Transition Time

I have been incredibly stressed out about money. Paralyzingly so. Because we are in a long-standing dispute with Bank of America, we have a shit credit rating right now. We were declined for Jess' student loan for Pitt, and we leave here on Saturday. Doug reached out to his parents and his dad is co-signing on her first year's worth of loans. We're hoping life will be better, and that she can establish herself as an independent student, and obtain her own loans without our history tarnishing her. I am unable to fall asleep at night just thinking about this.

My advice to you if you have small people is no matter how hard it is to put money aside, earmark 100 bucks a month to your 529 plan, now. We didn't start until last year. We only raised 7000 dollars. So if you have wee ones, start early, and be serious about it. You won't regret it.

Last night we hosted a little bonfire for Jess in honor of her leaving for college rather soon. I didn't want it to be a party party with tons of food -- but I ended up bbq'ing burgers for about 20 hungry kids (and my husband and son too), and in between silly stories and a round of "Apples to Apples Junior" we did a little "separation ritual" for Jess. My friend Agnes had sent me an article about having time set aside for family to talk to the "leaver" about how their departure will change your life.

Because I know that her friends love her so, and most of them are not going away away (Courtney is going to southern Maine, Marissa is going to Worcester, and tons of her friends are underclassmen) I figured it would be an interesting exercise.

We built a fire in the fire pit, and I got Jessica's "Pimp Hat" and her purple and white feather boa. She got placed in a chair, with pimp hat perched, and her friends circled round. I had them wear the feather boa and share two things: their favorite memory of her, and then what they will miss most about her. I told all of them to turn off their phones. No texting, no web browsing, nothing. Be in the moment -- don't get distracted, and really spend time listening to each other and sharing with Jess.

It got really silly, and a couple people got slightly teary. A lot of it centered around her strength of will. Nick said that the one thing he will always remember is that even when she was most pissed off about things and situations, she would bitch with humor.

That's mah girl. yo.

She would always throw her hands up in the air and flail them around while strongly voicing her displeasure, and make it funny. People who had gone away with her on trips (the German trip and the NYC trip with the Germans) all had funny memories, like Lee recalling a creeper who jumped out of an alley in Manhattan and said some wacky things to them, scaring the piss out of them.

Nick's parents were present for the "ritual," and participated and I think they were feeling it strongly because of what is happening on their homefront... Nick is going away for a semester in Ireland right off the bat (he'll be going to Plymouth NH for school but for the first semester he'll be overseas) so Mrs. Nick's Mom was a little emotional as she remembered all the fun things that she was able to witness through the years that Nick and Jess have been friends.

Nick's younger brother was there. He's a year older than Jess and I was incredibly moved by what he had to say. He loves Jessica -- and it is obvious. He made her chocolate covered strawberries for her party, and he had a lot of memories to share about her being at their house while Nick and Jess and others were working on projects for school.

Doug and I both participated -- I said there are too many good memories that I have of her. I thought that I might cry but I didn't. I said that I was going to miss nothing, which made everyone laugh, but the truth is that this is the right time and exactly what is supposed to happen and I am 100% convinced that her launch will be successful. And thanks to technology and facebook and what have you, she wouldn't be lost to me. I am going to miss her asking me every day, even if she's been with me all day, "How was your day, lady?" but now she can do it on skype or facebook or whatever. And our lives will be normal and wonderful, just the way they are supposed to be.

Doug got a lot of laughs because I put the feather boa on him and he made a face that made Jessica say "you think this is soooooooo stupid! that's what your face says!" But he said that he is proud of her and that he is happy she has such great friends who have been supportive to her for years. Doug normally retreats when we have these Jess friend gatherings, so it was fun to watch him listen to what her friends had to say about her.

I was pleasantly surprised by Geoff. He was given the option to be skipped over, or say only appropriate things. He said that the thing he'll remember most about her was her role in "Bye Bye Birdie" when she played Mae Petersen, and how incredibly funny she was and she literally stole the show. Fully expected, he ended with "And I will miss nothing about you."

He's ready for her to leave. He's ready to have a life to himself. And I am okay with that. I do feel relief that there is SOMEthing that he remembers fondly of her.

And I hear her when she talks to her friends. She relates stories about things he has done and said that are awesome and funny. To his face I'm sure she wold never tell him that she thinks they are awesome and funny. But last night I heard her relate at least two stories about him that were great stories (the "I can't wait until I grow up" and "I hurt my foot on the same nail!" stories). Her friends were in stitches, and I know that she maybe knows he isn't the complete little shit that he seems to be most of the time.

At the end, Eric broke my heart because I know he is going to miss her so much. There is no doubt that I love this kid and how much a part of her life he's been for the last 5 years or so... he's so wonderful. He is like a son to me... a great role model for Geoff, and a like-soul to Jess.

It was a very good time, and a great party. Normally I would have opened the house to pantloads of kids to crash out and sleep here in the livingroom, like during graduation weekend. But I made it clear (to Eric's disappointment as well as others) that I was probably not in the best frame of mind to have piles of puppies sleeping in the livingroom when I needed to get things done in the morning.

I am going to miss that...

And I predict a giant sleep over during Christmas.

Linda got here at about 4pm and asked Geoff what today was. When he said that he didn't know she told him it was New Years Eve. She asked him if he knew what it meant, and he said "People have a big party and drink five drinks and burp all the time."

Well then. Sounds like a plan.

---

2002. My life is sure a lot quieter. It's hard to believe it's almost a year since I was laid off. We've had a wonderful year, and I'm a happy girl even though I fear for our finances. I discovered a lot of great new blogs, made some really nice cyber-friends like Ms. Tess, and I'm a lot happier than I've been in a long while. I did the mayfly project, and I'm one of the earlier contributors. And this is what I wrote:

christine 10/12/2002 02:49 laid off from job, discovered geocaching, camped in maine, played with children, cooked great food, bought huge truck, still overweight.

and my sister did it:

ljf 12/12/2002 01:57
moved to florida
moved back
missed my family
missed my cat
still clueless
unemployed
broke
damn it's cold out!

and carrie did it:

Carrie 13/12/2002 20:21

started a business
financial stress
exhaustion
freedom
braces
porsches
Rachel's separation
lost a bulldog
gained a puppy
a difficult, excellent year

and Elizabeth did it:

Elizabeth 13/12/2002 16:27 Young dog did well in obedience. I got pregnant. Old dog got sick. Lived well for six months. STILL pregnant.

But she isn't still pregnant now is she?

How about you? did you contribute your year in 20 words or less to Mayfly? Go do it.

---

A few years ago I was home alone on New Years. I think Doug was working. I'm not sure. I heard shrieking in the street and in this neighborhood that is something that you don't hear. I got my boots on, and my coat. It was freezing out, the kind of New England clear cold night which many dread. My neighbors were walking up the road trying to get their teenaged daughter to come back in the house.

She was barefoot, in a T-shirt and her underwear. She was running up the road and screaming obscenities at them.

Now, she is second in a line of six kids, the youngest of which is a year younger than Jessica. She didn't see me. I grabbed her from behind and held her arms as her dad ran up to us.

He's a volunteer firefighter, she's a nurse. I had no idea what the circumstances were of the situation, but in my mind I sided with the parents as the sane party in this scenario. For all I knew, she was being held hostage in the basement and tortured on a daily basis and they're getting money from all the other firefighters in town to have gang rape sex with the poor girl. But I doubted it.

The dad looked me in the eye, very sad, tired and relieved. Mom took one arm and looked down as the daughter called me a fucking cunt and a whore. "You don't know what you're doing! You don't know what you're doing! Fuck you! Fuck you!!!" she screamed.

The dad thanked me, and they led her home. I have no idea why she was running up the street or what was going on.

Whenever she would walk up the street and she'd see me, she'd cross the road and walk up the other side.

A year or so ago she moved to Florida. I was always sure to ask her parents how she was. He told me she was going to school and doing well. I have seen her a couple of times, visiting. She looks healthy and happy.

Word around town from people I talked to was that she was seriously addicted to meth, and that she broke into the elementary school and was living there for a week before anyone found her.

Every new years eve I think of her.

And I want you to say it with me -- Katie... God bless you wherever you are. Be healthy. Be happy. Be well. Please pray that. I can still see her as clear as day. And there but for the grace of God go I. In nine years, may I never see that kind of behavior from my children. God willing.

---

My new year's resolution? Well, I don't have one per se, except get a job. I have an interview with Geoff's preschool/kindergarten to sub, but the pay sucks. But. It's a job. It's good.

So in lieu of a new year's resolution I am pledging myself to get my sister some booty.

Yes.

Get my Linda some boot rockin' boo-tay. So. Should you be an eligible non-gay man (gay men are awesome, but probably don't want to get married to my sister. Not for nothin' you can decorate her room but you don't want to be her husband)... and you're wanting a lovely date with a gorgeous and NICE girl, let me know.

Statistically: she is 33. She is 5' 6". She is Sagittarius, cusp of Capricorn (should you follow that). Smokes, drinks and swears like a longshoreman.

No, not really.

She does smoke, and insists she is going to quit. She's no alkie because both of us are cognizant of what being the daughter of an alcoholic is all about... And the swearing thing is no worse than mine. Well.

She's NATURALLY blonde (and has some great blonde moments) One tattoo. Loves "Office Space," "The Princess Bride" and "Full Metal Jacket." She knows her way around an operating system and the inner guts of a PC. She is very funny. She likes music from Rap to BNL but her obsession musically is Peter Gabriel in all forms (except for the new album, which needs to grow on her...).

She deserves a great romance. She deserves to meet someone who isn't a stalker from Albania (not that she has in the past, but internet dating results in many an inquiry from strange muslim dudes from countries where she's sinned enough to be stoned 100 times over).

Here is a picture of her from a recent cruise where she did NOT get botulism.

She
is
a
great
person!!!

and you need to be with her. She is my mission for 2003. So. So. So... So email me. Now. Make 2003 your love year.

She's standing behind me now saying "I'm being pimped on the Internet by my sister." And yes. She is.

Happy new year. All y'all. I love ya. More fun in 2003. And perhaps a wedding? (she's smacking me! She just wants someone to take her to a movie at this rate!!!!!)

hee hee hee.

Have another mai tai!

Kerry and Wine

My former co-worker and friend Kerry had a party tonight. She invited me over 2 weeks ago, and I forgot I was invited until about 12pm this afternoon when my former boss mentioned it to me.

"You going to kerry's tonight?"

"Uh, yeah! looking forward to it!" Wondering how I'm going to spring this on Doug when I know he's going to come home grumpy. Starting to sweat:

"Uh, honey, I'm invited to a cocktail party tonight so I'm going, okay? I'll make dinner first"

groan, comes the reply from Doug.

Can't say as I blame him. See, I've got friends from two former jobs who love me and make me go drink alcohol once in a while. And sometimes inviting him is good, other times no.

Tonight he would have not been into it, even if I got a sitter (which Kerry told me to do). It was just a little too silly, and a lot of insider humor. Which was fabulous for me, but not so for him... (the fact that my former uber boss went into Kerry's bathroom and put on her bathrobe and came out dancing was funny to ME, but may not have been to Doug...)

So I'm glad he stayed home and was able to have a quiet night here. Luckily the only one who posed difficulty was Jack puppy, who has developed a liking for eating my bras.

Whafah?

In the meantime, I had a blast tonight with Kerry, Marcia, Malissa, Janice, Liz and my former UberBoss Jeff. He is just the funniest. And I missed my old boss Deb by about 5 minutes. She'll hear from me later! I got there at 6:10!!!

I picked up a bottle of wine on the way there. I know nothing about wine, and picked the bottle because the label looked like an Enya song, and I thought Kerry would like it. She laughed and laughed. I'm glad. I'm such a loser with wine, I have NO idea about anything wine-wise. It is a nice label and I may buy a bottle of it for ourselves just to check it out.

We had a lot of fun, we picked on Kerry a lot. She's a good sport. I hated leaving them and coming home because I felt the party just got really underway. But... it was getting late and I owed it to Doug.

Plus, another glass or two of wine and I'd be sleeping in Kerry's guest room. I love Kerry and I miss her. I'm jealous that so many people I like still get to see each other often. Sigh.

A busy weekend and a party

Aaron called us on Friday. They were coming down this way for a wedding and wanted to hang with us after, spend the rest of the weekend with us as it were... Back Labor Day weekend they were supposed to come by, but it turned out they didn't even come down after all.

We were psyched. Always nice to see them... so they got here Saturday afternoon while I was out at Dan and Honey's babyshower. Doug stayed home to wait for Aaron and Michelle. I didn't want to take Geoff, he usually isn't well behaved at social events where he isn't the star. I should have brought him -- Ben played with all the kids (I bet his new girlfriend absolutely loved watching that. He's so cute when he's with them...) and the kids got all good and worn out. But if I had, then he may not have made it through the evening with our visitors. Here are some quick pics from the shower:

Here's Dan doing some last second cleaning up in the yard. He missed a few doggie deposits. We made a lot of fun of him -- not only is he colorblind, he's dogshit blind.	The lovely expectant parents...
My buddy Brian's daughter riding one of the gifts the baby received -- an elephant rocking "horse". In Thailand, elephants are lucky. This made Honey almost cry...	Another shot of Brian's girl, showing me her manicure. She's a hot ticket, this one...
	Me and Jessie at one of those armlength picture shots.

Jessie and I had a great time with the whole gang. We left a half hour later than I'd wanted to, mostly due to Honey not getting to the party on time. When we pulled in the driveway, Doug, Aaron, Geoff and Michelle were heading out to Pedro Diego's, a mexican joint in Haverhill. So we all went along, had a great dinner, drank WAY too much sangria (it all hit me hard when I got home, I barely made it to bed).

We had a lot of good laughs. Aaron picked on Geoff and it was fun. It's always fun to be with Aaron and Michelle and I hate that we don't see them often enough.

Aaron was in rare form... made all kinds of crazy suggestions to Geoff, like make a scary face for mom! This was the result.	Geoff actually looks great in this picture, but Aaron is a mental case! Too bad he didn't smile nice.
Doug and Michelle sat on the other side from us (Doug and I are flanking the kids, so we didn't sit together). They behaved quite normally through the meal, instead of like weirdos. Like Aaron.	Aren't they the loveliest couple. Especially with this wall paper! Ewwww!
Jessie took this one -- too bad Geoff is hiding.
And we got the waitress to take this one... she was really interested in the camera, we spent about 20 minutes yakkin' with her about digital photography.

Next morning we decided a little Geocaching would take the edge of the hangover off of us. We had a light breakfast of toast and coffee, lots and lots of water, and went and did two geocaches right near our house. One of them is at Winnekenni Castle, where Doug and I were going to put one! So we are kinda disappointed that it's there... we still may put one in there but way back on the trail on the far side of the pond. People can do them in tandem.

The other one was on the north side of the Merrimack River in the Meadowbrook conservation area. We were home by 3, and Aaron and Michelle hit the road. They are still in the process of moving stuff out of their old apartment, and Aaron had homework to do. So they figured they'd better hightail it out of there.

When we told Geoff where we were headed, he got his knight's helmet out. He loves to come up here, and he decided he was going to save the princess. So here he is guarding the castle... watch out!
This was Michelle's very first geocache. Doug gave her the GPS... she lead us right to it.	I am MOJO JOJO! Mojo came home with Michelle as her take from the cache.
	Mojo also got to hang out on the Dudley Porter fountain, which we'd never seen before. It was pretty cool.

I felt great after geocaching -- no longer hung over, and quite happy. Doug on the other hand passed out and was down for the afternoon.

The rest of my Sunday was spent at another social gathering without my husband, this time at a neighbor's house. Our friends Shelley and Steve hosted a little neighborhood cook out. We live around the corner from them, but most of the people there are from over beyond their house, I didn't know hardly any of them.

I met some wonderfully nice new people -- very funny and intelligent. Lots of little kids. Good beer and wine, good chicken divan.

I amused them with my wit, entertained them with my parenting skills (Geoff was picking on a girl named Devon who goes to our church and the two of them have a history. She doesn't deal well with being picked on, and he loves to get a reaction... fuel to a fire).

The rain held off and when it did start raining we sat under a really nice tree in their yard, mostly sheltered but for a few drops.

Shelley has the most amazing garden. And I love sitting in their yard. So the rain didn't bother me in the least. Football last night... it wasn't exciting enough to hold my attention. I was painfully exhausted and fell asleep 5 minutes into the Steelers' game. I woke up at halftime, crawled to bed.

Maddie and her new kitten, Jigsaw. Their old cat, Uncle Bobby, doesn't really care for this young upstart. I love Uncle Bobby. He's the best cat. He meows to me when I walk down the street, and if I say hello to him, he comes running. This one is still too wild to get to know well.

Another example of Shelley's garden work. It was too dark out, with the storm coming, to take good pictures of the garden. Notice all the leaves on the ground behind the table there... I'm not ready for it to be fall yet. These sunflowers are all over the place right now, thanks to Shelley. Our church front yard, her yard -- the street is filled with happy little faces dancing in the breeze...

---

When I got up this morning I noticed that I had hit something yesterday with the car. The bottom fender on the front passenger's side is all caved in. I pulled a U turn at a wrong entrance for Meadowbrook, and must have hit a rock. I didn't feel it when it happened, sort of aware of running over something but I thought it was a sandbar in the parking lot.

Doug was pissed at me when he saw it. I hope it can get fixed. We've had that car 2 years almost and hadn't gotten a ding or a scratch on it.

Today I've been busting my ass on Professor CM projects. He's got a meeting this afternoon with one of the people he was hired by to do a website for... he had me do most of the work while he gathered the content. I had the text and layout of the site put together, but no graphics... so when I got email this morning saying they were on for a 3pm meeting, I panicked... I slammed as much together as quickly as possible. I was so busy that I didn't notice it had started pouring like mad, and the dogs were out in the pen in the yard... I heard the rain finally as it was hitting Jessica's airconditioner, making that artillery sound rain makes when hitting hollow metal. I ran out to get them. They were drenched and sad.

Oh did I feel awful. Nothing worse than the look on a dog's face when you've forgotten them in the rain.

They're sleeping now... I need to get a shower and do some housework. I already feel like this week is getting pissed away and it isn't even started yet.

Friday night I'm supposed to work for Cateringman at a function. They are doing a big event for Ducks Unlimited, over 500 people are going to be there, so all the staff is on call. I just remembered that -- and we were going to go to NY for the weekend to see my sister. I have no idea how we are going to work this one. I have to talk to Doug and figure it all out.

I hate my life when it's busy.

Alright -- to care for my house and my body now. More later.

Michael on Wheels, Abby's birthday

Everyone is really upset about the beached whales down on the Cape. Yesterday, about 50 pilot whales beached themselves in Dennis, MA. Volunteers from experts to vacationers came to help keep the whales moist and comfortable until the tide came up enough that they could be pulled back out to sea. Experts were keeping an eye on them, expecting that they may try it again.

Well, they did. And they succeeded.

This time 40 more whales, give or take, managed to beach. Some died on their own, others had to be euthanized. Regardless, a lot of people are incredibly devastated that this happened.

To me, I have mixed feelings.

I think whenever anything happens like this en masse that it is sad to see, but part of me believes they had their reasons. I kind of liken it to cult suicides. No, don't laugh. Seriously. I think that sometimes groups of people, or groups of ... whatever, get the notion that something is so wrong with their world that they commit suicide in bulk.

Or perhaps someone in the group perhaps was sick, the leader or patriarch/matriarch, and they followed to death. Or, perhaps all of them were sick... the first day they all wanted to die but they were stopped by humans who wanted to prevent it. But they were serious, hell bent for sand, so they went to another part of the Cape and succeeded.

Is the notion of suicide alien to species aside from humans and lemmings? I don't think so.

My buddy Chad (the one expecting the twins whom shall be nicknamed "The Bus" and "Slash" during football season much to our glee) is a marine biology guy. I should pose these questions to him.

I guess they've got expert scientists coming from all over to study this one. In December of last year a large group of whales beached down the Cape, but the efforts to rescue were minimal.

Not enough tourists from Ohio who wanted to help, and the water was too damn cold in December.

But it all got me to wondering... if I knew someone or a bunch of someones contemplating suicide would I talk them out of it or try and help, or would I say "Knock yourself out, pun intended," and wish them a speedy and non-messy demise? That's all something to chew on, isn't it?

---

Next topic. But sort of related.

A few years back, a friend of mine from college was in an horrific car accident. He's now in a wheelchair, for good. I honestly haven't seen him in 10 years, and of the last decade about 7 of those he's been on wheels.

He came to visit on Sunday, and I was so glad to see him, and to be honest, so blown away by how able and adept he is with that chair. He said that a few years ago he was bedridden almost all day, and now he is up 8-12 hours a day. He drives that chair around with such precision, he's still got his wicked sense of humor.

He seems to have it all together and he's such an amazing person to me. I'm happy he is here.

I'm more than impressed by him, I'm humbled by his abilities. I'm happy to see him around.

Part of me says, if that were me, I'd have wished that I could die. And I probably would try. But he makes me rethink those thoughts... and I see new life and hope where "beaching" would have been the first and only option I would consider. Michael teaches me life lessons just by being, and I give thanks and am joyful just to know him.

One of the professors I'm working with this summer gave me a copy of "Tuesdays With Morrie," the book of Morrie Schwartz' battle with ALS, written by his former student Mitch Albom. I read it in one day and I was devastated and joyful all in the same breath by the time I finished. Lessons in living -- Morrie had time to think, consider, build, work on teaching, and in his life and his death makes "beaching" seem so not the thing to do. What an amazing man.

So, in short -- I think if I were down the Cape yesterday I'd have made an attempt with those midwestern tourists and those New England Aquarium workers. And I'd be sad to see the next day that they managed to accomplish what they set out to do.

But I'd accept.

Lessons in living, after all, sometimes carry lessons in dying, too. Alright, enough sad stuff.

On Saturday we went to Abby's birthday party. Here are a couple pictures.

Jessie and Ian, peas in a pod. Friends since before birth... They are two wackos.	Geoff made friends with some of the kids, here he and Philip share a moment of calm, quiet reflection.
This picture cracks me up. Abby, the birthday princess, looks like she's going to cry, but really I just called her name and she looked up at me... then right after I snapped this she burst into a huge grin. I didn't get that shot.	The neighbor dog, not the family dog, Pilot. He followed us over when we came up the driveway, and just stayed at the party. He was so sweet and well behaved. And you know I'm such the other people's pet whore.
The piñata awaits it's destiny... It was awesome. What a cool dragon.	Karry orchestrates the whacking line. Birthday girl first, then up through the age ranks to Jessie and Ian!
Whacking complete, the kids rush in to pick up their loot	"Look at what I got in my goodie bag, mom!"
Jessie and Brittany bonded pretty tightly (her dad's a big Steelers fan too! WOOOO!) Brittany is SO cute, it's hysterical. I got a really cute picture of her and Abby, cousins in crime, on Karry's camera.	Ian trying to convince us that we didn't have to leave yet, that there were all sorts of good reasons for us to stay, and Jessie can continue to hang out and walk the neighbor's dog with him... he was very sad when we drove away. It broke my heart to see him in my mirror behind us, standing there. Notice Geoff on the rock in the background. He was stuck there for a while. heh heh heh.
And this is Ian with said neighbor dog, Meco (he spelled it for us a bazillion times, saying it was "Me Company, Me Co., Meco. Get it?" He is getting paid to take the dog out, walk her and spend time with her. They seem to be getting along like a house afire. He's doing a super job with her. I wish he lived near us because I'd pay him to take care of Kinger and Jack when we go to Chicago!

Today I had meetings with both professors at the College, had lunch with the boys, stopped in to see my Rupa but she was not at her desk (sorry I missed you my Rupa!) and I got home in time to do dishes and make dinner. My mom is visiting, so I should go be sociable.

On Friday Doug pulled all the muscles in his back and he's almost back to normal. He looked pretty miserable halfway through the party on Saturday and spent most of the day in bed Sunday and yesterday. Today he's walking straight and not crying out loud every time he moves around. So I'm hoping he'll be sound as a pound and we can go do something fun. I have a ton of professor work to do, and a new site to design (woooo! But again, it's for free for someone I love, but it means a lot to build my portfolio and do something good for someone). So there's a lot to do in the next two weeks. Did I mention I'm TEACHING all week next week 8:30am to 4pm at the college! I'm going to be one worn out girl. Today was the closest day to a full work day I've put in since January! Criminy! So wish me luck and strength. I'll need it.

Okay. Off to be sociable.

The Full Bar Harbor Recap

Alright. My last entry was rather pimpy (to steal from Shelley) so here is the run down of the events leading up to and during our camping trip.

On Tuesday morning, I woke at 9, and finished the last of the laundry, packed stuff up, Doug ran some errands, and we figured we'd be ready by noon and out on the road.

HA!

Noon rolls around, laundry is still drying, stuff is still getting packed. We make it to 2pm. Ready to go, 90%, and the phone rings. It's Ivy, our friend Clay's sister. And I've been playing phone tag with her for a while. We still have Clay's car in our driveway, and I was hoping she had some news from her lawyer on settling his estate so we know what to DO with the car. So I took the call. An hour later, finishing up with her, Doug drops a great big one gallon glass beer jar filled with coins on the kitchen floor and yells "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" at top volume.

"Uh, Ivy, I gotta go. Doug just broke a great big glass jar and there is glass and money everywhere so I gotta help him... bye!"

Finished that call up abruptly, eh? I hate doing that to people. I'll be on the phone with someone and one of the kids gets hurt or something breaks or whatever, and I end up cutting people off screaming -- "Gottagogeoffgotbitbythedoghe'sbleedingcallyabacklater bye!"

So we cleaned up all the glass, 3pm is here... we tell the kids to use the bathroom and we head out to the car. Doug does another lap through the front of the house and discovers that Geoff had clogged Jessica's bathroom drain up, turned the water on, and flooded the bathroom before turning the water off.

Why does this ONLY happen to us when we're trying to get out the door? Why does hell's little box of catastrophe only get opened when Doug and Chris are on vacation? Why? Someone. Please tell me.

So we made him clean it up (wetting up a million towels in the process, all of which I just threw in her bathtub to sit for a week. At that rate, who the fuck cares, right?) and we got in the car.

We got to ... oh, York, Maine, and I turn to Doug and say "Did you turn off the air conditioner?"

We argued about that for quite a while... I was the last one out of the house, but I didn't check the AC because Doug always does the last run through, lights check, toilet not running, windows locked, appliances off, fish fed thing. So I had presumed he had. He told me he didn't recall turning it off.

Great. So... We're 90 minutes from home, do we back track, go back and turn it off, or do we keep going and maybe call someone to break into the house and turn it off.

We kept going, and I ended up not calling anyone. From now on -- I'm Checklist Woman. It seems that later in life here I'm getting more and more forgetful... and screwing more and more things up. And I'm SO letting the machine get it next time we're on our way out the door. Even if it is someone I'd been hoping to hear from for some time.

Suffice to say, by the time we made it up there, we were beer ready and hungry. Michelle cheffed up some chicken legs on the BBQ, and we feasted old school. Pitched tents, and hit the hay. The cabin is awesome, here's a shot of the interior. And I've already showed you pictures of the shithouse out back! Finally. Let the relaxation begin!

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On Wednesday, both A&M had to work so we went on two geocaches. Stairway to Heaven, and Worth the Walk.

Stairway to heaven was at Schoodic Point, where we spent Memorial Day weekend with A&M on our last visit to Maine, and parts of it were hard and vertical.

Jessica cried and cried because we made her hike up a hill. Seriously. We were all suffering -- it was record high heat, not good air quality. But she wept like an infant.

We brought along the Dog Tags Travel Bug which we found in our very first Geocache, and put it in this one. We added Missy's dog tag from 2000 to the collection.

(By the way, in case you are wondering... a travel bug is a cache item that the owner tracks with an ID code, and this was a string of about 10 dog tags, none of which had left Massachusetts. Now, it's in Maine... goodness knows where it goes next. Missy so would have loved geocaching, so in this way I get to share her with the activity, since I can't share the activity with her).

We found the cache, spent time checking out the view, which was lovely, and climbed down. Got everyone Gatorade and snack, and headed out to an easier one.

The finding of the Worth the Walk geocache was wicked easy, it was right near the parking lot, 10 feet from our car. But the trail went all the way down to the bay, and the area was protected as seal habitat.

Unfortunately, no dogs were allowed on that property, just human walkers, so we didn't get to take the walk.

We went to Echo Lake so the kids could swim, they were begging to go... and they earned it with what we put them through. It was late in the day. The pond was crowded, the dogs weren't welcome, so I spent about 1/2 hour in the pond with them while Doug took them for walkies and sat in the car listening to the radio.

We headed back to the cabin and met A&M who were on their way out to swim... both of them were dead beat tired from working that day in the sweltering heat and desperately needed to swim. He'd told us about an excellent swimming hole on Long Pond, but we couldn't find it when we went down to go swimming. Where we had ended up was posted as a no swimming allowed zone, so that's why we ended up at dog unfriendly Echo lake.

They took us to the swimming hole, and damned if it wasn't the bomb. We had a couple beers in our bag, and dogs willing to swim... and the place was mobbed with kids rock jumping into the 30 foot deep lake. It was wonderful. What a great spot!

The lake depth was pretty drastic immediately, so I spent most of the time on the low rocks feeling panicky about Geoff... Several years ago I almost lost Jessica in 2 feet of water, I couldn't imagine losing Geoff in 30 feet! I'm very anxious with him around water. Aaron played with him and swam him around, but I was still shitting bricks with nervousness about the water's depth... so I was no fun.

But... I loved being there! Aaron had a can of beer out in the pond with him, and this kid who had just jumped off the rocks noted "Woooo! PBR in a can IN the pond! You're hardcore! Drinkin' a PBR IN the water! I thought I was cool drinkin' a Bud on the high rocks!" And we laughed. Aaron IS hardcore.

We did dinner at the cabin, built a huge fire. The day was so hot and humid, thunderstorms had been cooking up all day. Aaron and Michelle keep their radio on NPR and we would get these emergency broadcast announcements periodically stating that a severe thunderstorm warning was in effect for... whatever county it was for at that time.

Lightning raged to our west and north, right behind our heads, but the sky south and east was full of stars. And we sat directly on the bottom edge the storm edge for hours, with the celestial light show going on above us and no rain.

Eventually the storm got close enough to us, and the National Weather Service announcements covered southern Hancock and Washington Counties, with cities including Bar Harbor and Machais, which meant it was time to seek shelter. In about 10 minutes, the storm hit us. Our tent was warm and dry, and that great huge thunderstorm raged on for the longest time... it was amazing.

Thursday dawned, fourth of July. Another amazingly hot day. Aaron had the wonderful idea of spending the day at Pretty Marsh in the only covered picnic site on the island... but it was HOT, and we decided it'd be more fun to do stuff, go places.

Here's Geoff showing you his shirt and his attitude after living on the hippie organic farm for a couple days! Actually, that's what Sonic the Hedgehog does after he gets through a zone... so it isn't really a hippie peace sign thing... yet.

So we did stuff, and went places.

Aaron, Doug and the kids ended up doing a geocache up on Elliot Mountain, which they found with no difficulty. Michelle and I went to the showers over by Blackwoods, and did some shopping. We met up and went swimming again after a quick trip to WalMart to get a swim vest for Geoff. I wanted him to have a PFD in the deep water, so I could enjoy being there. We swam until it started to sound thunderstormy, decided we should get home and do dinner before another storm hit.

We decided to skip the viewing of fireworks, mostly because of the weather and threat of storms. And built yet another good fire. The storm hit right as we expected to, around 8pm, and we all turned in early.

Friday A&M had to work a while for Farmer Matt, so we went out adventuring. We went to Schooner Point, to the cool cave. We climbed all down and in it... it was a good climb, but very dangerous if your sandals or sneakers got wet. Geoff slipped and fell, and then I went to retrieve him and help him up and slipped and hyperextended my knee a bit. Damn that hurt! Doug slipped coming out of the cave and almost took a header. So we walked softly and carefully until our shoe bottoms dried.

Jack the rock climbing boy dog! He did great, and that grey mass right behind his left ear is a HOUSE! A house 15 times the size of our house.	The cave in all it's spooky glory
Climbing up carefully	... mom and girl turn around for a quick picture

Friday afternoon, Michelle needed to do laundry to wash her uniforms, and Aaron had to pick up the keg he'd reserved for his birthday party. Essentially, he had called to order a 1/4 keg, and the woman told him it was one price, when in reality she was WAY off.

He insisted he was paying the original quoted price, and eventually got his way, especially after the jerks didn't even HAVE A TAP for him when he'd reserved it. They ended up giving him ice for free.

All told, by the time he ended up paying for the tap and deposit, the store was paying us to drink their beer. Essentially, each cup of beer was about 11 cents. Happy Birthday To Aaron. Happy Birthday indeed. So the keg was tapped, and Doug and I bought them lobster for their shared birthdays (Michelle is June 29, Aaron July 6) and we also grilled chicken. The other residents of the farm came to the party, bringing their grillables and willingness to drink beer with us. We met some pretty cool people, including Tom here who liked Jack a lot.

Tom bow hunts his own food, and brought venison to grill. He was there with his girlfriend, Nicki. And there was Jacob and Asha, also living on the farm and working for Matt. Jessie and her boyfriend Jay came, and soon the party was in full swing. The kids crashed out, and the older dogs like Kinger, Gonzo and Peanut got to run and chase and play. It was chaos. But it was a total blast. We stayed up until well past 1, and slept the sleep of drunken fools.

Jessica and Farmer Matt's awesome dog Peanut. She could be Kinger's sister!	Cheers! Here's to Aaron!
"Yes indeediedoooo! I believe I will have another beer!"	Aaron and Gonzo mellowing out
Michelle and me being weird	Michelle and me getting ready to insert lobsters into pot for our men.

Saturday we were pretty mellow. Gonzo got into the chickens and killed one... which sucked. Farmer Matt was understanding, and said that Dogs Kill Chickens and that's part of life... so he was pretty understanding. But Geoff got in trouble for taking Gonzo for a walk. It was a kind of a bummer day. Michelle was at work, and Doug ended up taking the kids to town, I took a nap, and Aaron went frisbee golfing. When Aaron got home, we took him out for pizza for his actual real birthday.

Sunday we went to the top of Cadillac Mountain with Aaron and walked. Jackie was a chick/guy/kid/man/woman magnet... we got tons of attention, to the point where walking was an impossibility.

I taught Geoff the fine art of rock balancing.

The view from the top of Cadillac, with my family in the distance

We did another Geocache, this was called Cache with a View. And what a view. Going with Aaron was a lot of fun. This is something I KNEW he would totally love doing... but initially, he was somewhat skeptical about the hobby. He thought it was environmentally irresponsible to put some plastic or metal container out in the woods. And it was irresponsible of people to go hiking off trail, it could be dangerous and could cost a lot of money when people needed rescuing.

The fact that people have a GPS so they KNOW where they are didn't seem to phase him. He had a National Parks Service Uniform in his wardrobe, and had talked to a lot of people IN the parks service who are dead the hell set against this hobby... but we took him to show him how innocuous it is.

When we found this cache, I asked him what he now thought of geocaching. He smiled a big shit eating smile... "Dude, I am SO getting a GPs!" he replied. Excellent! We took another travel bug with us. His name is LARS, and LARS stands for Like A Rolling Stone. He was only in the box for a couple hours, and we are his very first pick up. How cool is that! This is so damn fun.

Gaze upon the face of a girl whose parents FORCE her to go out and walk. "I hate geocaching!!!!!"

Again, Jessica whined and cried. Aaron got pretty irritated with her for being a wuss. We let her whine but don't let her quit... so we're used to the bitching and moaning. Aaron though couldn't believe the amount of whining she was doing.

But, unlike the first cache we did when we got there, the one that kicked all our asses, we weren't sympathetic this time. She finished the 2.2 mile hike in and out (total, not each way) and earned an ice cream, and did have a good time. Aaron said he wouldn't put up with that from his 10 year old. I told him to wait until he HAD a 10 year old... and that I'd said the same thing when she was one year old.

She did the hike, earned her stripes. I'm proud of her. The more we do this, the less whiny she'll be. End of conversation. And here is Team Screamapillar at the site of Cache with a View! Thanks for taking the picture Aaron.

Sunday night we had another great huge fire, roasted weenies on sticks at the fire side. It was lots of fun. Michelle got home from work at 11, and we spent a little time with her before all turning in. Aaron was up and out first thing Monday morning, and we got to say bye to Michelle because she didn't have to be to work until later. We packed it in, hit the road by about 11am. Stopped at the Big Chicken Barn Antique and Bookstore on the way out of Ellsworth, because we've driven by it so many times that we just had to stop... The rest of the ride home was painless.

I was happy to come home to a dry bathroom and no broken glass on the floor. And the Air Conditioner was indeed turned off before we left. It was nice to get home...

Yesterday I worked at the college and had lunch with the guys. We played UNO, the way we always used to do, and all of us singled out McCue and kicked his ass. It was so much fun. And today I worked for catering man, breaded 200 chicken breasts for a dinner, sautéed them too. Got out of having to make scallops in bacon because by 2pm the seafood delivery hadn't arrived so Chris let me go. Now I'm home and have spent the last 3 hours writing this entry, checking email, and working on other stuff. So I'm posting this and will try and write more this week. I have a lot of work stuff to do, so my frivolous time wasting journal hobby thing may have to wait! I'm sure you'll miss me.