Busy busy busy

Well it's high summer in Hawkeye now.  I had a busy weekend, following a busy week.

Friday was cocktails at another camp, followed by dessert at ANOTHER camp, then home.  Saturday morning the contractor came for the energy audit.  It was pretty much a disaster.  I have a big condensation problem, especially upstairs.  There's little that can be done other than ripping open the walls and addressing the problem, which would be prohibitively expensive.  He's really wonderful and I liked him very much (but spending 2 hours with him was tiring).  He finally came up with some ideas that will save money on my electric bills, mostly dealing with the cellar hole, improving the insulation down there.  He also thinks buying a new refrigerator is a good idea.  Well, heck, so do I but who's paying for THAT?  Anyway, it was pretty depressing and discouraging but I'll muddle through.  His ultimate conclusion: it's a good THREE SEASON house.  I should rent an apartment in Plattsburgh for the winter, for what I'm paying in electricity.  Yes, Barbie, that's what he said.  No, Barbie, I'm not doing it.  I thought that was pretty funny, though--I've been told by plenty of people that I should move to Plattsburgh.  But I don't want to.

Sat. afternoon I had some dock time, which was wonderful.  The lake was calm and sunny, and there was no boat traffic for an hour or so.  YUM.

Sat. night I went out for dinner with Linda and her guests, which was nice but everyone was sort of tired so it was a pretty subdued group.

Sunday was Sunday dinner at J&M's, featuring their stew (which was grand).  Lots of people coming and going, a nice chance to visit with all.

Sunday night was book group at the boat house.  That went well.  I bought pull-apart chicken (rotisserie) so it was easy to host.  I made a flourless chocolate cake, which is very rich.  Lots of other delicious food.  We're a smaller group now that Martha's gone, and only 3 of the original group showed up--we had 2 summer guests (Linda and Judy) which was very nice.  We'll read A widow of the South next, meeting in early Sept.

This week is a busy one.  Molly & Paolo arrive today, having flown from Vancouver and made an emergency landing in Montreal but being unable to rent a car there, so flying to Boston (their original destination) and now driving north from there to arrive here later in the day.  Whew!  I moved out of the boat house and will stay at home, I think, instead of staying in camp.  I'll cook something for dinner tonight and tomorrow night, I think, and we'll see what's up for Thursday.  They leave on Friday.  Our cousin John (my mother's sister's son--our only cousin on that side of the family) and his 2 sons are planning to visit camp on Thursday.  I'm off tomorrow for dock time with M&P but have to work Thursday.

Saturday is our family gathering.  And there's no water in camp.  Something's wrong with the pump.  I tried to fix it but had no luck.  Prime prime prime.  Won't hold it's prime.

I had dinner with my cousins last week, which ended on a strange note.  One of them got angry because she felt we weren't paying enough attention to her.  Oh, that's ok, she's ONLY 70.  And still having snit fits.  Oh well.

Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny and warm.  Let's hope so.