Hit the road, Jack

Whew, what a weekend! After work Friday the mate and I went through all the gardens to have them under control for me while he is on vacation in the south for the next however many days he can stand to be away from home.

When we had them done and got rested up we went on our bike ride. I stuck to 6 blocks again but the burn was so bad on the last hill the pain made me stop before I could even coast to the driveway. Michigan may be many things but it is NOT flat. Which ever way I ride from the house it's got at least two hills to climb.

"Burn is good" mate says, standing in for grumpy coach I don't have, "You have to tear up the muscles to grow the muscles."

"Ya, right," I grouse at him as I pedal in slow-motion with every muscle in my legs screaming. But I made it, again. Come on weight loss! Come back waist line! I chant this in time to my pedals.

When that was over we finished the laundry so he could get packed. Then he watched some tube while I started chopping and preping ruhbarb for our famous ruhbarb crunch. Then I discovered that I had run out of flour. I threw up my hands, packed the stuff in covered cake pans and went to join him for a while before we crashed out.

Saturday it was get up early, drink coffee, admire oriels eating at oranges, humming birds on feeders, Rose Breasted Gross Beak on bird bath, marvel at the Hairy Woodpecker that we haven't seen since the winter before last and pat ourselves on the back that the pair of RBGB and the TWO pair of Oriels have stayed more than a week now (15 minutes, ONE cup of coffee).

Then the mate got ROMANTIC! The wife that can say no to a husband when he is leaving for an unspecified time isn't related to me. I can hardly ever tell him no. I'm glad I didn't this time. Risking TMI, we had an encounter that left us both going, "Wow, we are GOOOD!" He left me weak kneed and gasping for air! What a lover!

He went to get his tools together for the next project while I pulled up the rugs and all of the towels from the bath room and tossed them into the washer, swept from there to the dining room, scoured the tub, toilet and sink with the nice bleach cleaner I found cheap, mopped the floors and collapased in a pile of sweat and steamy glasses to cram down my second cuppa before we had to leave.

It was only 9:45 when we rolled out with a load of stuff to put in the trailer and to get the lights wired up. Normally I don't move on Saturday before noon, it's my lazy day. We spent an hour and discovered the lights would not work, even with an adapter plug. It took the help of the step sister, Tee. Him on volt meter, me at controls of the motorhome, sis checking trailer lights. Mate discovered Mom hadn't gotten a gas cap and rushed off to correct that in town. I stayed and chatted with Tee. We don't see each other very often. We worked on the motorhome while we yacked. She was cleaning, I was arranging and putting up contact paper.

Mate got back with correct part and we boogied off to the store for FLOUR, oatmeal, lunch supplies and dog food. He didn't want me to haul the 50# bags without help, bless his soul! We couldn't dink around because the #1 Son and Wife were coming around 2:00.

We got the groceries put away, I was going to do dishes and started finishing the crunch. He ran the vaccuum, only it wouldn't go. I used to sell them and we have two used ones so he went to get the other power head while I blasted the hoses clear, dumped the canister, put in a new filter and checked the belts. Second power head wouldn't pick up, either. Hmmmm? Well, I did the math and came up with plugged up power head. Had him hand me a screw driver and shoved my finger down the connecting pipe to see what was what.

I encountered fur. No real surprise there. We have two dogs and two cats, one of each is mine and long haired, otherwise known as the "biggest and the fuzziest" of their litters. That's the way, uh huh, I like it, big and fuzzy, soft and warm, cuddly. The power head feeds through both sides of the pipe. The whole cross pipe was clogged with hair and fur.

I had the mate turn on the machine, I would hack and slash with the screw driver and he would slide the hose over the pipe to free up and remove what I had chopped loose. Repeated a million times for each power head. We finally cleared out about 2 cats worth of fur and hair and had two working power heads again.

I rushed back to finish the dishes, get the crunch in the oven, wipe off the counters, clean the sink and wipe off the table. We finished about 1:30, yay us!

The boy called about one asking if we were still expecting them. I told him no, we were cleaning house for no reason at all. Being brilliant, (he is my son) he answered, "Oh. I guess that means you ARE especting us." :)

It took longer than they planned to pack up everything for the garlic and rosemary chicken breast with lemon, the cheesy mashed potatoes, vegetable, lemon chiffon pie the boy made and the 5 month old #2 granddaughter. They got there about 3:00.

#1 daughter in law made a delish meal! I chatted, lent a hand as I felt like it and watched "Water World" while she cooked. Lemon zest from scratch, real rosemary, (I snatched a couple stems to see if I could start some plants), fresh garlic, skinless breast of chicken, real mashed potatoes with sour cream and cheddar cheese, a real labor of love. What a nice Mothers Day treat! Yum, yum!

#2 granddaughter totally amused her step grampa. She was minding her own business, growling at the toys swinging from something called and aquarium and he got right down on the floor to see what had her so wound up. She likes him, they played on and off all day.

She was cutting her first tooth, started at 4 months, like my kids did. There was a little fussing but nothing a biscut couldn't fix.

The boy shared a Robin Williams CD with us, it was funny. We all visited and enjoyed the day.

After my dad died I told the kids, no more dustables, just spend time with me, make a meal for me or work in the gardens, paint a room or something that makes a memory. They have all taken it to heart and I love knowing they will remember the fun we had.

They hung out till just before dark and wandered back to their own lives. I sent some of the ruhbarb crunch with them. We watched a movie, then got stuff out for Sunday.

Sunday we got up early, AGAIN, had our coffee, washed the mate's bike, packed the last of his supplies, got his maps and directions then called his number one daughter to ask if she and the boys could help us load the bike on the trailer. I said I was buying pizza, she said yes. (She almost always says yes, bless her heart!)

We couldn't go over till Mom was back from church so we got a little time to check the email and I caught up on a few blogs. Actually thought I would get a third! cup of coffee, wow! But then the mate got ROMANTIC! The wife that can say no to a husband when he is leaving for an unspecified time isn't related to me. I can hardly ever tell him no. I'm glad I didn't this time. Risking TMI, we had an encounter that left us both going, "Wow, we are GOOOD!" He left me weak kneed and gasping for air! What a lover! *shiver, goose bumps*

After the shower we got around some more stuff to take for the traveling house. He rode the bike, I followed in the little red Chevy Tracker. He pulled into the gas station and we filled them both up. We got to Mom's right after she walked in the door.

Mate was going to take the motorhome up to get it topped off with gas, I was setting up hose to fill water tanks. It wouldn't start. Mate came looking for me. I said I have cables in the truck and rushed off to pull in and charge him up. We finally got it started. He rolled off and even remembered to tell the place to start our pizzas.

He got back and I was ready with the water hose. It took a long time to fill the tanks. Long enough for other #1 daughter to get there with not two, but three large teen age boys to help load. They wandered through the motor home, the boys want one to go fishing with, they are just old enough that I figure they mean fishing for girls.

I turned the hose over to them to watch while I ran for the pizzas and root beer. It was just being cut as I walked in and was still hot when I got back with it. We all went inside to eat. It was an informal but fun meal and Mom enjoyed seing the boys, they hadn't been over in awhile. We dealt with one dribble glass and I tried to juggle my slice of pizza, made it through the meal with no casualties.

Then the fun started - time to load the bike. We had borrowed my sister's snowmobile trailer, a single. The fit was going to be close as the mate has a Kawasaki Royal Star Midnight Venture, a full dress tour bike. It weighs about 900 pounds. We now know it is wider and longer than a snowmobile.

The trailer could be hooked up to the hitch and then unlocked and tipped to load the bike. Two of us held the front up, three pushed with the mate on the handle bars working the brakes so we could breathe. It took 2 adults and 2 large kids to push it in and one adult and kid to hold the front end up till we were 2/3rds of the way in. Then it took 5 of us to get the trailer down and latched again.

The bike went in with the reflectors on the saddle bag guard rails abut a quarter inch from the wooden uprights. When we got the tie downs on it the cross boards curved in and made contact with the front and back guard rails. It was tied down well and tight. Mate pushed the front forks down for tightening straps there, we ran two under the whole trailer and to the back frame, he sat on the back seat for those. We bungied the foot brake on for the rear brake. There is one bungie through the front mag wheel and under the trailer bar. For good luck we put one tie down across the back of the whole trailer from eye hooks in the frame over the cross boards, around the trailer hitch on the bike, through the other side cross board and down to an eye hook in the frame.

All this was checked by three different people. Where I could get a finger under anything the other two tightened it again and re-checked it. When we were all satisfied it couldn't be done any better we stepped back to look.

The trailer hitch on the motor home is quite high and the neck of the trailer is low, for behind a car. The whole thing was tipped back at about a 16 degree angle with the back tire one bare inch from the end of the open back of the trailer.

The mate pronounced it good and the kids left. We finished cleaning up with Mom and then headed for the house. The mate was now already to go and all of us were burnt out.

When we got home we watched a "Law and Order, SVU" then took our bike ride. The mate was so tired we only did four blocks. I got the burn from the first hill. We "walked the flowers", which means we started out in front, checked out the new plantings in the side yard, filled the bird baths, walked around the double pink and standard light purple lilacs with our noses full of their sweet scent, to the vegetable garden, noted we would need lines for the peas soon, that the spinach needed thinning, the tomatoes were recovered from the frost and then viewed the circle garden to see if the seeds were sprouting, (can't tell yet), note the lilly he bought me is up, then stroll the length of the arms on Warf's garden, where I see I have to move and split some hosta, weed weed and weed some more and that there are buds on the peonies, the iris and the lillies. The white columbine is blooming and the other 4 plants of it have budded. It's a great cool down.

We watched a little tube, then he went to bed and I stayed up a little longer to see the end of the movie. I didn't sleep very well, kept dreaming someone stole the whole trailer with his wonderful motorcycle on it and I kept waking myself up trying to stop them.