He is upstairs watching what I assume will be the last game of the World Series…sorry Cubs fan but we know you know how to handle the disappointment.  I’m downstairs watching the Cowboys/Eagles game.  Unfortunately because of a football pool, I’m forced to root for the Dallas Cowboys.  I’d rather eat liver but football pool competition is brutal.  I’ve had  to root for teams this year that I normally don’t even watch because of my dislike. *coughPatriots.  It was much easier for me with Fantasy Football because I could root for the players rather than the whole team.  BTW  GO CHIEFS!  It was kind of tough today having to turn a cold shoulder to my former beloved Indianapolis Colts.

He got the walls in the downstairs bathroom finished today.  HVAC coming this week to upgrade our air and heat and hopefully save us some money on comfort.

and last but not least….Baxter has been trying to get in the pantry for a long time.  I  left the doors open while I was cooking tonight and found this.

#BADKITTY

EDIT:  I was wrong…one more game

Until next time…..

Very first on the list was a bath for the stinkin’ dog.  I haven’t the slightest idea what she got into but I had to sprinkle the carpet in the trailer with peppermint essential oil so we could be in the same room with her at night.  He always has to lift her into the bathtub for me….she gets stiff as a board and all her toes are splayed out similar to what my friend, Tracy Murray can do with her toes 😝.  There is something so cute about the actions of dogs when they are Sprung  from the bath and begin the run around the house.

It’s warm and sunny here today in KC…81 degrees with some humidity…certainly doesn’t feel like fall..only the naked trees and leaf carpet proves it.

Back to my book.

Until next time….

While I was sitting outside today, locked out of the camper with only my empty coffee cup and dead vape battery, HE was fishing in the stream….or so I thought.  When he finally came back, he told me to hop in the truck because Brett’s mom and dad are down here…HE was fishing and someone next to him asked, Catching any fish?  He had been sitting on a bench talking to them.

I was and am still totally overwhelmed to see them.  I can’t begin to express the love and peace I’m feeling.  The four of us talked awhile then the men went back to the stream and Diane and I talked for several hours.  I am blessed!

Until next time…..💝

I have been distracted the last couple,of weeks at home…my dreams have been angry, non peaceful and I’ve been carrying the mood throughout the day…I’ve been expecting this camping trip to be mindless and peaceful because I always feel I’ve come home when we drive into Bennett Spring Park.  But,  I’ve been carrying around some nostalgia and sadness on my shoulders this week.  Sitting at the picnic table tonight I’m hearing bits of conversations floating through the air from other campsites and I can’t seem to get over the loneliness of not having Brett and family around.  On our way back from the Lodge for supper, we drove through the other campgrounds and shared our memories of when we camped here and when we camped there and remember when this happened or that happened.  Watching him fish today, I spotted a guy in the stream wearing a floppy fishing hat like Brett used to wear, I seriously looked for Brett’s dad in the stream…what a blessing that would have been to run into the Hall family this week.  I feel like I’m making headway with the healing process.  Brett has been gone for 6 years and there will obviously be residual pain even after this long.  I obviously needed to experience it and move on.

NOt to take anything away from the fun he and I have had so far.  I love my fisherman!  This is now!  Here’s a few pics I took today.

The Bennett Spring Lodge/Dining hall

Until next time….

Vultures are ugly, ugly birds

This is where they hang out at dusk

Imagine my surprise when I walked down to the stream near our campsite and witnessed them forging in the grasses and sitting on branches just waiting…..waiting.

Dinner tonight was singed brats covered in last nights’ chili

….and this is me

Wearing my camping Bennett Spring jacket.  I bought this jacket down here around 2000…I’ve worn it every single camping trip that required a wrap.  Notice a few campfire burn holes which happened the first year I got it.  What’s more…it has only been washed 4 or 5 times in 16 years.  Brett always had a rule that he wore the same clothes home that he wore on the way down to Bennett.  This is my little rule…the more it smells like campfire, the better it is!

Until next time….

He decided to not fish this morning so we headed over to the Mennonite community of Lead Mind, Mo.  we decided to let Siri guide us the short cut! 😳. Narrow gravel roads and banjos playing.
They are known for their chicken pot pies and Reuben sandwiches….the best I’ve ever had….the Reuben that is.  After experiencing childhood, we won’t touch a chicken pot pie with a 10 foot pole.

On the way to the bakery….which was closed, btw, we stopped to FaceTime with Jaxon and we had a great view of a farmer raking hay the old fashioned way.  Of course he didn’t show up very well with thensucky IPhone camera.

Until next time….

The weather couldn’t be any better…leaves on the trees are a little disappointing…normally this week at Bennett Spring the leaves on the trees are glorious!

I sat around this morning crocheting while he headed to the stream.  Then I walked the mile over to his fishing hole.

Couple hot dogs for lunch at Hillbilly Burger

Now back to the campsite.  He’s building a fire to cook our chili

Until next time….it’s good to be home at the spring!

Watching my newest binge TV show…..Velvet….takes place in Madrid, Spain..Spanish TV series with English subtitles.  Beautiful people in the leading rolls…anyway…

Sometimes I get so involved in a show that the weather in the background becomes lifelike for me.  Torrential downpours, running through the rain with or without an umbrella, snow storms…..sometimes when I bounce back to reality, I’m surprised that it isn’t in fact raining or snowing outside.

I am pretty claustrophobic….it’s not necessarily small places with lots of people…but laying down in say an MRI coffin and not being able to sit up.  I read a book years ago where the lead heroine was having to crawl through a cave on her belly and squeeze through holes in the rock formations….I thought I was going to have to stop reading the book if she didn’t get through the tight spaces and stand up because my anxiety level was peaking.  I appreciate being able to lose myself in fiction whether TV, a book or my own daydreams.

I assume that the ability to lose oneself in fiction is a positive reboot for the brain …. I need the distraction from reality sometimes.

BTW the girl in my book was able to free herself from the cave.  She had a good reason to crawl through the it!

Until next time….

Every now and then I think it is good to put things into perspective and realize we are just ants on earth.  We are so often caught up in our own lives with our own family and friends and sorrows and joys, WE fail to realize that there is a world of people with the same problems and happiness everywhere.  Literally everywhere.  Frequently when I travel, I notice that the houses we are driving by are filled with people I don’t know, probably will never meet and are breathing the same air I’m breathing yet I don’t even know they exist.

Today I found the EarthCam app.  While I spent the majority of my afternoon watching the live cams from several areas on the Florida coast.  Oh and by the way…watching surfers here and there even though warnings have been issued specifically not to do it.  I’ve also scanned around to a beach in the Phillipines, Time Square, a view of Moscow and England and the French quarter.  Fascinating…I suppose I would call myself an enthusiastic observer of other people’s lives?  A twist on being a people watcher.

By the way….I would love to experience nature through a hurricane…I don’t want to risk my life or feel panic or fear…I just want to experience nature at its most unpredictable.

Until next time…..