Anita

Another weekend ... went from terrifying to quite tranquil and relaxing ... ending with a bit of "oh shoot!". We rented a cabin through the Forest Service up near Williams AZ. We had all the toys/food/clothes/junk food/more junk food ready to go. Asked Brock to haul out the last of the garbage to the dumpster in the alley. The small gate wouldn't open nicely, so he picked up a car battery that was parked next to the fence and tried using it as a mallet to open the gate. Battery dropped, acid splashed, and he couldn't see a thing! Am ever so grateful that Anna was outside, because he could not see. It splashed his right eye, but with one eye burning to beat the bands, the other eye wasn't going to open either. We got him in the house and started rinsing. Called the ER .. "we cannot dispense medical advice" ... the pediatrician "I am sure he would tell you to go to the ER or call poison control". Duh!!! When the kids were tiny tots, I always had that number plastered all over the fridge. Now I didn't even think of it!! So a call to poison control had us washing for another 10 minutes, then applying a wet cool washcloth over the eye. Looked much better and we hit the road. PC called to see how he was doing after we had already left.

At 2 pm we got to our little slice of Heaven. We had a cabin that included shower/bathroom and a fully stocked kitchen .. everything but the food. Heater (which we did not need), 1 queen bed and 5 twin beds, games and perhaps 100 rolls of toilet paper. Here I had brought extra with me in case the group of us needed more than they provided! Needn't have. We also had the use of the bunk house, which had a full size futon & another 5 twin beds. Folks sort of joined us through the day & evening, some even on Saturday. We had 3 atvs, 1 mini rail, and 1 dirt bike up there ... and enough dust to keep Brock's poor wounded eye looking quite red all weekend! Thank goodness for Fred's supply of Visine. The crowd of us included Heini w/kids & finn boy, Keilah & Dean w/kids, Charisee & Charlie w/Demetrius, Jeff & Mona & kids, Fred Kako & 2 dogs. We all had a great time ... especially after some awesome guys discovered what the stench in the porch was. It smelled like cat urine when we got there and got worse by the hour. Behind the water heater they discovered a trap w/a nonliving mouse in it. Actually, am going to assume it was a mouse ... any other alternative sounds too disgusting! Pine cone wars, riding & more riding, badmitton with the little things always getting stuck in the pine trees, grilling all our food (the gas stove had a severe stinky gas leak), showers when needed .... awesome visiting and dreaming of moving to places where the thermometer isn't hitting 111 in the middle of the afternoon. In an atv ride that lasted less than 45 minutes, I saw 9 elk and 4 deer. Didn't see the skunk family that supposedly has a residence under the porch ... was sort of hoping to smell them at some point ... just not up TOO close. Bees, bees & more bees ... but the air was warm, the breeze cool and the air so refreshing! Sunday it was back to reality ... Duke really needed to use the side of the road on the way home ... and we didn't know it. Quite a mess to clean up in the back of the truck and off his paws when we got home. Then ... Jari went outside at about 10:30 last night. Our big freezer is in the carport. I think that when we hauled bags of ice out of it before we left, the door was never closed all the way. It swings shut by itself, but something must have been in the way. All the albacore that I've been complaining about (it does taste good tho') is no longer edible. I dare not add up the poundage of steak and pork chops/kabobs that are going to hit the dumpster tonight. Ugh!! Oh well ... have been wanting to clean it as it seriously needed defrosting and am ready to fill it with salmon! Look on the sunny side of things! Will definately go again. Would love to spend a week up there & do things like visit the Grand Canyon 1 day, Montezumas Castle another day, etc. There are other cabins around the state which I aim to visit as well. Some a bit more primitive, others with streams running behind them. What a find it was!

Have a great day all!