Wednesday at the Lake

I woke up at 6:15 AM, but didn't get out of bed until after 7:00. Why? Because I have the next three days off work for a mini-vacation! Unfortunately, it will be what they now call on the news a "staycation" where, because of fuel costs, you take off work but don't actually go anywhere, just stay home. But, think of all the projects I might get done!!!

But, as you might have guessed, today I am going somewhere: Lake Orion! My oldest daughter, Amy, her husband, Carl IV and my grandson, Carl V are supposed to be stopping there on their long ride back to Minnesota (they attended a wedding in Canada, you see). They are stopping in to see Grandma, so I took the day off to see them.

So, I made a pot of coffee and this time, it's cool enough to sit on the front porch and drink it. Nice. Next, its cinnamon toast and another cup of coffee for breakfast. Then, I shaved, showered and got dressed for the trip. But, before I can leave, I had to water the container gardens (the ones in the chairs are especially droopy).

I packed two jugs of gazpacho and some extra virgin oil in the cooler. I threw a bag of store-bought croutons in the car and headed out at 10:30 AM. First stop was the gas station for some ice. Then I stopped at Westborn Market and bought a nice seedless watermelon and some green grapes. These, too went into the cooler and I pointed the car North towards Lake Orion...

My plan was to get there early, so Mom can have the gazpacho for lunch. Probably nobody else will be there yet, but at least I can get her reaction to the soup firsthand.

Imagine my surprise when I pulled up around 11:30 and there was no place to park! I lugged the considerably heavier cooler (that watermelon must weight a ton!) up the back stairs and put it (as directed) in the back bedroom along with a bunch of other coolers.

So, obviously my Mom and Cora were there. I will try and name everybody else who was there at that point (If I have forgotten anybody, I apologize, but it was a bit overwhelming): my brother Joe and Kathy and their grandkids (Devon, Tahlia and Cloe); my niece Laura and her son Austin; Amy, Carl IV, Carl V and Gizmo, their dog; and Amy's mother Fran and her granddaughter (whose name I was told, but now cannot remember).

Then, during the time I was there, we were also joined by Laura's husband Dave, my nephews Russell and his two kids and John and Brenda and their three kids. Last to arrive (after 3:00 PM) was Uncle Carl, who came from work.

After saying hello to everyone, and chatting with my Mom a bit, I sat with Carl V and he took the time to show me the pictures of the wedding they had just come from. It was a small, simple, but elegant backyard wedding (the best kind, I sometimes think).

Regarding the gazpacho, my Mom, Cora, Laura and my brother Joe all tried it and said they liked it. My brother Carl, however, felt there was too much garlic in it (Geesh! He's so picky, but since he was once a renowned restaurant chef, I did have to take his opinion under consideration!)

It was cool earlier and windy. But it did warm up and most, if not all of the kids eventually went swimming. Once again I was amazed at Carl V's prowess with a fishing line. He caught a bunch of them and not small ones, either!

Conversations in the cottage (and outside on the picnic table, for that matter) covered damn near everything you could think of. Here's some of the highlights:
- Chrysler no longer pays for life insurance for its retirees
- GM is eliminating paying for healthcare for its retirees once they are 65
- A_____ J_____ spent the first 14 hours of her life farting
- Mom's phone may or may not be working
- Mom's hot water heater definitely wasn't working, so Carl came and fixed it yesterday, but he forgot to hit a reset switch; Joe found and tripped the reset switch, but something later caused the safety valve to blow and it sprayed hot water all over the basement. So, we all agreed it may (or may not) be finally working now (at least I had hot water when I did the dishes)
- Fran and Jim's house is only 14 years old but already needs a new roof.
- I was technically correct that, biologically speaking, Carl is the first brother to attain the great-grandfather title, but in the more liberal, extended-family theory, I would be because my daughter Melissa's step-son Dustin had Gavin, first.
- On the other hand, I'll check and see if Gavin did anything like that, but I am guessing A_____'s got him beat with the record for sustained farting!
- Cloe (who's name, BTW, didn't even come up in conjunction with farting) is one of the few babies I can recall who absolutely did NOT want her great Uncle John to hold her. Kid screamed her head off, two times!

So, you get the idea... I packed up and left at about 4:15 PM or so (a little while after Amy and her Carl's left); which, when I got to Lapeer Road, I immediately regretted. The road was a parking lot in both directions!

I should have done one of two things. Either gone back to the cottage and stayed there another two hours or tried taking the back roads I used to know when I worked out here to get to I-75. I did neither... For some reason, I decided to try and take Orion Road to 26 Mile in Rochester, then 26 Mile to the Van Dyke Expressway and Van Dyke to I-696 and homeward bound.

That sorta worked... The southbound traffic on the Van Dyke expressway was heavier than I thought it would be and, it doesn't stay an expressway all the way to I-696. Uh, oh... Then it hit me! I was only four or five miles from my friend B___'s house. And, you know what they say, "Use your friends wisely!"

So, I got off onto M-59 and headed east in unbelievable traffic (I'm not exaggerating here)! And, ever since since I had gotten onto 26 Mile Road, NOTHING looked anything like I remember (restaurants, strip malls, and huge subdivisions everywhere that I only recall farms being). Weird!

But I got there just as he was finishing grilling dinner. "Would I like to stay?" "I don't want to impose (oh, wait a minute, I just did!)" So, I sat down with his family and had a salad (a wedge of iceberg lettuce, and a side of chickpeas, parsley, onions and grape tomatoes - he called it a Mediterranean medley - topped with Blue cheese dressing), a pulled pork sandwich, some barbequed ribs and potato salad! I ate until my shirt buttons almost busted!

Oh, Mom: I did ask him about that saying for bare root roses and here it is: "First year they sleep, second year they creep and third year they leap!"

It was just after 7:00 PM, so I made my goodbyes and headed out (Hey, I did rinse off my plate. I'm not a barbarian!) Going west on I-696, I saw fire trucks and police cars on the east-bound side and then about a five-mile backup of parked cars. Geesh, I was sooo glad I am heading west!

I got home just after 8:00 PM, changed clothes, made a drink and started writing all this down before I forgot it. I also answered a few emails and was surprised to see it was almost 11:00 PM! I went into the bedroom to watch TV, but decided I was too tuckered out to even do that and went straightaway to sleep.