Life in the 'knife

Well, I am too sick to go camping this May long weekend, or May two-four as many call it. I can't tell you the last time I didn't go camping on the long weekend. I had an opportunity to go with some friends, and I was really looking forward to it. But then on Sunday night, after working the trade show all weekend, I came down with a rotten bastard of a cold. And I still have it, and am still miserable with it. But all is not lost...

Many of my friends are not going away for the long weekend so we are gathering on Sunday for a bbq picnic in Prelude. It's a small area about 27kms from here. Not that far, but a reportedly pretty spot to have a picnic and to camp. There's a lake with a swimming beach (not that I shall be in this weekend...there is likely still ice in the lake...) and a big playground. Some of my friends are bringing their kids, old and young.

Henry and Stormy are enjoying the balcony. Henry fell off the balcony earlier this week so is keeping a lower profile out there these days. Most of the time he sprawls on the deck of the balcony, or curls up on one of the chairs. He still gets up in my kayak occasionally, but that is coming to an end as I take it down this weekend to the lake. If there's open water, I'm goin' in, dammit. Hacking cough and all. Just don't tell my mother. Stormy is still brave enough. He struts along the railing and sniffs into the wind. I fear a strong burst might pop him off the rail some day. We had really strong gusts yesterday and today...good thing I'm only on the second floor.

The temperatures have been sensible and the trees are just coming into bloom! Holy shit. It was well into June last year before things got green, so I am happy with that. It's exciting to get up in the morning to see how warm it is today, instead of watching the temps to see how friggin' cold it is. At this rate, the fireweed might be out soon. There is quite a green belt behind me here, and I reckon there will be fireweed in the brown tufts of last year's summer. There are also woods where people go quadding, biking, sledding, walking, drinking...apparently the high school grad party was in the woods behind me. No wonder I heard people all night long...I hear people out there in the woods all the time but they are so thick and rugged that I usually don't see anyone, night or day.

My house is nearly clean, the dishes are done, and my bed has fresh linens. There's beer in the fridge and a wide variety of my favorite snacks. What more could a girl want on a Friday night (when she is sick and cannot go out). Sunset is later these days, at 10:34pm. Sunrise is at 4:35am...I sleep with a sleep mask on. It never really gets dark anymore and won't until the fall. Henry seems to have finally caught on to the idea that we do actually still need to sleep at night, even if it isn't dark. He is an early riser, I'll give him that, but he has slacked off on annoying the hell out of me until I get up after him.

I was at least somewhat productive this week at work. I was only in on Wednesday afternoon. I did work Monday night, out of the office at home visits. I went in for noon but left a half hour later. I wasn't going to go at all but couldn't access my online calendar to see what appointments I had, so went in to check and to see how I felt once I got to work. Wednesday night I just worked at home. I took Tuesday as a sick day, and worked at home the last two days. I finished two adoption homestudies and nearly finished a third, so am glad to have that nearly done. They are a lot of work, and it is sometimes difficult to get a chunk of time that isn't broken up by meetings or home visits, or taking phonecalls, and writing notes. When writing the homestudies I prefer to have chunks of time so I can think about what I want to write. They are not merely a recollection of facts like my case notes are. They are a report of findings you might say, and average about 22 pages or more.

Lots of drinkers hanging about downtown...the rest all went camping..ah...life in the 'knife...