Getting Caught in the Rain

Would you choose to go camping even if the weatherman called for rain? Last night E and I started discussing our weekend options and whether or not we want to make amendments to our original plan, which entails a camping trip to Madeline Island, the largest of the Apostle Islands in Lake Superior, just off the shores of Bayfield, WI. However, the weather is supposed to be just so-so, with a good chance of rain. Although staying home would provide us more time to work on the house before the big move next week and surely keep us dry, the prospects of adventure and going away somewhere are beckoning us and far exceed our trepidation of getting caught in the rain. In fact, I don't really mind the rain; some of my best memories involve a sudden downpour, wedding showers, or some sort of inclement weather. Thus, the tail end of our conversation last night involved much memory retrieving and storytelling of some of our favorite getting-caught-in-the-rain moments. If you are anything like me, or maybe even if you aren't, I bet you have at least one great rainy memory. If not in recent days, perhaps back in your childhood when it was easier to let go of this societal fear of rain and enjoy the "basic elements of life" (Karrin Pearson, "The Wildness Within"). Letting down our inhibitions and enjoying nature around us, especially at its rainy core, lets us come alive as we are meant to be and brings out our "wildness within". Besides, a sudden downpour of rain adds adventure to any activity!

That being said, I am going to share with you one of my favorite getting-caught-in-the-rain stories and invite everyone to tell theirs in the comment section. I really love hearing stories so don't be shy!

It was summer, a few years ago, and dad and I headed out on our bikes to conquer the course that included the 'big hill' just out of Lambertville, NJ, landing us a good ways from home. We worked through that hill, but shortly on the other side, while coasting through the rolling hills of Hopewell, were suddenly -- you guessed it -- caught in a heavy downpour. You know you probably shouldn't be biking anymore when you notice an absence of the usual cars streaming along the road. If cars go into hiding until the storm passes, you probably should too. But we kept riding; a communion with one of the basic elements of life typically fought off by umbrellas and windshield wipers. Finally a loan car did drive by, sending a new tide of water our way. And as it sped up the next hill leaving us in its wake to fight the spray, I distinctly remember the words "you're crazy!" rolling back at us. Yes, perhaps so. But we thoroughly enjoyed our ride in the rain.

Here's a photo of dad and me after a ride... although not in the rain this time!

If we don't make it camping this weekend it won't be due to the weather forecast -- rather our moving date creeping up on us. Lots of painting left to do and a big tiling project!

House update

(Above montage includes photos from the first few weeks)

We've been busy working on the house... whew, can't wait for a day off tomorrow. We've crossed a whole slew of projects off our list this weekend, including some painting, screen-door installing, basement window installing, cleaning the dirtiest kitchen ever, and buying a new washer/dryer (so excited for our new energy-efficient front loader!). Well, we've done other stuff too, but those are the biggies I guess. Oh, we finally got our water turned on! YAY! So now we can clean our paint brushes on location and go to the bathroom! On Tuesday we are having a glass block window installed in our bathroom and after that we can begin tiling the walls. Hopefully we finish this project in time, otherwise we'll be showering at LA Fitness (our gym), haha. Enjoy the little recap video below!

Here are some other fun little videos (sorry they are sideways, I don't know how to fix that):

Soldering the shower pipes!

That wasn't really the first time I turned on the water... more like the second. The first time I was really nervous the pipes weren't going to hold and the water came out all sputtering due to the air in the pipes. I was at the house by myself, so good thing I didn't end up with a watery mess!

Cousins

Haiku: Tostled hair and grins Rolling through the 'vacant lot' Happy summer days

Spurred from Jenna's blog post calling for Haiku entries, I decided to take a stab at the short Japanese poem. Above is a photo I took in Rapid City, South Dakota of three of my cousins as they enjoyed a good 10-minute laugh-a-thon in my grandparent's yard.

To view more photos from this impromptu photo shoot, check out my shutterfly site.

We're Homeowners!

Yes, we bought a house! We are really excited to be living in south Minneapolis, just a few blocks south of the Minnehaha Creek (which runs east/west through the city, partially accompanied by a bike trail, ending at the Falls), a short bike ride away from Lake Harriet, on a nice residential street, but still close to the Southdale Mall area and Highway 62! We closed on the house on July 1st and only had time that day to do a little cleaning and some electrical work -- but we did manage to lock ourselves out!! Haha, yes we did. Thankfully our house proved to be quite break-in friendly - exactly what you want in a house, right?; the basement windows are already hanging from their hinges in such a way that they have landed themselves near the top of our fix-it list. Today was our first day of really working on the house. We are grateful for all the help from both the Piersons and another Pearson -- my dad! Instead of explaining the events of the day here, I'll let these guys fill ya in:

As mentioned in the video, we did find ourselves stranded at the house. Here's how it happened: Evan drove up to the house early this morning in our Focus. My dad and I came up later in his rental car. The Piersons drove up in their truck from Lake City. Later that afternoon we let Riley and Mary take our Focus so Riley could get to work (1.5 hours away in Lake City), forgetting I had come with my dad, who also left in the afternoon for his destination of Sioux Falls, SD (4 hours away). After finishing up on installing the front door, Denny took off for Lake City in his truck. It wasn't until some time later that we looked outside and realized there were no cars left!!! Hahhaa. So, in the past 3 days we have managed to get ourselves both lock out of and stranded at our new house. I hope this is some form of good luck! In case you were worried, we did manage to get home to our apartment in Apple Valley thanks to Tessa (E's other sister) who is now living in St. Paul. We are planning on fixing up the house a bit throughout July as we have our apartment until August 1. This will provide for a nice, easy move -- or so we hope!

Tomorrow is the 4th of July so we plan on taking it a bit easy. Although Evan still seems to have plans of installing basement windows? ... oh boy.