Ring of Fire

Try to imagine Ron, Bob, Paulette, and me, singing along to the iTunes on Paulette's phone around our own ring of fire.at the top of our lungs…Paulie dancing around the flames.  …I fell into a burning ring of fire, down, down, down, the flames went higher.

Our forth weekend of camping at East Harbor State Park began early Friday afternoon. While leaves needed raking at home, we knew we could once agin escape household duties at the campsite.

 We set up like pros and then, bam, Ron and I discovered that our water pump wasn't pumping any water. Hmmmm. Get out the manual and read about possible causes. Water tank full. check. Filter clogged? Filter? Wonder where the filter is. In fact, wonder where the water tank might be. With flashlight in hand, we looked around and discovered……a tank, under the stove. Must be it, even though it didn't remotely look like the one in the manual. Time to call for help. 

Yep, Bob and Paulie know an RV man that makes house calls…in the dark….an hour from his office..  at 7pm on a Friday night…wife in the truck….Turns out it was the filter, but, since we were staring at the water heater, inside the rig, we weren't going to find it by ourselves. Duh. Ryan mentioned that he, alone, services the rigs of Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, and others. Wow. This was going to be an expensive house call.

Brand spankin' new Carharts, Ron explained he was wearing 4 layers…skivvies, long johns, lined jeans, and Carhart bibs. Said it was disconcerting to head to the john and fight through all of that. Ha. Try undies, Spanks, pantyhose, and slacks, buster! But, I digress from the camping and must get back to that.

We weren't in any hurry to fix dinner, so we sat around, admiring our campfire making skills, and gazed up at the moon. We had the entire park to ourselves and the sound of the earth, wind, and fire was fantastic. (Younger readers: 60's reference…look it up on google) Hence, the Johnny Cash rendition, that, being younger, I  had never heard before, but, Bob, Paulie, and Ron sang, or rather, shouted along with Johnny Cash. This then led to a discussion about June Carter and Johnny, and how he died of a broken heart a few months after June's death. When was that? Paulie whips out the phone and googles the answer. 1983. Good thing we get cell phone reception out here.

We were celebrating Bob and Paulie's 26th wedding anniversary, and, our gift was more lights for Annie. Bob supplied the necessary duck tape and then Annie was all decked out for a party.

Paulie has been shopping on Amazon for camping accessories like a mad woman. She loves to keep the guys occupied installing her purchases.

This is a screen door bar/handle that is much better than the annoying handle that comes on the door. Paulie got one for Nina, too!  Bob resists using a level, relying on instinct. (See red level on the bottom right of the photo, unused).

Lest you think we do nothing all day, we do entertain visitors! Above are two of Paulie's grandchildren,  Anna and Julia, visiting from Dayton. They thought a trip to Disney World during Spring break in April would be a good idea. They noted there was plenty of room for friends to come along, too.

While knitting is a tad more difficult when you are wrapped up in four layers, the cup holder on the chair does work pretty well as yarn ball holder. 

And spinning can be relaxing, out in the brisk, fresh air! We're planning to host our knit group for fiber weekend next spring, but, I don't think this is the sales pitch photo for it.

Maybe this would do. Paulie and I took a long walk along the shores of Lake Erie and it was warm enough to enjoy the breeze. This later became a gale force wind, and, after a night of pounding rain and wind, we left camp in a hurry during a brief interlude of 60 degree sunshine on Sunday morning. The wind and rain returned Sunday evening, but, we had Nina and Annie safely parked and we were all warm and snug in our homes.  Kate, Jack, Marilyn, and AllyCat were all thrilled to have us home again and admonished not to leave without them next time.

Is there one more camping adventure yet this year? We're thinking about it.  Thanksgiving Day, tofurky for us, and the real deal for Ron. Thanks for following our camping adventures this first season. For those of you still trying to match Julie the Hyatt girl to Julie the camper, I enthusiastically say, camping is the way to go….anywhere!