Busy Week

There is a lot going on this week, not all of which I can go into publicly at this time. So there! We are trying to clean up the house and get organized, but that is kind of a fool's errand, most of the time. The boys tend to scatter the toys as fast as things get picked up. Sometimes I manage to get them to help pick up. I think we need to institute a rule that they have to pick up their toys daily or we will downsize their toy collection (an idle threat... ) Then again, the boys are 4 and 2 (next Sunday) and one cannot expect them to act like little adults. Still, they are interactive critters and we can work to get them involved in the process (sometimes).

Barring awful weather, it appears we are going to the first night of Moondance Jam, courtesy of Raul and Rosalyn. I told him that I wanted to take pictures close to the stage. Not sure if that will happen, and I have a million other things to do, so part of me says that I really don't have the time for that. If/when we go, Raul's two teens would watch the boys. Raul would spend half his time in VIP and the rest of the time with us and the rest of the commoners. The last four shows include Jethro Tull, Journey, Sheryl Crow, and Kansas. The earlier shows are people I haven't heard. I am not sure how that will play out, largely because the last show goes really late. I think it starts at 11 p.m. You have to ride a shuttle back to Northern Lights to get to your car, so that would probably put us home at 2:00 a.m. or something. Heather really wants to go to see Journey, though, so... who knows? Then again, it might get rained out.

Speaking of that, Tuesday night, it rained like mad. We got 3.18 inches of rain in 90 minutes, and according to my weather station at the house, we got 1.98 inches of rain in one hour. There was a car floating in the water on the service road over by Target, so it did rain like mad. We needed the rain, though, so I am not complaining, and I honestly would like to see more rain after this soaker has had a few days to do its magic and get into the ground, so to speak.

I am installing a VPN upgrade at Northern Lights this morning. Time to get to work.

Connection

Gabriel wandered into our bedroom around 6:30 or quarter to 7 this morning, fully dressed, and crawled into bed with us. He started out laying at my feet, but cats kept getting in the way. He wormed his way up between me and Doug. Doug asks him what he is doing awake and tells him to go back to sleep. Gabriel curls up to me, as I expect him to, in a little ball. He's just like me in that way: falling asleep on his side all curled up. Doug asks him if he is cold and covers him with the blanket I always use because I'm cold because Doug wants a window or 2 open and the fan on medium. Doug lays back down, turning towards us, stretching his arm over Gabriel and putting his hand on my back. I can tell it is not Gabriel from the size of the hand, obviously. These feelings of warmth, calm, love and contentment wash over me. I instantly relax more. It is a simple connection, but that is all it takes.

I can't believe it!!!!

OH MY GOD!!!! I get to Prairie Bay and start dishwashing. About 10 minutes into it, the machine runs out of detergent. No big deal; it happens all the time. I go to the rack over where the mop bucket, broom, gigantic floor squeegee and other things are located. There should be some of this stuff there. There is none to be found. I look every place I can think. I ask the cooks on the front line. They can't think of any place that I haven't already looked. I ask Shane, the current bartender, if there are any management-types around. He tells me that he is the only one. I tell him that there is no dishwasher detergent anywhere, unless he can figure out where it went. One of the cooks tell me to just start washing stuff by hand. I'm starting to panic. The dishes are piling up. I fill the sinks with the commercial handwashing detergent and no-rinse sanitizer. I end up having to switch sinks that stuff is in when I realize that one isn't holding water. I use that one for the water rinse before the sanitizer. I start going nuts on sautee pans. The cooks need them. Time keeps passing and there are so many plates and bowls that I have to start handwashing them, too. I'm feeling like I did in school during a very important test or when attempting to start an essay that was worth many points: muscles extremely tense, my heart racing, inability to sit still to the point that I could to sprint 100 yards and MAYBE calm down. K. T., the only female cook and the only female in the kitchen aside from me, tells me that Black Bear Grill and Saloon may have something. She tells me that she would run to check it out but she doesn't have her license. I go as fast as I can legally get away with down the road to the restaurant. I walk in the front door in my men's size large white commercial uniform shirt and an apron tied around my waist and ask the hostess if I can talk to the kitchen staff. She leads me to the kitchen and say that I'm from Prairie Bay and they mentioned that might have some dishwasher detergent I can use. They show me their machine and I recognize immediately that the dispenser is the wrong one. I politely thank them for trying and head back. I tell K. T. that they didn't have the right stuff. I go back to my own version of hell and look at the glass racks that are filling up, wondering how I am going to manage to handwash those. I'm still washing plates when Jeff, this big tall Lurch-type who is constantly teasing me, comes back and hands me the very important commodity. I tell him, with this huge grin on my face, that I could kiss him. Applebee's was the restaurant where they finally found it. They called just about every place in town before locating it there. I stick the stuff where it belongs and load up racks, sending them through the machine. K. T. comes back and helps me out. I finally make it through the night, leaving a bunch of big stuff for the morning. I get off of work still extremely stressed out. That was one of those moments I never imagined I would have to experience.