I've Been Quiet

I've been quiet lately.  Haven't written much. That doesn't mean things haven't been happening.

The big thing last week was the Wife going to Washington D.C. with her Poetry Out Loud State Champion to compete in the nationals.  Despite the pouring rain they had a good time.  The Wife's student, cheered on by a lot of people in the crowd, didn't make it into the top nine finalists.  She is a freshman and, if she wants, she will have other opportunities to succeed.

It was rainy and drizzly here most of the week as well.  This kept me inside doing chores and watching Netflix.  For those curious, I finished "Freaks and Geeks" and started "Dollhouse".  I'm trying to knock out short TV series before I tackle longer ones ... if I ever tackle the longer ones.

I really haven't done much in preparation for my camping trip next week.  I was going to treat my sleeping bag, sleeping bag liner, and backpack with insect repellent (the same stuff I used for the Camino - Permethrin) but the rainy weather stopped me from doing it - don't want to be spraying that stuff inside the house.  I think I'll get it done this weekend.

I actually blew up my Therm-A-Rest Xlite sleeping pad for the first time this week.  There had been some reports that a reflective coating inside the pad (to reflect body heat and to keep you warm) was interacting with moisture and flaking off in some people's pads.  I was planning to use an air pump to inflate the pad without introducing moisture from my breath but I had difficulty figuring out how to connect the pump to the mouthpiece of the pad.  Some rubber tubing I'd bought for that reason wouldn't stretch enough to get over the pad's mouth piece.  After trying to figure it out I gave up and huffed and puffed and blew it up.  It inflated quite easily and is comfortable.  I just hope my moist breath didn't reduce the life of the pad.  I still haven't figured out what to use as a pillow.

That's about it.  A whirlwind week for the Wife and an underwhelming week for me.  This coming week will probably make me a ball of nerves for no real reason.  An overnight camp, even a first one, isn't really a big deal.  I just need to convince my stomach not to do back flips when I think about it.