Blogged Down

AND THEY'RE OFF: Today, CJ, Annabelle and Christian took off for what has become their annual camping trip - and my annual 3-day stretch to devote to a project.

We spent hours getting them ready earlier this week, last night and this morning. We gathered groceries, clothes, gear and a tent, of course. CJ and Annabelle helped Christian check out their temporary shelter here in our yard to make sure it was all in order.So far, I can only think of a couple of things they forgot, but nothing they can't live without, so that's good.

They took plenty of reading material with them.

And Christian reports he taught them how to encourage truckers to blow their horns, so that provided amusement along the way, too.

They are camping at Baker Bay Campground on Dorena Lake, which is just east of Cottage Grove, Oregon.

It took them around seven hours (ugh) to drive there. Christian called tonight to report their safe arrival and to tell me "CJ is having 10 times more fun than he had last year." That's good to hear.

MEANWHILE, BACK AT MPA: Last year when they left, I spent three days and nights down in the basement, cleaning it out. This year's special project is less physically taxing, but it is tedious. I'm archiving this blog into a PDF format. It's a rather painstakingly slow process in order to make it look acceptable (to me).

And so, I am reliving our past couple of years one day at a time. I have finally gotten the first year done. I have a whole additional year to go. As you might imagine, all the while I am cursing myself for not archiving it as I went along instead of trying to play catch up. :/

Ironically, I almost forgot to post a blog tonight because I'm so swamped in the archiving project. ...