In the last 26 days, I’ve experienced weather extremes that may be the “new normal.” Camp-hosting at Frontenac was a way to catch up, to make up for all the trips I’ve planned, paid for, and then had to cancel last year after Alan was diagnosed with Acute Promyelocitic Leukemia (APL), that was May 19, and things changed drastically. Five weeks of hospitalization, followed by 8 months of daily treatment, which is OVER and some time for his immune system to recover, and here we are.

Moving in, there were fresh burns so little growth, and leaves were not out yet, and what a difference 26 days makes:

Camp-hosting has its moments. Some folks need help getting registered; another directions to the metro for family gathering; one woman wanted to complain in technicolor about the mosquitos that she’d never experienced here in 20 years of coming to the park; wonderful food smells; odd things found in fire pits; and neighbor barfing up a distillery (eeeeeuw, good grief, how junior high!); and lots of great dogs to meet, most every campsite has a dog.

Two days into May, the huge storm pictured above came in, and the screen tent, which as guyed down well, went flying into the car when the poles broke and it took off sailing, and of course at 3 a.m. taking it all apart in the fierce wind and getting everything that had been stored inside gathered and covered up. What fun… ahem…

After that, put up a tarp over the picnic table and got the storage “sherpa” with shower curtain raincoat. Whatever works.

The Wawona 6 tent was fine, though the vestibule flooded because there is no floor. OK, fine, dug ditches.

The next rain, the ditches overflowed, wet again, so dug the ditches deeper and longer with little ponds but that wasn’t enough for the next rain, 4″ or so, EXTREME wind and a tornado warning in Red Wing. The tarp, which was seriously anchored, went down… sigh… but neatly, so it could sit like that for a while.

It’s been almost impossible to get any work done. For the first two weeks, the hotspot just wasn’t doing it, access was rare and oh-so-slow, which is really unusual. Forget webex and zoom, it was agonizing. But suddenly it’s working consistently.

Meanwhile, when all this is happening, poor Sadie is freaking — drooling, shaking, so she’s been on a diet of gummies to calm her down, at times, going back to Red Wing with Alan who’s working there.

Yesterday was beautiful, and a couple days without rain everything dried out. And today, only a sprinkle of rain so far, and the wind disappeared! The tarp is back up and I can cook again! That’s the big part of camping for me — thankfully there’s a great breakfast place in Lake City, Heidi’s Huggamug (yeah, that’s the name), and closer is the “Gristle Stop” in Frontenac. But I want to cook!!

Camp-hosting is something we’ve done before, in September, 2019 at Myre-Big Island State Park, and that was in the hybrid.

One horrible storm there, 60+mph winds and we almost lost the awning (weren’t paying attention, and didn’t get it rolled up) and the screen tent went flying then, but was intact. But bottom line, it really makes a difference having hard walls out of the elements if the elements suck, and being able to office at a real table, inside, room for files and to spread out, and enough space inside for dog assistant.

After these 26 days of weather, camp-hosting? YES! Just do it! But… I really can’t recommend camp-hosting in a tent. Packing for a month in a tent is weird, and life in a tent for a month is weirder! The camp-host tasks are no big deal, but with the storms and the changes and workarounds due to weather and too frequent loss of sleep, AAACK, life is a lot more difficult than in a hard-side trailer or even a pop-up.

So on that happy note, there are bathrooms needing attention…

Started out May with this set up, the screen tent for storage — the smaller screens kept much of the rain out — in normal conditions. Night 2, or was it 3, all hell broke loose, with rain, and such strong winds that the guyed down screen tent hung in there until two poles broke and it took off, sailed across the site into the car. That was a 3 a.m., and no fun disassembling in the wind and rain, and then stuffed the tent part under the car to keep it from blowing away. Then the rain started and the vestibule flooded. The good news is I was able to cover up all the stuff that had stored in the screen tent and it stayed right there.

Lessons learned? Got some help to set up the tarp a few days later:

And dug a trench around the upward end of the vestibule to divert water! DOH!

Yesterday, we had the maiden voyage of the Aurora Borealis train between MSP & CHI, of course with an 11:35 a.m. stop in Red Wing — and the Empire Builder was almost 3 hours late, passing through at 11:05. Here’s almost all of our RW City Council Critters:

Headed back afterwards, and with the rain prediction, I made sure everything was under cover or battened down, and yes, it started raining… and raining… and raining. INTENSE rain. It went on and on and on, and it was clear the trenches were not going to keep the vestibule dry! Later, I get word that there’s a tornado warning, WARNING for Red Wing! And still it’s raining and raining… Internet not working enough to get the weather, but really, who needs to know more than “DON’T GO OUT, IT’S AWFUL OUT!” for hours and hours and hours, until after dark, when it finally let up. But lil’ bro sent this:

Vestibule is soaked, but everything up and off the ground, mats, rugs, and plastic covers drying out, recovering.

Today is a new day…

Thanks to Nukewatch for the heads up! As if the Prairie Island dry cask docket isn’t enough, the Draft EIS has been released for the Monticello relicensing/renewal. Here’s the Federal Register notice:

Federal Register Notice – Northern States Power Monticello Draft Environmental Impact Statement

and there’s a meeting on Thursday at the Monticello Community Center.

Comments are due June 10, 2024.

There’s a public meeting for comments on Thursday May 15, starting at 5 p.m. with an hour long info session, and then at 6 p.m. the comment period. Will they have good treats like Xcel usually does?? We shall see.

It’s at the Monticello Community Center, South Mississippi Room, 505 Walnut St., Monticello, MN 55362.

To look at the entire docket thus far, go here: https://adams.nrc.gov/wba/ and then to “Content Search” and search for docket “NRC-2023-0031.” Like this:

And this is what you’ll get:

BE THERE OR BE SQUARE!!

And here’s why:

And from the MPCA:

Drying out the morning after, and then “entertaining,” so got ready for scattered showers (that thankfully didn’t happen). Got the Sherpa off the porch and consolidated everything and all is well:

Last rites for the screen tent, two poles bent/broken. Alan thinks it could be fixed but last time we were camp hosting it also went flying, 60+ mph winds at Myre-Big Island State Park, so I’m think it’s got to be culled from the rotation. It’s handy to cover the table in the sun and somewhat in light rain, but for torrential rainfall and WIND, forget it!

Office for a day… am I getting anything done? Naaaaaaah, computer isn’t able to connect in a meaningful way, so waiting for a sunny day:

But gotta get that table covered, and help arrived — THANKS Suzanne & Bill — and it’s done. Does that tarp make my table look fat??

A good thing about AB Camping (oh NOOO, Bruno died out on a camp!), Lone Wolf 902, Abel & Victoria, and Camping with Steve… oh, don’t forget about Mav, anyway, they’re all about the HOW-TO of putting up tarps. Note the stump accessory on the left!

Gotta be at least 50 birders every morning, and this afternoon, twelve vultures circling and two lunching in the front yard, and then a few getting into a tussle over the main course:

And no matter the weather, somebody loves camping: