better than joined Nicci and Dakotah in the pool. Tonight Pepa arrived home from work and couldn't wait to share the "news" he had heard. It seems the lady at the shop he gets coffee at in the morning had also been at Harrison but a few days before us. She said on Wednesday night apparently an older man had been in the indoor swimming pool and then went to the hot tub. The other guests in the pool couldn't figure out why he appeared to be diving in as the water is shallow. When he didn't bring his head back up, they got a bit nervous and discovered he was DEAD....no one knows why and it is apparently under investigation although given the circumstances, I would suspect he had a heart attack from the hot water in there but who knows...guess this is why it looked like a crime scene! And I just had to go in there yesterday after not being near it all weekend...sigh...I am really hoping it was drained and cleaned before it was reopened...
And that is it for this chapter of the Blog!! I will try and post pictures when my camera card and computer get near to one another.
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