Surviving the Vacation
We just got back from vacation at Bear Lake, more-or-less in one piece. Which might be saying something.

First of all, our cabin had dual infestations of both bees and mice, which wasn't so much fun. My daughters seemed to bear the brunt of these problems. On the second night, my youngest daughter- on the top bunk - heard a noise in the air vent on the ceiling only a few inches from her face. She woke up her older sister (who was very grumpy about it), and had her turn on the light. When the light came on, the youngest found she was nearly nose-to-nose with a mouse sniffing down at her from the air vent.

She wasn't so keen on being on the top bunk anymore.

However, it was fortunate that she didn't decide to trade bunks with her sister. The next night, the eldest daughter wakes up to find a mouse (the same one) foraging for food IN HER HAIR. So it was her turn to freak. Her younger sister flees the room to come tell us what happened, but the older one - too humiliated by having gotten on her sister's case the night before - stoically remains in bed until we called for her. The mouse, wisely, fled the room early on.

At dinner the next evening, the older daughter sits down at the table in her bare feet, and then casually mentions to anyone who might be listening, "I was stung by a bee on my foot."

"Really? When did this happen?!?" we ask.

"Just now. It's still on my foot," she says, sitting rock-steady. Apparently it had been on the floor (drunk from the poison and sunshine on the window), and she had just stepped on it in her bare feet. We apparently have to work with her on her verb tenses. She could have said, "I was JUST stung by a bee on my foot," or even, "I am NOW being stung by a bee on my foot." But no, she calmly mentions it like it had happened yesterday, and she was just filling a lull in the conversation.

A quick removal of both the squashed bee-goo on her foot and the stinger remedied the immediate issue, though by this time she did have tears coming down her face. This wasn't the first time she'd been stung, so we weren't worried about allergies. But she had a tender foot until the next day.

Then there was the car.

My wife drove into town (such as it is) with many of the girls in our clan on the second day. As they got out of the car, they smelled something burning and saw smoke coming out of the left-rear tire of our car. She tried to call me first, but I didn't have my cell phone with me, so she called her father - who was also at the cabin. He immediately went down to check things out without informing me what had happened or where he was going. A half an hour later, my wife calls me on my brother-in-law's cell phone.

She hastily explained the problem - the first I heard of it - and asked if we should get a tow to take it to the nearest mechanic (who was in another town about twelve miles away). Obviously, if the car's having those kinds of problems, I was completely in favor of not driving it a dozen more, so I approved - after checking in with my father-in-law to make sure he concurred.

An hour later she called me up again, just minutes after the truck had left with out car in tow. She asks, sheepishly, "Umm... honey, did you put the emergency brake on in the car?"

"Of course," I said. "We were parked on a slope, and it's a LONG way down the mountainside to the lake."

"Oh," she said. "I think I did something really stupid."

"You drove down with the emergency brake on," I said.

"Would that cause the problem?"

"Yep, that would do it."

"I feel so stupid. I'm sorry."

"Well, better that than having to get our brakes fixed," I sighed. I guessed the towing bill would be about $100. I was close.... $102.50. Plus $40 for the garage to take a look at it, drive it around, and make sure there was no permanent damage done. Still, I'd been anticipating a lot worse than that in repairs, so while it was an unnecessary expense, it could have been worse.

Still, overall, I guess it beat workin'...
- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 1:09 AM (Permalink)