Monday, September 17, 2012

Pink Bunny Rabbits

Hunting Island State Park and Lighthouse in South Caroolina by Dear miss mermaid copyright by http://dearmissmermaid.com
With so few trees around, I am shocked I managed to hit one!


There is one in every campground...

Somebody who doesn't understand how the lot numbers work or that the  utilities mark off the size of the lot. Many of the nature oriented campgrounds have irregular sized lots due to trees, hills, landmarks etc. Theoretically the utility posts and hookups are on the driver's side of the vehicle. Therefore you park your camping gear to the right of those hookups and to the left of the neighbor's hookups. The camping lot, that magic dotted line,  is generally  the width between the two utility posts.

So for the last few days my campground area has basically looked like this with me parked in Lot 1.


Early this morning,  the folks in Lot 2 departed. 


This afternoon I laid down to ice my leg and fell asleep. When I woke up, I had new neighbors and a tent on my lot! 

I was a tad annoyed. But I decided I am just going to BE HAPPY.  Live and let live. This is not the first time I've seen folks do this, just lay out their camp all over the place.  I can only assume they are new at this and  don't understand.  I am just going to roll my eyes.

Now I have new entertainment. The folks across the street have arrived. They rented a 20 foot spot for a 30 foot fifth wheel trailer. The road is lined with a lot of trees as are the lots. The guy keeps trying to back into the lot, but he keeps hitting the trees on my side of the road.  He is now on his 9th attempt and 8th near death experience with a tree.

I think they are new at this too. His wife is trying to give him directions that consist of "Stop!  You are hitting another tree!  Go forward!  Go backwards! Stop!  You are hitting another tree! Go forward!  Go backwards! Stop!  You are hitting another tree! "

So why am I not helping them?  I just don't feel qualified. Besides, I don't want to interfere with their marriage.  So I watch the entertainment with my leg propped up.

Of course by the time they get this rig parked, their marriage might be wrecked worse than the truck and trees.

Backing up fifth wheels is like backing up an 18 wheeler. You turn one way and the rig goes a different way. However, another fifth wheel owner came walking down the street and stopped to help the guy. It took another 14 trips back and forth, up and down, dodging trees with a half inch to spare, to get that fifth wheel parked at an angle so it fits on his lot and is off the road. A few times he came within inches of my rig, as they had to drive all over my lot several times due to the tree avoidance. I gathered up the dog, so he wouldn't get flattened out.

Frankly, I could use a new paint job, so I was kind of hoping he would bash into my wheel estate.  I haven't even cleaned the dead bugs off the front yet.  That would save me a whole lot of work.  But the new guy was really helping him out, he didn't hit anything else, once the new guy started giving him directions, but it did take a few dozen maneuvers to get that rig in place.

Me bad.

Speaking of trees... I hit one while backing into my lot.  I am so mad at myself!  I put a huge dent in my cargo carrier.  I was going oh so slow at a creepy crawl. I had trees in sight in my rear view mirrors.

But there was another tree.

The one that moved.

I swear it wasn't there when I walked around my lot before backing my rig in.

As soon as I detected a problem, I stopped and got out to run check. The damage was done.  No, I do not have a backup camera. I am going to roll my eyes on that one too. I get asked that a lot. Usually I can back in pretty neatly without mashing up a thing.

But this time the tree won!  I lost!

Me very bad.



I haven't even finished fixing the electrical nightmares. Now I added insult to injury. Good grief.

Oh and why am I icing my leg?  Well usually I love this campground so much that I leave my heart here. This time though I have left my skin here.  Yep. You heard right.

While walking the puppy dog to the dumpsters to deposit my daily garbage, we were neatly on the sidewalk. The only sidewalk in the entire campground is on the road from the office to the dumpsters.  To beautify the park they have removed all the garbage containers from within the park and set up a central dumpster area outside of the park. So we get in some healthy exercise going there every day.

I like to carry out my garbage every day because then it is only a tiny grocery bag size.  Matter of fact my motorhome garbage cans are exactly grocery bag size too. If I carry it out every day, then it's a breeze to hold the garbage and the dog leash while walking there. If I dare to let the garbage pile up, I will be oh so sorry.

I see other people struggling with these huge bags of garbage, the 55 gallon size, dragging it down the road. Not me. Not my style. My motorhome is tiny!  I don't know WHERE they store that kind of garbage inside their motorhome, but I like my daily system just fine. Whether I have a little or a lot, out it goes every day.

When my friend was traveling with me, he thought at first I was a fruitcake to haul these tiny bags away at least once every day. Some days it's just a half bag, other days it's a big stuffed grocery bag sized, sometimes two. But last time he traveled with me, he dutifully bagged up the garbage daily and carried it out for me. Of course a certain puppy dog had to show him the way each time.

Harley dog has gotten to where he often poops at the dumpster area. This is rather handy all around. I walk with dog poop baggies in a tiny case attached to his leash. He poops, I scoop. I praise him lavishly when he poops at the dumpster, then I clean it up and deposit it in the trash. Whew. Good little doggy!

Thanks to the grocery stores, I always have an endless supply of garbage bags because I use the grocery bags. I saved a few of  my old square Kleenex boxes, then stuff the garbage bags inside of them (once the Kleenex is used up). One square Kleenex box can hold an amazing amount of grocery bags.

I am trying to train the silly dog that he needs to walk on the sidewalk when there is one, and not wander into the road. I slipped on a hard nut, and BANG!  I went down so fast on the concrete sidewalk that I was thoroughly confused about how I got there.

I flailed around to grab Harley's leash before he ran off. I heard a yelp out of him as I think I kicked him on my way down. There was blood everywhere. My knee is just a wreck.

People that were driving to the dumpsters stopped.  More people behind me on the sidewalk rushed up. A small traffic jam ensued as everyone gawked at the blood.  I didn't want to get up right away despite numerous offers, I kept saying "Let me rest a moment, to make sure nothing is broken."

The pain was just excruciating. I was busy with my mind-over-matter technique willing any broken bones to heal immediately. Finally I allowed the willing helping hands to pull me to my feet again.

I clung to a nearby tree saying "I just want to rest a moment."  I was offered a ride back to my camp in the back of a pickup truck, but I declined, since I wasn't too terribly far away. Besides, I didn't think I could hop into the back of the pickup truck with my injuries.

Finally some people helped me cross the street to a shortcut back to my camp.

Hunting Island State Park and Lighthouse in South Caroolina by Dear miss mermaid copyright by http://dearmissmermaid.com
I took this picture a few moments before I left my DNA all over the sidewalk.
When I walked here today, I noticed the blood had been washed away and the walkway swept. 
Ironically, I had donated half my First Aid kit to a mother and children who had forgotten theirs and needed some first aid attention for their little girl. I had even given away my bottle of hydrogen peroxide.

So I tore through my cabinet and found some Witch Hazel to clean up my wounds. Even though I had given away a tube of antibiotic cream, through a miracle, I found another tube.  I still had the shark bite bandages, so I was able to dress my knee. But the bandages won't stay on unless I stay perfectly still.

I have an Ace bandage left over from a previous injury. I was able to find that, then wrap it around the knee and bandages. But I couldn't find the clips to it. What I did find to use in place of bandage clips, warmed my heart.

For some reason, my mother had saved these two safety pins that she used when I was a baby to pin my cloth diapers. One day she gave them to me with a tear in her eye. They have been with me ever since. They have little pink bunny rabbits on them covering the part where the pin hooks in. I guess this is so the baby doesn't flail around and poke herself with the sharp part of the safety pin.

So now I have two big diaper pins holding my Ace bandage on.

With pink bunny rabbits.

Poor doggy.  He doesn't understand why we aren't walking near as much now. Prior to this accident, I had gone into training mode. I was trying to build up my stamina, for the next workamping assignment which involves a lot of  labor. So I was treating the doggy to numerous walks. He loves this!

Walking now is super painful. But I am walking him four times a day, then I come back and ice my knee again. Nothing much is getting done, the housework is failing rapidly. The pain is obnoxious and making me a tad grumpy.  In three days I have to pack up my camp and leave. I have the patio mat, umbrella, chairs, table and stuff scattered around outside to pack away. Oh dear me.

I am hoping this heals quickly!  I have to start workamping again soon. I need to be in great shape. Good grief.

But I look oh so cute with these pink bunny wabbits on my boo-boo.

4 comments:

  1. Sorry to hear about your fall. A few weeks ago I fell hard while hiking. My knees and hands were bleeding and I even scraped my nose. With the antibiotic cream and icing your knee you will hopefully heal soon, so that you can move on to your next location.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ouch, ouch, ouch! I hate falling like that. It does hurt & you have to wait for the pain to subside a bit before you can get up!
    I too have had folks set up tents on my campsite too. I think when it happens, like you think, they are probably new & don't know the difference. And I also use grocery store bags for my garbage! I have a trash can that I use inside the rig lined with them. One of those metal ones that you step on a pedal to open the lid. I take my garbage out around every 3 days or so. Works great! It constantly amazes me how we can be fairly green while RVing. So much less waste!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I try to be super green. It is so hard to find garbage cans that fit the grocery bags. I wanted one to fit inside my kitchen cabinet, that held the grocery bags and was as large as the grocery bags. Took me nearly 2 years of measuring and searching to find that. I kept finding small rectangle waste bins but they didn't hold much. Finally the Dollar Tree had flimsy garbage cans that worked perfectly with the garbage bags. So I bought 2 garbage cans, and stuffed one inside the other so it wouldn't be so flimsy. For $2 this is the best garbage can I've ever found. It's as large as the grocery bags and it fist inside my cabinet perfectly, so it can't tip over and it's never in my way.

    I have another one in the bathroom and one under my table which doubles as my office. I move it around to where I need it, so I can move it up front when I am driving and tossing banana peels into it. :)

    ReplyDelete


Life is goof!