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The Mosquitos, the Hammock, and Me
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Posted On:7/12/2010 11:49:33 AM |
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It is Friday the 9th of July. We are sitting under the canopy waiting for the rain to stop. We left home yesterday for a two-day road trip. It is fun to get away from the cabin sometimes. We have come to the 165th Tuscarora Nation Picnic and Field Days on the Tuscarora Reservation in Lewiston, NY. We are return visitors to the gathering. Each year we visit with our friends here on the reservation for several days. Today, we are watching as other people are setting up for the festivities; we got here last night so we had a jump on things...in a way.
About last night:
We settled down in the truck camper with the dogs hoping that sleep would come quickly. Usually, I say the serenity prayer over and over until I nod off but an hour later I had to give up the mantra. I slipped out of the truck and sat in my folding chair (with the BIG Maple Leaf) wishing I could unwind enough to rest…lol! Within seconds the mosquitoes found me the target of the moment…putting a halt to my restful hopes. I moved about swatting at them with renewed vigor. I became a moving target as I walked around the grove. I returned to the tent after two laps around the camping area, one trip to the facilities, and a tour of the soon-to-be dining tent none the better for the walkabout.
Resigning myself to my fate I reached for the most popular chemical-free bath oil and slathered it on. I have always hated using this stuff because it leaves me feeling like I have been dipped in olive oil. It would be a long night if I continued to be inundated by the friggin' mosquitos…lol! Being a trooper I did a double check to get in my ears, behind my ears, and between my fingers and toes. It felt abso - friggin' gross!
So, there I was sitting in a cloud of mosquitos wondering how in the world I would ever get to sleep when I eyed the brightly colored horizontal challenge, the hammock. I had seen Linda in it earlier so I had an idea how to get into it…or does one say on it? Well, I lowered myself into the length of heavy-duty fabric brought to us from some faraway shore. No problem. Laying back seemed a little precarious to say the least. I quickly grabbed the sides to keep myself from tumbling out! I lay there on a rather uncomfortable slant being very thankful that no one was there to see my awkward attempt at relaxing. Whew! As part of my quick recovery I now had both feet firmly planted on both sides of the bottom of the thing. Leaning on the secure positioning of both feet I moved my derriere a little more to the left. Still clutching the sides in caution…or was it desperation…I waited to see if the supposed relaxation device would stop shaking. It took a while but things stopped moving and I let out a sigh of relief.
It felt quite comfortable to say the least. It was so peaceful there watching the river reeds swaying in the breeze. No one around and just the sound of some AM radio station playing something called “The Boom-Boom Room”; it was wonderful. I was enjoying the comfort when I tried moving my feet closer together for fear of looking rather risqué. That was a big mistake! Up She Comes!!!!! I rolled the friggin' thing! I found myself laying face down in the dirt but I could not help it…I was laughing out loud like someone nuts. I must have looked a sight! It happened so fast that I had no way to save myself. I picked myself out of the dirt still giggling with tears of laughter in my eyes. It made me think of some Saturday morning cartoon or something that Abbott and Costello would have parlayed through in one of their famous skits. You know, the laugh did me the world of good though…
I must admit that I did try to reposition myself within the comforting suspended surface several more times before the mosquitoes got done with me. The chemical-free bath oil seemed to be least effective than I remembered; I had bites on my bites. I truly wondered if that stuff was not an ambrosia for those little buggers. I took my bruised pride, my bug bites,and climbed back into the truck. My dog had taken over my side of the futon mattress but I got myself settled back into the wish-I-could-get-to-sleep position. Yup, I started saying the serenity prayer being extremely grateful that the flying demons of the grove had not followed me in. God grant me the serenity…
Sign me, I will be so glad to be back in my own bed, M
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