So....here is what our weekend was like...
Friday, Jan. 16th.
We had Dakota and Savannah sleep over last night, the phone woke me up around 6am. Angel calling to let us know that school has been canceled because of the cold. So that means that I won't have to drive Dakota to school this morning, and he gets to sleep in!
I decided to get up and let Wilma sleep in. Got the coffee going and proceeded to get my "stuff" together that I'm going to take on our weekend trip. With the temperature hovering around 5 above 0, I wasn't in any hurry to get the car loaded with "our stuff".
Everyone was awake and ready for the day by 10am, so I took Dakota and Savannah over to Angels home and dropped them off. Angel was watching them until Tina gets home from her job.
By 10:30am we had the trunk packed and were ready to leave on our week-end get a way. We weren't in any hurry as we weren't supposed to check into our cabin until 3pm. I assured Wilma that as the Park isn't busy they would let us check in early, whenever we get there.
As it turned out we arrived around 1:30pm. No problem checking in, as the "office" was closed and the security guard checked us in, giving me the key to Cabin #1. We drove over to the cabin only to find out that the water lines were frozen. Drove back to security letting them know; he told us that the manager would meet us at the cabin. The manager checked the "heat tape" making sure it had power, which it had, and then checked Cabin #2. He apologized for the inconvenience, and asked if we would mind moving to Cabin #2. Not at all we assured him, and he left as we moved our "stuff" to Cabin #2.
The first thing we noticed different, was the heat! WOW was it ever warm in the cabin, I'd guess around 80. Wilma made a comment about it being way too hot to sleep in that heat and we would have to turn off the heat, which was a combination air conditioner/heater built into the wall. I saw this was going to be a problem if I had to keep getting up during the night to turn it on and off as needed.
The second thing we noticed is that this cabin was a little larger. That was a good thing, seeing as the cabin was a total of about 8 foot by 14 foot max.!
After getting all our stuff moved in, I commenced to see what was wrong with the heater, while Wilma made the bed.
I noticed how cold the frame was, and the control knobs were next to the outside frame. Could the cold be radiating to the controls making the heat stay on longer? So I proceeded to remove the front grill and filter, then pulling off the 2 control knobs I was able to remove the face plate by the controls, then put the knobs back on so I could turn them for adjustments. Within a few minutes the heat turned off. GREAT, now lets hope that turning up the heat knob will cycle the heat with the temperature of the cabin. Yep it worked! So I was now confident we at least could control the heat in our cabin if I left the front grill and filter off. Just a lucky hunch I had, and I guess Karma was on our side for this one.
As we forgot some food left in the fridge at home, we decided to make a trip into town and get a few groceries and stop at a restaurant for supper. We did that and returned to the cabin for an evening of watching one of the three TV stations available before turning out the lights.
Saturday, Jan. 17th.
Woke up and noticed we forgot Coffee filters! Improvise...Wilma handed me a napkin which worked just fine. Turned on the TV for the local weather, more cold and snow for today and tomorrow. Brrrrr. It was 0 degrees outside, and 72 degrees inside. Another 3 inches of snow fell since we arrived on the already foot of snow on the ground.
Our plan for today was to go to the Casino and donate to the local tribe. But after seeing that the weather was going to go from bad to worse tomorrow, we decided to switch our plan with tomorrows plan. So we will go to the Casino tomorrow, if we aren't snowed in!
So today we are going to head further North.....more cold and snow.....about 47 miles to visit Denny and Kathy.
The ride there on I-75 was pretty bad.
It was 11 am and the plows had not completly cleared all lanes of the expressway. Plus the wind was blowing and snow falling adding more to the snow that we got last night.We arrived at Denny and Kathy's home around 12:30pm safe and sound in the blowing snow. They have a beautiful home to be very proud of. Their fireplace insert wood stove kept their home very confortable, and Denny said as long as its on, the furnace doesn't come on. A great savings in his fuel bill.
We went out to a restaurant for lunch and returned to their home. Denny then showed us his Pole barn that he and his son built. Wow is that ever nice! He has all the room he needs, and we could tell he was very proud of it. I know I sure would be! Looking how high it was I made a comment to him about how I wouldn't be able to put shingles on the roof because of the height, he said it was pretty high as he fell off of it once putting on the shingles. I'm glad for his sake he wasn't hurt as it looked about 12 foot high to the edge of the roof!
Back inside their home, they taught us a new game. Mexican Train.
Wow did we have fun. We laughed and joked with each other while playing, and Denny told us that the game can be bought at Walmart for around $10.00. Guess where we will be heading in a few days? Angel phoned us while we were at Denny's asking how the weather was. We told her the weather we were having, she said they were having a blizzard with expected 3 to 5 inches of more snow expected. Booo Hooo. More snow to shovel when we get home.We kept an eye on the snow falling as we played Mexican Train, and around 5pm we decided that we should leave for the trip back to our Cabin. Wilma and I had a wonderful time with Denny & Kathy, and we know we will see them again in the future, as they have invited us back out in the summer.
Our trip back to the Cabin was slow because of the wind and snow covered roads, but we made it without incident. Kybee sure was excited to see us when we opened the Cabin door, as we were glad to see him also. The temperature now around 2 above outside and a confortable 72 inside the cabin. As we were still not hungry for a large meal, Wilma and I decided to eat a sandwich and watch a little TV, (because all we could get on the small 13" TV is 3 channels!) before turning in for the night.
Sunday, Jan. 18th.
Sunday morning drinking our coffee, looking outside and noticed another 5 inches of snow fell. But the sky was clear and blue and the sun was starting to come up.
Wow....haven't seen the sun in quite a while!
Kinda cheered us both up at how pretty the sun glizzened on the fresh snow....at least for me as long as I was in a warm cabin. :>)
Watching the morning weather forecast, it was saying it was now 5 above 0. Brrrr...
We talked about going home this afternoon instead of waiting for Monday morning. Both of us agreed we would be more comfortable sleeping in our bed at home, and the weather could turn from bad to worse Sunday night. So we packed all our stuff and got it ready to be put in the car.
We wanted to make our donation to the Casino, so off we went for a little fun and to see if it was time for our dream of "hitting it big" was going to happen.
Sorry to report....our dream did not happen. But we both had an enjoyable time and will return in the future. Leaving the Casino, we stopped at what Denny called "the really big store". He gave directions to us when we visited him yesterday. And Denny was right, it is a "really big store" with everything you could think of. And great prices too. When we come back to this area in the future, I'm sure we will stop back in this store also. We left the store and stopped at a restaurant for lunch, as it was around 1pm and we knew it was at least a 3 hour drive back home. After lunch we went back to the cabin, loaded up the car and headed home. The roads were pretty clear, I-75 had been plowed and were only a little snow covered. We made good time getting home, arriving around 4pm.
Walking into our home, where we set the heat down to 50, was quite chilly to say the least! It took the furnace an hour and a half steady running to get the temps back up around 70. I even lit the oven and left the door open to help heat the house. Wilma and I donned sweatshirts to help keep warm until the house warmed up, Kybee found the heat vent in the bathroom as the perfect place to keep warm. It feels great to be back home! The neighbors even snow blowed my sidewalk and drive! So there was little snow removal for me to do.
Monday, Jan. 19th.
Today is a paid holiday for me! So I'm planning on going to St. Johns Hospital this morning to be with Dad as Mom has surgery planned. She has blocked arteries in both legs, and the surgeon said it should take about 4 hours for the surgery to place stints in the arteries. She is scared about the surgery, but talking to her on the phone yesterday, I assured her this would be "a piece of cake" compared to her 5 stints put in around her heart a couple years ago. Hopefully it would relieve her anxiety a little, even though I realize any surgery like this is risky. She is scheduled to stay in the Hospital for 2 days, so she should be back home on Tuesday morning.
Monday, Jan. 19th. update:
Mom made it out of surgery ok. She said it was pretty bad pain wise, not where the surgery was but with her back. (She has a very bad back and has had 5 surgeries on her back alone, nothing else can be done to help her with her back.)
The surgeon spoke to Dad and I after the surgery, telling us that her right leg now has 2 stints in the main artery. One by her hip the other a little lower just above her knee. The rest of the artery looked good. Her left leg artery is also 80% blocked, but there was no hurry to repair that artery for at least 6 to 8 weeks.
So if all goes well through the evening, she should be released from the Hospital tomorrow morning.
Until our next Adventure, be safe and God Bless.
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