Mid-July

Well, we are now in the middle of July and the common question around town is... are we ever going to get summer?!?! Up here that is pretty much the truth as we only have about a month left for a potential summer, before the colder weather starts in! We have had three weeks of rain - although there have been the odd nice day thrown in to tease us! There have been three different weeks of flooding - I feel bad for the people who have been in the low areas - I can not imagine cleaning up after a flood only to have it flood again less than a week later! We have major roads that have been washed out and worse than that we have BUGS!!

I can't even describe how bad the bugs are this year... they have had so much standing water to multiply in it is ridiculous. A brief foray out to the garden to see how my stunted, water-logged veggies are doing results in a mad-dash back into the house sporting a number of new bites. A few weeks ago it was (I was told) gnats - my daughter had bites all over the back of her neck, behind her ears and on her forehead. These little bugs would leave a trickle of blood behind as they took a chunk out of her, leaving her a complete mess. Now we are inundated with mosquitoes...

We had some visitors last week and we were very limited with the activities we could take them to do, as a result of the rain, high rivers, mud and bugs... however we dragged them around as best we could! When they left here they were certainly looking a little worse for wear and covered with bug bites! It was a lot of fun and we are so glad they made the trek up - although I don't know if they will ever want to come back!!

Another thing we have been having to deal with this summer is vehicles. Hubby's truck self-destructed a few weeks ago, while he was working a 3-4 weeks of straight night-shifts at work. As such we never really had to worry about it because he was working nights, so he used the van when we didn't need it and we used it when he didn't need it. Now that he is back to his normal schedule at work, we are starting to notice the lack of a vehicle. For instance yesterday and today he is at work, with the van, and we are at home without any transportation. We took it as an opportunity to try out the local transit system yesterday.

We have a bus stop three houses down (and around the corner), so we caught a bus there and headed down-town. We wound up at the mall, bought some shoes for the kids and some groceries that we needed, had lunch and then hopped on a bus at the mall back home. We had to get a transfer to get home, but that was easy enough, and all in all - I was impressed! I have always been intimidated by public transit and transfers and what bus goes where... but it was easy and if I didn't know which of the three buses to get on, the drivers were all friendly and helpful. It was clean and bright and not at all yucky - and we got a little giggle at the lady who waited ten minutes for the bus at the mall and got off the bus at Walmart across the street... I don't think I am prepared to give up my vehicle entirely and replace it with buses but it is good to know that in a pinch, or if desired - that option is there.

Well, I have just looked outside and I see the rain has started again... my daughters summer camp starts tomorrow, I think we can forget the sunscreen, maybe a snorkle instead!