Another Short Story

Don't forget to check out Black Coffee Fiction at http://blackcoffeefiction.blogspot.com

Wade Peterson has just posted his short story, "Rufio", one of my favorites.

Warm Bed on a Cold Night

Yesterday Gary set to work to winterize the camper.  We have a hard sided camper with pop-out ends that serve as bedrooms.  These are great places to sleep in the summer when the windows provide air flow from three sides. In cold weather they aren't as nice.  Condensation on the top can drop down on the sleeper. A strong wind blows through the sides and up from the bottom.

Though it wasn't that cold the night before, the strong gusts caused a wind chill.  Our quilts kept us warm enough but not warm enough for the freezing temperatures that were to come.

Gary's solution was Refectix insulation, meant to wrap around water heaters and ducts. It's two layers of aluminum separated by air space.  He lined the top of each room with the foil then covered them with another layer of protective plastic. Next he lined the walls, covering up the windows.  Finally, he ran a lawyer of insulation under each mattress.

To finish off, Gary provided me with a hot water bottle for my toes. It stayed warm at my feet all night. I slept  solidly, toasty warm.

Next morning, it was not easy getting out of my bed.  It was 37 degrees inside the trailer, 32 degrees out. I clicked on the heater, made us tea and went out to look at the lake one more time before I left for Seymour. I'll be back on Monday, knowing I'll sleep safe and warm, thanks to Gary.

A Dark and Stormy Night

As we expected, we had a gusty night. Gary staked down everything he could and stashed the rest away. We thought we were in good shape when the winds and rain started at 4:00 pm.Gary started the generator. With the howling wind, there was no way it could annoy our next door neighbors. If they heard it, they would have been envious, huddled as they were in their heat-less pop-up camper.

We had chili for supper, then spent the evening with books, puzzles and our computers, drank hot chocolate and ate banana bread. We even watched a little television. It's usually not my idea of camping but on a dark, cold, windy, and rainy night we had none of our usual activities. Hiking, birding, canoeing, swimming and fishing were not options.

The wind grew stronger and stronger. The weather forecasters claimed there were gusts up to 45 miles an hour, but that was higher up. Gary figured it was more like 25 mph where we were. It was still enough to shake the camper and threaten the cook tent. Oddly enough, it didn't hurt our television reception.

At 10, we said goodnight. We were comfortable enough and even warm in our beds but the gusts that roared overhead like freight trains going through. Would the trees crash down? Would the cook tent blow away? Would we blow away?

Every so often the wind died down and we slept, then another wind spasm hit. Are we all right? We asked. We always were.

This morning everything was as it should be. The eagles and ravens are grumbling, of course, and flocks of geese are speeding by, honking as if to say, “Let's get the heck outta here!”

Then we took our garbage to the dumpster and found we weren't the only ones seeking shelter from the storm. 

 Gary found a pine branch, stuck it in, and Mrs. Raccoon hurried out and quickly disappeared. 

Though the leaves are falling on this side of the lake, the trees on the other side are holding on to their colors. With frost forecast for the next two nights, the colors will be at their peak over the next week.

Even with the cold, wind and rain, we are camping. Happy? You bet!

Autumn Camping Logistics

We're back at Laura Lake in the Nicolet National Forest.  Gary will be here until the campground closes on October 12.  I'll be here except for the weekends when I have to return to Seymour to direct the choir at the United Methodist Church on Sundays.  

Autumn camping requires certain logistics we didn't think much about in the summer.  Now we listen to the weather radio morning and evening and plan accordingly.

Yesterday, the weather forecasters predicted cold weather, so I went to bed wearing long underwear, my head covered with a knitted stocking cap I'd picked up at the thrift shop at Wabeno.  Instead of percale cotton sheets we used heavy duty fleece sheets and topped them with a blanket and a quilt, with a second quilt ready if we needed it.  We didn't, but probably will tonight with frost on the way. 

We slept well except for the quiet.  The sandhill cranes and loons have decamped and the chorus of frogs is no longer chirping amorously.  Perfect silence for someone used to the continual noise of a small town is strange.  The total dark of the north woods is also disconcerting.

This morning, our weather radio gave us the news that it would be raining beginning at noon, so after breakfast I headed out for a hike to the bog.  The day crew was now busy, so the quiet was over.  The belted kingfisher chattered his chagrin every time he missed a minnow.  A bevy of mallards floated by the shoreline until they saw me and took flight. 

Two adult eagles were resting on the short until one of their offspring spotted them.  The juvenile screeched the eaglet version of “Mommy, Daddy!” and flew to them but his parents immediately flew off.  It's time Baby started feeding himself.  Humans talk about it being time for their children to leave the nest.  Eagle parents solve the problem by leaving the nest themselves. 

(I see more and more adult humans doing the same by putting their houses up for sale, forcing their freeloading  children to find other places to stay.)

By the time I reached the bog, raindrops were falling on my head, but this was a warm and gentle rain, so I didn't hurry home. I listened to the "gronk, gronk" of the ravens and the soft tapping of the flickers. 

When I got back, Gary was staking down camper and cook tent with extra rope. 

The weather forecast now is for 30 mile and hour winds.  “High profile” vehicles are warned to stay off the road from 3:00 pm on.   I am off to find a library where I can send this post because I don't want to be driving after 1:30 pm.  My car is steady in high winds, I learned that on my trip west this summer, but I don't trust the logging truck, Walmart semi and recreational vehicle drivers who will almost certainly ignore that advice. 

Note:  I made it to Laona and the public library which is part of the high school.  The place is filled with teenagers in weird costumes.  It seems it is homecoming week.  With their help and the help of the librarian, I finally am on line. 

Now to dash home!

Autumn Color

http://www.travelwisconsin.com/fallcolor_report.aspx#/Report

This website is a report of the autumn colors in Wisconsin.  Gary and I watch it anxiously and plan our travels around the state based on it.The site tells us that in Forest County, where we'll be camping the next two weeks, the trees are showing around fifty percent of their fall splendor and by the time we leave will have reached the epitome of beauty.  

Gary is already at Laura Lake and called to report that the colors are started. Expect photos, he says, so I am sure I will have them posted at this blog in the next day or two.

Before I can leave I must store away some pear chips I dehydrated, take three loaves of banana bread out of the oven, and prepare Rascal Cat for the ordeal of not having his people here.  

More Cooking

On Sunday, we couldn't pick apples because of the heavy rain, but after church, Lavern, a choir member, called me over to the back of his truck and showed me boxes of apples and pears.  His wife Chrissy had been making pies and applesauce for days and there was still so much more fruit on the trees.  Would I like some?  The day before, my neighbor Elaine showed me some apples that came from a friend of hers.  Would I like some?

Yes, I would, I said to both and ever since have been dealing with it all by baking and dehydrating.  Today was the same.  I made muffins, sweet bread and tonight I am dehydrating more pears to make pear chips.  Tomorrow morning, it's zucchini bread from my garden stash.

Meanwhile, Chris, Tisha and Evan and I are still planning an apple picking outing, so there will be more cooking in my future.

Tomorrow it's off to the north woods and another campground, this time Laura Lake.  We're meeting friends from Illinois, the Battens.  Today, I stopped at the farmers' market here in Seymour and found a vendor selling maple syrup, which was made from maple sap gathered in the Dunbar area, just a short distance from Laura Lake. I'm taking it back to its home so I can treat the Battens to maple syrup over pancakes, a great early morning treat.

Only two more weeks before the National Forest Service closes its campgrounds.  That means two more weeks until winter to me.Winter is when we can't camp.  Is it any wonder I am squirreling away food in freezer and cupboards?

Looking for Stories

Wade and I met at the Copper Rock North in Appleton this afternoon.  The Copper Rock North is the coffee shop where our critique group has met for several years.  I keep telling the kids that work there that we'll be famous someday so they should get our autographs.  So far there have been no takers.

Wade and I are still tweaking our new short story blog, Black Coffee fiction, and thinking of ways to spread the word. I made up some business cards to pass around and gave some to the workers behind the counter at the Copper Rock.

By now, we've had plenty of readers, some from as far away as New Zealand and Russia. We wish they would leave comments so we would know what they think of our work.

Still, we know we are being read. Tomorrow, I'll design some bookmarks to leave at libraries.  I'll contact libraries all over northeast Wisconsin to see about talking to groups and answer questions on line.

I've done publicity work for years. There will be media kits to prepare and suggested questions for teachers' use. In time, we would like to publish a collection of our best stories.

Today we talked about what we want on the blog.. I have quite a few stories, though most of them require editing.  Some of them are a series of seriously depressing Christmas stories that I eventually want to put into a book. Wade's has been working on novels for the most part, so he has to work harder than I do at getting stories ready for our blog.  We both like the idea of giving ourselves deadlines.  This blog is forcing us to write!

Check us out at http://blackcoffeefiction.blogspot.com and let us know what you think.

Another Packer Day

Chris, Tisha, Evan and I had plans this afternoon, to pick apples at a nearby orchard. Mother Nature made other plans and organized a bath for northeast Wisconsin.  With rain pelting us, we went out to eat, waited for the rain to stop, waited some more, waited some more, and gave up.  Maybe next week. They went home.

This left me with the rest of the afternoon with no place to go and only football on television. This created a problem.

Years ago, my mother noticed that whenever I watch the Packers play football, they lost.  It couldn't be fumbled plays, bad weather or really good opponents.  No, the losses were all my fault.  She sent me out of the house whenever the scores went south.

This was no problem for me, you understand.  I don't like football and watching any sport on television has always seemed silly to me. I happily went off on my own pursuits.  

Then Gary moved in with me and transported Illinoisan though he was, he soon had Packer fever.  When he found out what my mother said decades ago, he, too, decreed that I should stay away from the living room on Packer days.  Again no problem, I could go hiking, swimming or shopping.

But today, with so much rain Noah would have been working on an ark, I was stuck at home. With the Packers playing the Bears and Gary having a bet with Brad in Illinois, there was no other option.  I retreated to my bed for a three hour nap.

It worked.  The Packers won, Gary is happy, and Brad owes us two nights of camp fees at Laura Lake.

Me, I am well rested.