Camping Craze

I really dislike summer colds. They seem so unfair, really, especially when I have so many more productive things I could be doing. Like sleeping. But if I don't get my blog out by Sunday night, I get a lot of nasty emails Monday morning. So, to those who worry incessantly, here ya go.


Hooked up the camper & took off last Sunday for Kearney. Got to the campground and we were both well pleased at the location we'd picked out online. Lots of shade, as well as green grass and pea gravel for the kids to play in. A swing set was in view of the camper, which was great. The dog had room to roam and we had plenty of room to play with the big pink bouncy ball. The road was paved and since we had the whole area to ourselves most of the week, Eden practiced riding her bike every single day. Not to be outdone, Lars practiced his tractor toy riding all week, too.


Pastor attended a class on "Vocation" at Zion in Kearney all last week and the kids and I went along to camp and see him in the evenings. I'm still debating whether or not taking on the responsibility of two kids & a 110# dog for five days at a campground by myself was the smartest thing to do, but it was good for both the kids to be able to see their daddy every day, and it was good for me to have a break at the end of the day, as well.


Every morning at 0630 the phone alarm would vibrate, Pastor would grab his clothes and the bathroom basket, as well as 75 cents for the shower, and head to the bath house across the green. Since we somehow managed to stuff the scooter into the camper, he was able to motor scooter off the 11 miles to town and attend class all day. The church women provided breakfast and lunch, so we saw him around 4:00 p.m. in the hot afternoon and swapped stories from the day.

A few fun things from the week:

• Shopping trip with Lisa & Tyler to Grand Island after a morning playing at Yanney Park.
• Lars taking a 4 hour nap one day
• Being able to listen to The Breeze radio station all day for a week
• Lars taking a 3 hour nap the next day
  
• Taking pictures of the crop duster flying over our campsite
• Eden taking a nap at the same time as Lars did
  
• Getting to read a People Magazine cover to cover (though not without interruption)

The highlight of the week was Thursday evening. We invited the congregation of St. John's - Wilcox to come up for a pot luck grill out. About 5:30, cars started showing up and people drug out their camp chairs and all conversation picked up pretty much where it left off 2 1/2 years ago. It was really great to see all those who were able to make it up, even if some were only able to stop by and say 'hi'. Getting to visit with friends you haven't seen in a while is something quite special to me and I relished in the fun of it long after the last car left the campground.


The downers of the week was Eden sick all night the first night and into the next morning. (McDonald's, she pukes every time), and Mommy getting a nasty cold on the last day then having to ride home in a torrential downpour slash thunderstorm.


I'm so glad that we swapped out campers this summer. Having an air conditioner in the camper was a blessing, b/c we were able to climb in and read stories, play with blocks, color, or just take a nap and generally lower our body temperature in the hot afternoon. That made the day much more practical. It was a fun week and surprisingly relaxing for me without a computer, a phone or a list of things to do every day. It was just mommy and kids playing all day long followed by daddy coming back to play and take walks with us.


When we did arrive back in Bridgeport, we unpacked the cooler, plugged the camper in and hit the bed. I was so tired, but couldn't sleep more than 10 minutes at a time because my nose dripped all night and I couldn't breathe. I was miserable. Whoever invented the steam humidifier should have a special place in heaven, because I wouldn't have survived the night without it.


Thankfully, my husband waited on me hand and foot the next day, starting with getting the kids up, fed and dressed before I even made it out of the bedroom and stumbled into the shower.


After 48 hours home, my house is a wreck. The laundry is piled to the ceiling in the laundry room as well as the camper (which is a bit stinky and dirty itself), the new toys we found at a garage sale across the street yesterday are scattered everywhere that my eyes can see, my bed is unmade and my feet stuck to the kitchen floor when I tried to make supper tonight. I have barely completed my lesson for tomorrow night, but my eyes are too googly to read my notes right now.


However, that's a wrap and now I'm off to bed. Check back later in the day for photos from the trip. There are so many, I have to delete and categorize a bit first!

The trophy winner from Friday night's race let Eden hold her goods. Guess it was heavier than she thought, but she told her daddy that she was going to get big and race a go-cart and win a trophy.

On our way out...

A quick week come and gone and I’m posting a day early because we’re on our way out of town on Sunday and we won’t have internet where we’re going.


I’ve spent most of the week getting the camper ready for next week’s camping trip. Pastor has a continuing education opportunity this coming week in Kearney, and the kids & I are going along for the ride this time. It’s much cheaper to camp than to motel it, but I’m not so sure how it’s going to work with me being alone at the campground all day with two kids. At least I know it will be an adventure!


Pastor took Friday off this week and, after entertaining the kids in the morning, he worked on the scooter most of the afternoon, changing the oil, filling fluids, checking tires and all that ‘man’ stuff guys do when they need some garage time.


Eden watched him for a while and wondered if he was building her a go-kart next?


Lars has slept terrible this week, therefore, I’ve slept mostly on the guest bed upstairs or in the hallway outside Lars’ room. I hope it’s just a phase, but I have a hard time believing it at this point in my fatigue. There’s a constant tension of letting him cry in his crib or rocking him while he continues to cry and thrash around. At 0100 Friday morning, I finally let him down and thought maybe he’d go where he wanted to and give me a clue to his discomfort. He stood right where I put him and cried for 5 minutes until I picked him back up. He was in a clean diaper with his paci & blankets (he has three of each), thin PJ’s, he wasn’t hungry, wasn’t thirsty, didn’t have a fever, but thought I needed to be with him for half the night, which didn’t stop his crying anyway. In the end, I gave him some Tylenol and he cried himself to sleep within 15 minutes. He was up at 0530.


During the day light hours, we’ve been reading books and playing outside incessantly. Along with swatting flies, we have a grand old time. The weather has been more typical this week than previously this summer, and the heat is kicking in.


Unfortunately, on Wednesday evening, while I was teaching and Pastor was home with the kids, he heard a mini explosion and saw a bright orange flash outside in the back yard. When I came home from teaching, shortly after 10:00 p.m., he was sitting in the dark on the couch.


The air conditioner had blown up. Naturally, it’s the middle of July.


AC units never blow up in late September, it’s always July. I think there’s a rule for that somewhere.


In finding the silver lining, I have to say this has been the coolest July in Nebraska since we moved here in 2002.


When a local came to service it the next morning, he opened up the panel and saw black oil spewing all over the place. He looked at it for a second, replaced the cover and said to me, “Its toast.”


A few hours later, (when Lars had been down for about 20 mintues), another company came to check it out and give an estimate. I showed them the unit and they looked at it, then came inside and insisted on climbing up in the attic. I tried to dissuade this action, as Lars was sleeping in the next room and had been up half the night before. Of course, I lost that battle, cleaned out that closet so they could get up in the roof, and whispered to them to please be quiet.


He was up there for no more than 2 mintues when the younger worker said to me, “I think your baby’s crying.”


“Yeah, no kidding.”


Friday night, we hired a new sitter (our trusty ‘old’ sitter, who lives out in the country, was away at volleyball camp). While calling around and leaving nine messages early on in the week, one girl called me back within hours. Conveniently enough, she lives 4 blocks away and came over to meet my kids on Wednesday. I called Eden upstairs to greet the newcomer, and she ran right up. Eden was buck naked with the biggest smile ever. Nothing like making great first impressions!


The preacher and I got dressed up and went to Chili’s for supper with a gift card, then saw South Pacific, the musical, at the local theatre. Dinner was nice and quiet, the food was wonderful and I was so full & we were running late, so we took desert on the road.


The show was well done and this summer’s cast was top notch. From the lead character to the sailors who had only a few lines, to the little girl dancers, it was professionally done from beginning to end. And the new sitter survived our kids, offering to come back anytime. I like to hear that!


Saturday was the Bridgeport Beez Swim meet. After breakfast, I strapped Lars into the backpack and we quickly mowed the lawn. Somebody wanted my grass clippings, so it was nice not to have to dump them myself. We then piled in the Ford and drove up to the church, where we parked and walked over to the pool. Lars sat on my lap most of the time and I tried to keep him awake. Lots of people from town came out for the event, and after we watched each person we knew swim at least one heat each, we headed back home for lunch and quiet time.



It’s now that said quiet time and I’m getting all my computer stuff done before we go, since I will be internet-less for the week. Blog posted, bills paid, auto emails set, checking account balanced, downloads completed for class…you know, the usual.


Check out the YouTube video way at the bottom of the page, it’s farming Iowa style!

July's Joy

Another busy week in the Strawn home: The summer is getting hot now and we’ve had a tremendous amount of rain for our area, so an unusual humidity is sweeping the land. The rivers and cricks are up and the mosquitos are in full season. I have realized we don’t have enough frogs in this part of the nation.

On Friday, we hitched up the camper and headed 45 minutes to the west to camp on the south side of Scott’s Bluff for one night. It was an RV park that gave a spectacular view of the bluffs, complimented by the pink sky that evening. The place was clean and friendly, with nice grassy areas and a play ground to suit the kids.

Oregon Trail Days was celebrated in Gering was this weekend. Three full days of concerts, food, arts & craft fair, tasting bees, a chili cook off, a quilt show, hot rod show and a parade completed the weekend, though we didn’t see it all.

We arrived and set up camp in time to go downtown for the antique car/hot rod show. I felt somewhat odd seeing a 1978 Camero in the antique section of the car show, then was downright insulted when a 1983 something-or-other was two rows down. That just ain’t right.

That night, Pastor and Eden dressed in their ‘race pants’ and headed 10 minutes over to the race track. Eden got to hold a trophy of one of the winners, telling her daddy that she was going to race a go-cart someday and win a trophy. I hope she takes up sewing before then.

We were invited to a parishoner’s house for supper one evening. They live on a ranch and Eden & Lars love to pet the calves and talk to the horses. One of the young girls, who is a couple years older than Eden, took them into the barn to see whatever else was in store there. It was a nice cook out and friendly fellowship, complete with a few photos to show for it.

Eden is enjoying Kinder Camp on Tues & Thurs mornings. She loves the part where they go in ‘the big pool’. Tuesday afternoon was the last day of Summer reading program and they celebrated with a play day in the park. Eden had read to her 30 different books. I’m sure there were more, but those were the only ones that got written down. And I’m quite sure that many of them were read over and over and over again, just in case the ending changed at all.

I’m still teaching EMT class this summer and spending every ‘spare’ moment I have working on lesson plans. I keep thinking that my next class will have less prep work, but I’m not convinced. I’m really enjoying it, and learning along the way with my team teacher, who knows the books by memory, I think.

The preacher had meetings every night this week that I didn’t have class, so needless to say, we were ships passing in the night. At least we got to rotate bath night!

The week was completed today with the church picnic in the park, with food and more fellowship and lots of little babysitters to run with my kids so I could sit and visit.

Who could forget to mention, however, the mud. (See pics, below)

I went out to get the kids in the car yesterday, and found my kids, in their non-play clothes, head to toe dripping with mud.

The dog was also covered and had to dry and get a grooming before he could go anywhere. After stripping in the back yard and taking the garden hose to them, they hit the shower as I yelled for Daddy’s nap to finish and give me a hand. It was a mess, but the clothes came out clean and we made it to where we needed to be, so all was not lost.

Happy 4th of July

I have one day to report on. It's enough news to make the rest of the week look like a cake walk.

Al & I and the kids spent the 4th of July in Crawford, Nebraska, about 90 miles north & west of here. We started out early, the kids were in the car by 0740 and we followed Laura, as she's traveled that set of roads many a time, having lived there.

It was cloudy and cold, misty and heavy laden with fog at some points. The drive was not promising, but the weather man assured us of a sunny 75 degree day in the north. We got into town about 1/2 hour before the parade started, and now that Mark's parents just bought a house in town, we pulled in the alley and brought our chairs to the front yard, prime spot on the parade route!

Eden began to cry about 10 minutes outside of town, and having been at the race track the night before until 11:00p.m., I figured she was tired. Wrong. She ran into the bathroom at the Elder Douthit's and went strait to the toilet, where she sat for 15 minutes. She then came out and curled up on my lap where she promptly threw up and started crying again. Guess those 3 sneaked cup cakes yesterday finally made it out. We watched the parade, Eden on my lap, beginning to feel better, and Lars fast asleep on his daddy's lap.

Towards lunch, Eden was feeling a bit better, Lars was awake and the sun came out and dried up all the rain, and the itsy bitsy spider was never actually heard from.

Lunch was a mighty spread and kids were in abundace. Eden's new buddy, Drew, a cousin to Lexi & Kyra, took on the role of Father Chicken to Lars, hauling after him where ever he wandered. Eden followed along much of the time, confiscating Drew's motorcycle toy.

After lunch, we drove 3 miles out of town to Ft. Robinson, a large fort which served as one of the many forts in this area during the American Indian and Government battles for rights and land. Crazy Horse was killed in this fort 101 years to the day before I was born.

Then it was a drive around the town and out into the country. Now, here's where things get very interesting. Western Nebraskan's idea of 'country' and my idea of 'country' are, as I was about to find out, very different.

When Mark (who is only a few years older then us) talks about growing up on the ranch, going to a one room school house until high school and then going to board with an old woman in town because they lived too far out, I thought, "ok, that's different." Laura, too, talks about living there right after they were married, and the ranch is 20 miles out of town and all that, I think, "oh, that would be nice to see."

We turned off the highway and went a few miles on a partly washed out dirt road with nothing but buttes and prairie grass in sight. Then, we reached the top of a hill and the end of the county, where I took a deep breath and knew that my life might end at any moment and that nobody would ever find me and my body would rot away in the safety of my new big white Ford because this was, in my respectful opinion, the end of the earth.

But oh no, it gets better. By now, both kids are asleep and, as my husband said it to Laura, "we'd better get there quick b/c I don't think my wife can stand to be much longer without oxygen". Suddenly, I had a striking headache and began praying while Laura drove along, care free and chatting away, as if this is just a normal part of life.

A monster truck with the best shocks in the world wouldn't have been a match for that road. It was 20 miles (not 20 mintues) of a one lane dirt road, mud, twist and turns, gullied out swathes of gravel, a few trees, no houses, no vehicles, no sign of life what-so-ever, unless you count the antelope along the way, and, no joke, not one, but TWO wood plank bridges to drive across. And I'm not talking about a cute, well maintained covered bridge in Frankenmuth, Mi, but an old fashioned, hand built and still a necessity to have wood bridge. Like, when the bridge goes out, you're stuck on the other side until you get out and re-build it.

We passed a clump of 3 mailboxes (yes, they have 'neighbors', though I never saw anything that would prove that), where they get mail delivered 3 times a week, barring snow/ice/rain or any other natural weather event. Since the mail carriers routes are about 200 miles per day, this delivery system pleases everybody!

Laura assures me that they have one channel on the TV, and that, most of the time, the telephone lines are working. Unless of course there is a flag in the road, indicating that the lines have washed up and not to run over them or you'll be without. She tells me they have running water and flush toilets, as well as modern electrictiy. I tell her that I will believe it when I see it.

At last, we reach the end of the road. Literally, the road goes no further. Two houses, a barn and a couple out buildings stand before us. One house is Mark's parents and the other was his grandma's house before she died a few years back. Grandma's is rented out to hunters now for their wild west adventures, and lots of dead animals hang on the walls. The other one is still much lived in, as they just moved to town a month ago.

A threashing machine sat high on a hill and lots of tractors and ranching/farming equipment and 4 wheelers are in close proximity in the big barn. What used to be a large vegetable garden lines the property and the flowers are all in bloom. The tour of the house includes the basement, which is where the grandparent's first moved in the 1940's. When the war began, they were unable to get building supplies, so they lived in the basement until the end of the war, when they could build the upstairs. The concrete steps say 1946. The rest of the house is spacious with rooms and a pantry to fill with food for when they would be unable to get to town, a common occurance, I can imagine.

As we were walking around, it began to sprinkle and I began to panic. I was not about to get stranded out here, so we loaded up and headed back to town.

Buttes lined one direction, but were lacking trees from a huge fire in 1989, which is a whole nother story in itself, since the ranchers fight their own wild fires on 4 wheeler with shovels. The expanse is hard to imagine if you've never seen it or lived with it. It's quiet is deafing. There is nothing around. It's miles and miles of nothing but God's land to ranch and farm if you can.

The area is rich with history if you're blessed enough to know some of the natives and talk to them about how they got there, what prompted them to bushwack a path for miles and then decide, "That's far enough, I think I'll build a house and a barn and get married and have a family and ranch the land." It's the kind of west we play about back in the city, before we knew it actually existed in something other than story books.

We made it back to town. I took some Aleve and went to sit on the back deck. I would have loved a stiff drink to calm my nerves, but being on pavement helped quite a bit.

After a quick walking tour of the church in town, which originally sat at Fort Robinson for the soldiers and their families, we said our good-byes and headed back to Bridgeport, a town of 1500, which, at this point in the day, was the biggest metropolis I had seen and I was suddenly quite content living here...

Another history lesson for me and, since I was without my camera, a place I'm going to have to go back and visit.

Thanks for a wonderful visit and an even more amazing true story to tell the folks back home. Truly though, you can't believe it until you see it. And no camera can show you the experience, believe me!