Back to routine

You know, it's wonderful to go on vacation - but it's awfully nice to get back home and get into your normal routine again. That is - I will be back in my normal routine if I EVER finish my laundry!! My washer and dryer have been going non-stop since we got home last Friday. And to top that off, the first thing I had to do was call the repairman to fix my dryer!!

I knew it had a clunk that didn't belong there before we left, so the day before we got home I called "my man," told him we would be home on Friday morning and could he come and fix it. He was right there at exactly the time I told him we would be home and within 15 minutes he had that baby up and running again. I carried three weeks worth of clothing along on this trip because I didn't want to take the time and spend the money to go to a laundromat. So you can imagine what kind of clothes I've got piled up. But I am reaching the end and that last load is in the washer right now. Then it's to fold it all up and get it back out to the RV.

I did a very thorough job of 'dehairing' the inside of the rig, shampooing the carpeting and the furniture, along with washing all the throw rugs as we're having company over Labor Day weekend. In order to accomodate all the bodies so they have access to beds, at least one of them is going to have to sleep in the RV. So I didn't want any excess dog/cat hair in there. What a project, and those of you who have pets know you never get it all.

Anyway, in addition to all of that, there's three weeks worth of mail to sort through, most of which is junk mail and goes in the trash. That's got to be the only thing that's keeping the post office alive these days as 90% of our mail over the last three weeks ended up in File 13.

Then there was the lawn to mow - or should I say the hay to make. We've had so much rain over the summer that even though the grass should be slowing down at this time of the year - it's not. Ole spent 9 hours on the lawn mower the day after we got home and most of it's ready to be mowed again. That's saying nothing of the weeds that grew 6 feet while we were gone. Sometimes it makes you wonder if it's really worth going away to come back to all the work.

Most usually I enjoy our August trips, but I have to say this one was not one of my favorites. I guess because there were so many hassles prior to the trip what with Ole being hospitalized and not able to get around very well prior to our taking off. Then all the problems during our trip down to the Black Hills added just a wee bit more stress. Once we got there everything went fine with the exception of the weather - normally it's hot but dry - this time the humidity was just like we've had here at home. VERY STICKY - so there was no relief from that, which I was really looking forward to.

When we left the Black Hills we had intended to spend several days in Medora and the Badlands. I think I wrote about that previously. Well, that didn't happen either. We made one trip through the park, stopped at the gas station back in town to fill on gas an when Ole went to start the bike up again, it was stone cold dead. The battery pooped on us. Being there is no place in Medora to buy a battery we packed the bike up and headed for Dickinson, 60 miles away, where we were able to purchase a battery. Then we headed back to my old stomping grounds where we visited several of my cousins, etc., and then headed home.

Ole went for another bike ride yesterday and when he came home he informed me that this NEW battery is also dead - so there must be something wrong with the charging system on the bike. He'll look at that today to determine the problem. It's always something.

With all these negative things surrounding this trip something tells me that we weren't supposed to go on it. But we're home now - safe and sound and all in one piece, so I guess that's important too.

Gotta go check my laundry.

Love Lena