The 4th and beyond

Our nation's holiday has passed and the park is starting to settle down at bit. The weekenders have left but South Haven has a new crowd in town. It seems the city fathers have decided that as long as people wanted to have a fireworks display it should be on a day when the weekenders were gone so the locals could find a parking place and enjoy an evening of booms and star bursts. Well surprise surprise. Many of the weekenders are still hanging around and some folks are making the trip into town from miles around. The results is there is still few places to park, the beaches are crowded, the town fathers are still footing the fireworks bill and the locals still have to struggle to see where their tax dollars are being spent. At least all the interlopers are spending a little of their cash and that helps the merchants.



Yesterday, the 4th, was quite a day here with park owners Hal and Mary Cousins putting on a grand pig roast. Hosted by Corky, Micki, Jerry and Bonna, there were no stomachs left unfilled. Well planned with even a motorcade with decorated golf carts all decked out in red, white and blue. The pig was sooooo tasty you had to be careful not to eat too much. Doing so and you'd miss all the homemade salads and of course the homemade desserts. It was definitely one of those two pound days.

Just an update on the Hal's new best friend Oprah.... (that's NOT her above)... I went to the barn yesterday morning and she crawled out from one of the lawn tractors to greet me. She sniffed around me and headed outside apparently thinking I wasn't either food or somethings to play with. There is a big maple tree next to the barn and she scampered up. I thought she'd only go up a few feet up as she looked tentatively back now and again. But up and up she went. Maybe she was expecting me to follow but since a step ladder is about my limit, that wasn't in the cards. So after a few wobbly minutes she was perched some 60 feet over my head. Just a little banded-eyed speck amongst the limbs and leaves.

Since the pig roast was soon to begin, I figured she'd be up there for the day or she'd fall victim to a misstep so I headed to the festivities. After about and hour or so I returned to the tree and spent a few minutes looking for the little critter. Without seeing her amongst the leaves, I began to look around the ground to see if she had made a bad step and maybe didn't make it. After a quick walk around I found nothing and became a little worried. Walking back to the coach, Hal's Grandson Colin went whizzing by me on his electric scooter doing about 20 mph. Perched on his shoulder was Oprah. Nose into the wind with tail whipping in the breeze. Now what stories will this raccoon tell her kits someday?

We've all been wondering if Oprah would be staying in camp this summer but ...apparently not. Grandson Colin has gotten permission to take Oprah home with him in a week or so. So it's been fun Oprah ... write when you can and good luck.

Today was left-overs day as there was enough food left over from the roast to have a nice lunch. So we all returned to the trough for another go at it. Just as good as yesterday but fewer desserts. Oh well... didn't need them anyway.

Tomorrow we're heading back home for a couple of days to take care of some business. It's getting harder to leave the park as summer has begun but the time will go quickly and we'll soon return to 'livin' the dream'.

Phil