Black Cloud Over Pine City?

This weekend at the lake was almost one disaster after another. Not funny at the time, but now as I look back, it was one of those "What can happen next?!" type weekends. It all turned out okay, but was pretty exasperating at times.

To recap....Friday night: I found a flood under the kitchen sink. Hardware stores were closed, so I bought a soldering kit at Walmart and enlisted Mike's help next door. He and his brother-in-law, Jim, helped me saw off the defective piece of pipe....and first thing Saturday morning I hit Ace Hardware. John, at Ace, is my troubleshooter, and he sent me home with the right parts and told me what to do and I fixed it all by myself!! By mid-morning, the hot water was back on and no more leak!!

Saturday: Bobby and Kristin came up and Bobby brought his Dad's boat. When Kim and Travis joined them to take a ride in it, it started filling up with water, and it almost sank! If the guys hadn't enlisted some help at the nearest boat landing, it would've been gone. Four guys cranking and pushing and bailing for all they were worth, and after about a half hour, they got it out and emptied the water that had collected inside. Whew!! Close call. (At one point, Travis jumped out of the boat, and his legs were caught in a life jacket strap and he couldn't kick to swim. The kids were laughing cuz they thought he was joking, but he seriously thought he was going to drown!)

I was mowing and hit the side of a ditch with too much speed and force and may have bent my mower deck. At any rate, something was shooting out great sparks when I tried to stop the mower and whenever my deck was up without the blades. (which is the only way it will start or stop). The guys checked it out and a pulley is rubbing against the mower deck....metal against metal....but Tom thinks he will be able to fix it.

It was hot, hot, hot, and sticky. All that mugginess made me decide to turn on our little air conditioner, but it wasn't doing a great job. We decided to play cards in front of it, with fans going and tried to stay cool. When the kids heard fireworks on the lake, they grabbed my two flashlights and headed down to watch.....I turned on the deck twinkle lights and the big floods, and when they turned around and looked at the cabin, it was totally dark!! I heard the big fizzle and stood there shocked while the lights and fans, etc.........all went off. We have a circuit breaker, so I went in and flipped the switch that was over, but nothing, nada, no way. It was limp and doing nothing. I tried the main switch, but it didn't work.....so for about five minutes we sat there wondering what to do. Finally, Bobby got it to work and we were back in business....but not before we learned the lesson that every light, the frig, the air conditioner, and all the fans in the house probably shouldn't all be used at the same time.

Sunday: When the kids were getting ready to leave, they turned to close the door and it wouldn't close! WHAT!! We pushed and shoved and lifted and prodded, but it was not fitting into the opening and was NOT going to shut. I noticed that the screws in the bottom hinge were coming out, so Travis saved the day and we put some longer ones in and tightened them good. It worked enough to get the door closed so I could lock it when I left. Whew, again!

Kristin called me after they had been gone a good while to tell me that they had had a flat tire on the boat trailer in Forest Lake. Bobby didn't know how to jack up the trailer and had to call his brother for help. The spare tire they had was too inflated so they had to let out air and then pump it up at the next gas station. It was a worry being on the busy highway. Kim stopped and picked up Kristin on her way home when she passed by them about a half hour or so later, and Bobby's brother came and helped save the day. I thnk Bobby is done with the boat for awhile.

So that was our weekend at the lake......oh, and we did have some fun, too! (screwball bridge)