I’m starting to think I spent more time outside this past winter than I did this past summer. The ONE TIME we ventured out for a camping trip in early July, we were slammed with a car repair while we were on the trip! Having a nice swimming hole at our campground was jolly good, and seeing my friend Jenni from high school was also pretty sweet – and singing “The Star Spangled Banner” at the top of our lungs on the night of the Fourth of July was very, very…very!

I’m trying my very hardest to be positive about the summer of 2021. All day happy hour pricing at Sidetrack in Ypsilanti’s Depot Town is…what would Borat say?

And now because we’re having to pay for a road repair project in our neighborhood, I canceled two trips in the month of August – opting instead to take advantage of the extra hours I’ve been getting at work. I know I “should” feel worse about having to cancel these trips, but…I don’t. Instead of renting a tipi at Cheboygan State Park next weekend, we’ll be visiting my in-laws instead. And I don’t feel at all bad about that! I am looking forward to seeing them both and playing with their kitties!

But as for everything else about summer? It can suck it! The mosquitoes, the heat, the humidity, crowded campgrounds, me working in a non-climate controlled environment…bully! Sorry, I just channeled Teddy Roosevelt there, didn’t I? From what I have read, Teddy Roosevelt was no more of a fan of mosquitoes than I am! When they were building the Panama Canal, he put his full confidence in William C. Gorgas, Surgeon General of the Army – even though he had his naysayers. Gorgas knew that battling the mosquitoes was key to victory. And now – he has a hospital in Panama City named for him! My father-in-law was in charge of that hospital in the early 1990s when he was serving in the U.S. Army. Small world, eh?

October can’t come soon enough! I’ve already booked TWO different cabin trips – one local, and one “up north(ish).” We had such a blast on a cabin trip on Halloween weekend last year, that we decided we’d do it again!

Well, I’m going to wrap this up, since I have a virtual trivia game in a bit…