The AUDACITY of that woman

Well, Folks, it’s the beginning of a holiday weekend. And what are your plans? Do they include driving somewhere? I bet there’re a lot of plans that have been squashed due to the gas prices. So sad.

We have a friend who drives truck and hauls fuel from refineries in various locations in the upper Midwest to gas stations in our local area. He’s very interesting to visit with right now as he’s done this for 40 years and has some interesting insight into all this stuff. I visited with him yesterday when he was on the road and his speculation at this point is that within two weeks gas will be over $4 a gallon in our area and diesel will be over $5.

So Ole decided to fire up the RV yesterday and take it into town to fill that 160-gallon tank so we could begin the process of going bankrupt. I was out in the Back 40 (for you non-Midwesterners – that means in the farthest piece of the property) when I heard this loud air horn go off several times. Then a couple of minutes later it went off again so I toddled my riding lawnmower up to the house to see what all the racket was about. Ole was sitting behind the driver’s seat in the RV with one dog sitting on his lap looking out the window and the other with front paws on the dash looking out the window. He rolled down the window and said, “Hey Gorgeous (I love that Ole), wanna go for a ride?” So I got off my mower, brushed myself off and hopped into the passenger’s seat. It felt SO good.

$733 later we were on the road back home, and when we reached our driveway Ole said, “Shall I just keep on going?” I was very tempted to say yes, but being the responsible person that I am I decided I had to put my lawnmower away first. So we went home instead (sniff).

We cancelled our trip earlier this spring to the Great Smokies in North Carolina, and have decided to take a couple of shorter trips over the summer before we go for the big one and head west to Sturgis in August. At this point we’re planning to go the first weekend in June to a place about 100 miles from here called Fort Sisseton in South Dakota. They have a black powder event that weekend and re-enactment of the military days of the late 1800s when the Fort was active. Ole is quite interested in black powder shooting and has several pistols, so I’m sure he’ll enjoy it. We’ve been there before, but only for a day. So it will be fun to spend the entire 5 days there.

Part of our activities this weekend include having a potluck and a bonfire in the backyard on Sunday evening. We’re furnishing all the meat for the grille, and I’ve asked everyone to bring a dish to pass and whatever alcohol they want to drink. I’ve got a fridge full of soda. I sent the invitation out several days ago to the usual group of folks – about 18 if they all come. The email hadn’t been out 5 minutes when I heard back from Alice (of Ted and Alice). Alice is the one that worships the ground that Jane walks on and tries so hard to emulate her. Alice’s response was that they would probably be there, but they both have colds so she’ll have to see how they feel. This is Alice’s standard response whenever I invite her to anything. What’s reality is that she has to wait to find out what Jane is doing before she truly makes up her mind. She always has to leave herself an out. Oh well, at least I made the attempt.

Then yesterday I heard from Jane. When I sent the invitation out I sent it BCC specifically so Jane couldn’t see who I invited (tweak, tweak)! Jane’s response was that yeah, they would probably be there (see a parallel here?) and she told me what she would probably bring. Her next question was, “Who did you invite? You did invite Donnie, Bernie & Beth, didn’t you? And can my kids come?” Her kids are 24 and married with a child, and 26. Yeah, I guess they can come if they don’t have anything more fun to do than hang around with “old fogies.” And as for Donnie, Bernie and Beth, they are Jane’s paparazzi. Yes, they are nice folks, but they are JANE’s friends, not Ole’s and mine. But you see, that’s Jane’s way of ensuring that she has a circle around her that adores her, because nobody else in this group does. As I said, they’re nice people on their own, but when they get together with Jane I can’t stand any of them.

The audacity (neener) of being invited to something and then wanting your friends invited too. But this is very typical of Jane – she’s done this to me many times. I think I’ll just not respond to that email.

Later – Guys

Happy Friday!!

Love Lena