Another Crazy Cottage Experience

We went up to the family cottage over Memorial weekend. It was the first time it was "opened up" for the season, so we knew to expect a surprise or two. A few mouse droppings here and there, a few bugs, that damp musty smell, an overgrown lawn...just typical stuff. I believe one of my very first blog posts was about a not-so-great trip to the lake. Anyway....

What we didn't prepare for was the tent worm invasion up north. There are several Maples in the front yard and they were absolutely covered in tent worms. We could literally hear them, chomping the leaves up, and when the wind would blow, it would "snow" chopped maple leaves. It was sad,really. After visiting several local yard sales (oh, man did we haul in some good deals!), we found that we were not alone in our dilemma. Apparently some spraying didn't go through on the ballot, so everyone was losing the battle with the tent worms. One made it's way down the front of my tank top, sending me into a frenzy, as witnessed by the men passing by in their boat. I really tried to keep my shirt on, and honestly, there isn't much to stop a wayward tent worm in there, but I couldn't get it out. They are probably still laughing about it somewhere.

So, the tent worms we were learning to live with, but the flies became another obvious battle. I have never seen so many flies! Of course, dad started in with one of his stories, "Well, you should have been in Harrisville in 1978....." Unfortunately, I was. We had absolutely gorgeous weather, but we couldn't sit outside without dousing ourselves in Yard Guard, which I'm sure is toxic, as I've grown a 3rd thumb since Monday.

We took our camper up there, which was really nice to have our own space. The girls wanted to sleep in the cottage with Gram and Gramps, so we had the place to ourselves. The first night I headed out there about 10pm, only to run the last few yards after hearing what sounded like 100 coyotes. Probably not close by, but tell that to someone with a really wild imagination. I just about fell trying to get in there so fast. Again, I'm pretty sure the 8 college boys across the lake witnessed the whole spectacle. Either that or they were laughing at the coyotes.

On the second night, someone decided to go 4 wheeling through the woods beside the cottage in a big ole loud truck. It was about 2am, and I had the camper window unzipped. When you awake to a sound like that, the first thought is that there's an airplane landing right on the camper, so I reacted accordingly. Enough said.

I have an intense ridiculous fear of spiders, so of course, I'm always on the lookout. I guess it should have been no surprise that they began to invade my precious camper....on my side of the bed. Of course. So, with Steve and the girls out fishing, I began to attempt to kill the spiders. Ridiculous fear, remember. I had nothing but a paper towel, so I waited for it to come out, then screamed as I yelled, "DIE DIE!!" Then yelped as I made my mark and wildly threw the paper towel with the carcus into the air. Breathing erratically, I looked around, waiting for the next attack. It came. They were everywhere! I got three, then looked out the window to see why no one was coming to my rescue. That's when I found out that the three men in the boat were directly across from the open bunk and could hear everything going on. I made sure to stay in there extra long until they couldn't see me make my escape. Anyway, I attempted to murder the last spider, but it was a jumper and made it into my bed between the mattress and the wall. Great. By then Steve was back in the cottage after a long exhausting fishing expedition.

I went into the cottage with my hair all askew, breathing like a mad woman, telling everyone what I had just been through. I went on and on, waiting for my prince charming to drop what he was doing and go get that spider. I finally got a little more blunt, and he impatiently stalked out to the camper saying "Geez!" under his breath. He just loves me so much. So we proceeded to tear apart the bed I had just made, throwing the sheets outside, removing the mattress and investigating the outside of the camper to find my 8 legged offender. Finally Steve went and got the bug spray and intoxicated the whole outside of the camper. He now has an eleventh toe, thanks to me. But no spiders. That's the important thing.

Serena decided to take a swim, so mom and I headed down to watch her, our fly swatters in hand. This is where we finally lost it. We were swatting ourselves, the air, the ground, the chairs, our drinks, each other! Serena finally looked up and said, "You should see how funny you guys look from here." Mom and I just busted up laughing hysterically, to the point where we couldn't even speak. Mom went to swat her chair, missed and hit her water cup, which flew up and sprayed water all over her face. She just lost it. My mom and I have something embarassing in common. When we get to laughing, we lose control and can easily start to cry. I was trying so hard to protect her from that, but she was making herself laugh!! It was just so stinkin' funny, I'm not kidding you.

On the good side, the fish were biting like crazy, so a fish fry has been planned for out here, in the screened gazebo! No flies allowed. Steve and I managed a trip to Traverse, looking for kayaks, and I told him again that I want to live there one day!! He just laughs at my passion for Traverse City!! I'm telling you, it's the best! We ate some great meals, as usual, and we continued our tradition of furniture burning by getting rid of a blue chair. We also bought another love seat and we now have seating for at least 8 people in the tiny living area. Nothing matches, but that's the fun of it!!

As we packed up to go, the flies were driving us nuts, it rained, so all of the outdoor stuff was wet. So fun. As we pulled away, our camper door flew open, and we just laughed. What more could go wrong anyway??

Ahh...another crazy Rogers vacation. Aren't you sad you missed all of that?? :)