by Phyllis McCrossin

Random thoughts on a Sunday afternoon:

It’s Sunday, March 6, 2022. In 19 days we will be packing up one last time and heading back to Michigan.

Michigan in April is a tease. There is the promise of spring with the threat of one last snowstorm.  I’m not sure how I feel about it all.

We had some warm weather here last week and then a cold front came in and it turned rainy and cooler. I won’t say cold because anything above 50 in March to this Midwesterner is warm.

Yesterday we attended the boys’ baseball game and I layered a long-sleeve shirt with a short-sleeved jacket covered by a windbreaker. I was toasty.

Our daughter, who has lived in Hawaii and/or California since 2008, was wearing an extra sweatshirt with the hood pulled tight around her face and wrapped herself up in a blanket.  Her teeth were chattering. Our friend was wearing warm clothes plus a knit hat and scarf. She leaves later this week for a six week assignment in Detroit.

There is no way to explain the wet, wind, cold and blooming dog poop (which appears in the melting snow) to someone who has never experienced it.

We are staying at Sweetwater Summit Regional Park for the next two weeks.  Campers are packed in and I find I don’t really like to be around people much. The people next to us allow their dog to wander into our campsite to relieve herself after dark. Unfortunately if the poor hapless animal should wander in during the day, Petra would make short work of her.

Petra loves people, but is extremely dog aggressive. It’s a downside for our sweet rescue.  It would not be an issue if others were responsible pet owners.  I can’t tell you the number of times I hear, “Don’t worry my dog is friendly,” to which I reply, “Gosh, you are so lucky. Mine hates other dogs.”

So as Sunday morning marches into Sunday afternoon, I’m watching with detached interest as trailers stream past ours in an organized exit. Campers have another two hours before checkout time, so it will be interesting to see how many campers were here for just the weekend. I suspect the neighbors are here for another week.  Watching all this is a reminder that this is the ebb and flow of our nomadic lifestyle.

But it’s been a quiet winter.  We’ve been on Grandma and Poppa duty every other week, so on the weeks we are off-duty we spend quiet days at the trailer. I’ve read a lot — sometimes as many as three books a week on my Kindle. Yes, I have a Kindle. Regular books are far too heavy and take up too much space to keep in the trailer, and with Kindle Unlimited I can read as much as I like for $10 a month. 

I’ve also been doing some wood burning projects, weaving on my small (hand-held) loom and making sun catchers out of the rocks the boys and I polished in the rock tumbler we got them for Christmas. I’m trying to teach myself how to make wire wrapped pendants. Either I’m too particular or it’s not going well. 

Tomorrow we start Grandma and Poppa day care again, and Tuesday in another baseball game… I think there is a trip to Legoland in the making before we leave. The theme park is less than five miles from our daughter’s apartment.

And so it goes. Another winter winds down.