Reprieve!

This weekend I got to escape the House O' Scorpion and head to my parents' lake house with two of my really good friends. I will admit, before leaving, I washed all of my bedding and then remade my bed- except for my pillowcases. I folded those neatly and sealed them in Ziplock bags. You know, so that nothing could move into them over the weekend while I was gone.

Brief aside, I am SERIOUSLY considering buying something like this to hang from my ceiling. When did my bedroom turn into the rainforest??

Anyway, the lake was lovely. What I did not anticipate, however, was bringing this with me:

Making himself at home.

Due to our scorpion problem, our landlords had the exterminator out Friday, right at the time I was supposed to head to the lake. As I didn't want Ramses in the house with the chemicals, he got to come with me. Have cat, will travel.

The dogs came too, of course. They seem to enjoy being at the lake house- there are lots of deer to bark/spook at, after all- and I'm sure they appreciated their mom not being a nervous wreck for a couple of days.

"Ready? And, turn!"

They did not like, however, the sound of the water lapping at walls of the dock. While the rich people with houses right on the water looked on from their lawn chairs, I took my two scaredy-cats down to water-level to see how they would react. The Corgi, after running away from each wave that came in, tentatively strode out about ankle-deep (aka not at all deep) and decided she might like the lake after all. The water dog? Couldn't even get near the waves. He stood back and stared at the spectators with a look that clearly said, "If you come and save me now, I'll be your dog forever."

Fortunately for him, we didn't stay too long, so he didn't have to rehome himself.

As my parent's lake house is in a small, East Texas town, there really was not much to do- which was great. We sampled the local cuisine by going to 2 of their 5 or so restaurants- Bubba's Too and Smokin' Gun BBQ- and found the best and worst of small town eats. We went to Bubba's on Friday night, and we got there about an hour before they closed. They had run out of fettucini alfredo, and, when I asked about the salad bar that came with two of our meals, had apparently already shut down the salad bar. No exchanges were offered; no quick salads from the kitchen either. They then brought out our food, which was very good- however, the chicken fried steak I had ordered turned out to be chicken fried chicken on the plate. I figured that after the salad bar incident there was no way I would be getting the steak- at least, not without some form of spit on it- so I happily ate the chicken. The waitress was... interesting (we dubbed her Werepanther Chrystel after the True Blood character that shared her likeness). At one point she asked us if we were on something. I guess the good folks of that town aren't used to the crazed giddyness that comes with the start of each weekend?

Smokin' Gun BBQ was excellent- so much so that we went back a second time (and were recognized for doing so). The chopped beef sandwich was great, but the chopped beef baked potato was even better- and huge. One of my friends got a slice of strawberry cake that was literally the size of Texas. We joked that, in the event of us all quitting work and staying at the lake house for a while, we'd probably have enough cake to live off of for a week or so.

All in all it was a lovely weekend. And it was definitely nice to sleep in a bed without worrying (much) about scorpions becoming entangled in my clothing while I slept, awakening me only by stinging me repeatedly (my new fear).

Today it's back to the grindstone- and on maybe 3 hours of sleep. I did finally attempt to sleep in my bed again for the first time since Tuesday, but I woke up every 30 minutes or so- sometimes gradually, sometimes by immediately sitting up in bed and brushing at myself frantically. I'm seriously considering going to bed as soon as I get home from work and sleeping until about 9- when it's dark and scorpion activity increases- and then, I don't know. Taking up late night tv watching for the rest of the night. As I am unable to ride right now due to doctor's orders, it could work out for a little while. Maybe until the first cold snap- in 4 months or so.

Yeesh.