Heeeee's Baaaacckkkkk!!!!!

Do you ever feel like the universe is trying to tell you something? Well, sometimes I feel like the universe is screaming in my face...like a nasty coach with bad breath spitting whilst shouting, kind of yelling. Then I realize if I truly believed that I'd most likely never get out of bed! In fact, I'd be under blankets right now, sucking my thumb watching reruns of Designing Women and trying to figure out how they made the motorhome fly in "Escape from Witch Mountain." I digress. In short, it's been a long month (plus) since my last entry; Irene not only blew through our neighborhood, she huffed, puffed and blew it DOWN, including a lovely tree on our property which, in turn, slammed into Louis' drivers side. Upon seeing that, I felt like I'd shown up to run a marathon, looked down and realized I wasn't wearing any shoes. What's the point? After tireless hours and effort to make Louis road and camp-worthy, I felt totally defeated. So, I took a little break. During that time we also moved (only a few miles away, but a move is a move nonetheless), the rain seems like it hasn't stopped since Noah arrived in his ark, and when I finally worked up the nerve to head back into Louis to attack the project of putting him back together again, something else had attacked him. Perched in a lovely part of our new property (photographed above last week), mice had moved into Louis and taken over every part of his 84 square feet (minus the Scotty Potty, however!). Now, I don't mean to be gross, but it looked like these little rodents had just spent a month on the Mexican Riviera eating nothing but pinto beans while sipping margaritas. They made messes everywhere, including on top of my curtains, inside the stove, ONTOP of dryer sheets I'd left on the mattress. To say it was a mess would be like saying Kim Kardashian and Paris Hilton are model citizens...it was a DISASTER. So, I did what any west coast city-raised boy would do. I slammed the door, went inside and made myself a martini. Last week, excited for the forthcoming Turkey campout in Salisbury, Massachusetts where Louis will meet his first Scotty buddies, I kicked into high gear to get him ready. First things first: the mingos had to come out to play, too! Like anything, I had to look beyond the overwhelming piles of mess and take it one square foot at a time. I've washed the curtains, bleached every surface and, most importantly I was able to zero in on the points of entry: over the wheel wells. While I didn't have any food in Louis, I did leave paper product which, unbeknown to me, is a huge no-no as mice love to build nests with anything and everything paper. Lesson learned. Stay tuned this week while I show you close-up shots of Louis' damage from Irene and prepare for our big trip on Friday. My Grandpa Louis never gave up, so neither will I!