Weekend at the Lake
Well, we had our weekend that we so looked forward to. Me and Duckworth, our two daughters and their two toddlers (1-1/2 and 2 years old). The weekend was donated to the Lion's club, to use in a Chinese auction, then it was re-gifted to us. We have been planning it for almost a year, with great anticipation.
I started having some doubts when the owner took 2 months to send me the information we needed, such as: where it is. We finally got the info by email a month ago - and guess what? They have a water shortage. That's right, they spelled it out "if it's yellow, let it mellow, if it's brown, flush it down". I.am.not.making.this.up. Why is there a water shortage every time we stay by a large body of water??? In Nova Scotia our cabin had a jacuzzi - with a sign that asked us not to use it because of the "water shortage". You could see the ocean from the window. We don't have a water shortage here at home, even though we are miles from any body of water whatsoever.
DW and I left on Thursday, taking with us the 2 year old because we have him on Thursdays. Everyone else was coming after work, in the evening.
I had a spark of fear when we arrived and found the house at the bottom of two sets of very steep stairs, which took you to a deck, then another set of very steep stairs that took you to the lake - did I mention that we were bringing two toddlers -the house itself seemed very old on the outside but was BEAUTIFUL on the inside. Yes indeed. With doilies and (probably) priceless antiques stuck in every nook and cranny. And a topside deck about 10 ft. off the ground. Both decks had railings, however, the slats were about 4-5" apart. Did I mention that we were bringing two toddlers??
One of the advertised four bedrooms was padlocked and I guess not meant to be used. Good thing, then, that my son couldn't make it there, after all. All weekend I imagined that they had an insane relative locked up in there. This fit right in with the fact that, solely by coincidence, there was an escaped convict roaming the area who had already shot three people, one of whom had died. The first night I propped a (antique) chair under the doorknob, because there did not seem to be a way to lock it from the inside.
By Friday afternoon, I had decided to go home Saturday morning. But it got better after that. They caught the convict, the kids calmed down, and only two things got broken - both broken by ME in the process of moving them to a safer place where they wouldn't get broken. We still had to keep the kids away from the railings, though, and we rigged up makeshift gates from lawn chairs to barricade the outside stairs.
Saturday we rented a pontoon boat for an hour and that was fun.
We told the owner we broke a candy dish and a lantern hanging from an umbrella; he said not to worry because they had locked everything valuable in that fourth bedroom, I guess with Aunt Ethel or whatever. Good God. I would like to get a look at what they consider to be valuable.
Next vacation will be better.
I started having some doubts when the owner took 2 months to send me the information we needed, such as: where it is. We finally got the info by email a month ago - and guess what? They have a water shortage. That's right, they spelled it out "if it's yellow, let it mellow, if it's brown, flush it down". I.am.not.making.this.up. Why is there a water shortage every time we stay by a large body of water??? In Nova Scotia our cabin had a jacuzzi - with a sign that asked us not to use it because of the "water shortage". You could see the ocean from the window. We don't have a water shortage here at home, even though we are miles from any body of water whatsoever.
DW and I left on Thursday, taking with us the 2 year old because we have him on Thursdays. Everyone else was coming after work, in the evening.
I had a spark of fear when we arrived and found the house at the bottom of two sets of very steep stairs, which took you to a deck, then another set of very steep stairs that took you to the lake - did I mention that we were bringing two toddlers -the house itself seemed very old on the outside but was BEAUTIFUL on the inside. Yes indeed. With doilies and (probably) priceless antiques stuck in every nook and cranny. And a topside deck about 10 ft. off the ground. Both decks had railings, however, the slats were about 4-5" apart. Did I mention that we were bringing two toddlers??
One of the advertised four bedrooms was padlocked and I guess not meant to be used. Good thing, then, that my son couldn't make it there, after all. All weekend I imagined that they had an insane relative locked up in there. This fit right in with the fact that, solely by coincidence, there was an escaped convict roaming the area who had already shot three people, one of whom had died. The first night I propped a (antique) chair under the doorknob, because there did not seem to be a way to lock it from the inside.
By Friday afternoon, I had decided to go home Saturday morning. But it got better after that. They caught the convict, the kids calmed down, and only two things got broken - both broken by ME in the process of moving them to a safer place where they wouldn't get broken. We still had to keep the kids away from the railings, though, and we rigged up makeshift gates from lawn chairs to barricade the outside stairs.
Saturday we rented a pontoon boat for an hour and that was fun.
We told the owner we broke a candy dish and a lantern hanging from an umbrella; he said not to worry because they had locked everything valuable in that fourth bedroom, I guess with Aunt Ethel or whatever. Good God. I would like to get a look at what they consider to be valuable.
Next vacation will be better.
posted by Sara | 3:23 PM
3 Comments:
Hmm...I thought it was nice. Guess that's why your blog is called Half Empty!
Sounds like you had a good time despite yourself!
Whoops, that was me.
- Glenn
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