Down Came the Rain...

Hello All... we're back from a weekend camping trip to Lake Anna, about an hour-and-a-half from here, with my brother Grant and his wife Mary Jane, some of their friends, my mom, sister-in-law Michele, and niece Elizabeth. A good time was had by all, though we did have to paddle through a bit of a monsoon on Saturday night. The weather had been just gorgeous but right about dinner time we heard some rolling thunder... that turned into the pitter patter of light raindrops... that turned into the mother of all thunder-boomers. It was really very cool (I never mind rain when I'm camping) EXCEPT for the fact that I hadn't yet sealed the seams on my tent. For those of you who are considering taking up camping as a hobby, do yourself a huge favor and seal the seams on your tent (preferably BEFORE it rains)! And bring a tarp to cover the tent in case the seam-sealer doesn't work. We had a few drips inside, communicated to me (me, who was standing outside) by 3 screaming little girls (for whom I had no sympathy, as they were merely getting sprinkled upon when I (and Mary Jane) might as well have been standing in the shower (a cold shower, too, mind you), fully clothed!). We were tying lines tighter and pulling tarps over and dumping the buckets of water that were pooling on the rain-flap (which is really a laughable term, unless it actually means 'to flap rain into the tent'!). Poor Sundance was all discombobulated and wouldn't leave my side, so he was drenched, too. On the up-side, the toothpaste I dropped on his nose the other day (which has attracted and stuck to all manner of dirt) was finally washed away. However, the tent later smelled like a herd of wet sheep had decided to bunk there for the night. Oh well. We survived. Camping is always an adventure! The rain did eventually stop and Sunday dawned, sunny and hot. I sat in the sun and made my list for our Maine trip... 1) Seam sealer, 2) tarp, 3) Wellies, 4) extra dry underwear...