Life's been fun lately.

It's already the middle of summer and I haven't sat by the fish pond once. Why? The fish are still in the basement. Oh well, but to compensate we have been camping. I tried to get the pics for the blog but my puter's having issues.

Last year we bought the tent trailer. This year we bought a camping two burner range. The little oven works like a charm. It has to be regulated like an old wood stove with venting to keep the temp even and I discovered that cast iron works way better to help with the control. We already had the double sink camp kitchen unit. We also added a little tent biffy that can hold my port-a -pottie (the bladder ain't what it used to be) and our solar water shower, another new addition. (I'm getting to that part of the story). With the outdoor/indoor carpet for under the canopy of the tent trailer, we have a nice little set up. Of course it only takes eight hours to set up. Okay that may be a wee bit of an exaggeration. It does however make for very nice camping.

I made the mistake of mentioning to my parents that we were going camping. The bug bit my father. Big time. He loves to travel and retiring means they can't afford to travel the way they used to. My mother is nervous of traveling because of her health. A truck and trailer solved the problem. So along I went to help them spend my sister's part of our inheritance. (She doesn't read this so she won't know until much much later.) I was teasing them saying that all we needed was the solar water shower and we would be a self-contained unit...

Hubby bought the solar shower. And we are now a self-contained camping unit if we need to be. But the joke is more or less on me. You see, the water from the solar shower was steaming hot after sitting in the sun for three hours. And when I saw the steaming hot water I was forced to admit that the road to solar hell was not such a bad idea. Now Hubby, on the other hand is rethinking the way he is doing the solar water heater for the house.

Even though the joke was on me, I got the last laugh. Sitting in our backyard are ten deep cell batteries that belong to my father. He has decided he wants to put his garage on solar power. Hubby is helping my dad and its kinda cool to see. There has been such a rift for so long that I was never sure it was going to heal. The Road to Solar Hell seems to have bridged the gap a little.

Of course, I'm still giggling at my mother. She hasn't a clue of what is going to hit her. But I very warmly welcomed her to the Road to Solar Hell and did explain that there is no turn off or pee breaks. I thought I would leave the wind tunnel and magnetic fields as a surprise stop along the road. Why spoil all the fun at once.

I will say this, all because of a little five gallon black bladder with a spout, I am happily on the Road to Solar Hell...but I still retain the right to bitch and complain about the lack of turn offs and pee breaks. (Its written in the fine print of our marriage that I can retain all bitching and complaining rights. His right is to give the cause of said bitching rights)

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On a completely different note, I have been at war with the ants and losing. I've tried all the home/green/eco/organic ways to get rid of the little invaders. After losing two strawberry plants I got angry. I couldn't even enjoy my garden they had taken over so much.

I got mad and started pouring boiling water all over the nest then called Hubby, I needed reinforcement and I needed the big guns. He brought home ant killer...two kinds...

I entered my garden like a lone soldier on a mission to save his home turf. I sprayed, they tried to run but I was faster. I won the battle.

Now to win the war.