August 12: An Apology, Saint Marty the Woodsman, Catching Up

First, let me apologize for not posting yesterday, my loyal disciples.  I spent the day out in the middle of the woods with my family, trying to avoid using an outhouse (I didn't succeed).

On Day Four of my vacation, I promised my wife I'd take her and our children out to her family's camp on a local lake.  The camp happens to have no electricity, no running water, no flush toilet, and no telephone in case you fall prey to some wild animal.  But, a promise is a promise.

Needless to say, I lived through the experience.  I put on my best woodsman face, built sauna fires, grilled hot dogs on the barbecue, and almost lasted the entire day before my bowels got the best of me.  However, I even survived that experience.  My daughter and her friend had a great time, even though they discovered leeches near the swimming dock.  Even that didn't deter them from spending almost the entire day in the water.  They caught frogs, paddled around in a boat, and ran in and out of the sauna.

The scariest place on earth

When I got back home around 6 p.m., I found out my mother had fallen in the bathtub and hit her head.  She was in the emergency room.  Thank God it wasn't serious.  She came home with a huge goose egg on the side of her noggin and doctor's orders to be woken up every two hours.  By this morning, my mother was a little cranky, but still alive.

So, my reasons for not posting yesterday:  there was no WiFi in the woods and my mother had a closed-head injury.

In both cases, Saint Marty (and Saint Marty's mother--who really is a saint) survived.