Camille (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
felis_lupus) wrote2011-07-11 03:15 pm
felis_lupus) wrote2011-07-11 03:15 pm
GNEW Recap - Pre-event
GNEW was awesome.
Through careful manipulation of my schedule, thanks to July 4 being a Monday this year, I had a solid week off. Had to go into work for an hour or so on Monday, which was not fun, but had to be done... Tuesday Twig and I packed up the HiHy and the trailer, and had a little adventure on the way to the site... Stopped a few places; picked up forgotten things, got to the place to pick up the dry ice 20 minutes after they closed, got photocopies of the scroll, went grocery shopping, and proceeded to trust technology that ought not to be trusted. Apparently there are three Buckfield Roads in the vicinity of the site, and only one of them, of course, is the right one. This is not the one TomTom put us on (well, kinda. It was the right road, but we got sent the wrong way, which resulted in an hour of driving around, trying to figure out where the heck we were...). Eventually made it to site, met Max & Mickel, who had pizza waiting for us, and set up the tent at the height of Mosquito Hour. What fun, what fun. The bugs were extremely happy to have two more bodies to feast on, I think.
Wednesday dawned bright and clear. Had a lazy morning, lazy early afternoon... Took some fun macro photos of the clover and hawkweed and bugs in the lawn... Twig left around noon to head back home so he could meet the guy who was buying Suzi the Motorcycle and send her home to Massachusetts... Max and Mickel and I had a lazy afternoon, we flagged off some space for the royal encampments, wandered around the site a bit, met the McFarland clan, had some cookies. I took a nap while they played bocce, and Mickel woke me up around 5:30 or so, with the news that there was a storm moving in.
I changed into jeans, grabbed the A&S box, tied up the tent, and fled to the safety of the Taj. There was just enough time to get everything lashed down and take a few photos of the incoming DOOM before the wind and rain started. The sky darkened, the clouds moved in, and we hid. The initial part of the storm lasted only an hour or so, but it was a doozy. Apparently the 3 1/2" thick ash center pole of the Taj Pavilion, which Max had always claimed was "overbuilt", flexed in the 60mph winds that blew across the ridge (he has since retracted this claim). The walls and poles and ropes held, though, and we were treated to an exciting time... Mickel and I wanted to see what was going on outside, but didn't dare open the tent. One downside; no windows. The storm cleared, and we were treated to a beautiful sunset. Damage assessment resulted in the Taj being fine, the Autocrat's tent having lost a post or two of their awning, and three stakes snapping on my tent. We replaced them with some spare metal ones... good excuse, now, to finally get those good metal tent stakes that we've been talking about as long as we've had the tent... (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
crazyroman, I'll get you an exact count if you like... If you make 30 like we talked about yesterday, I'll probably just take 'em all... it's good to have spares. Will get you the size we need soon!) Thoughts of starting a fire outside to cook dinner were only briefly entertained, since round 2 of the storm was imminent, and started raining on us. Back into the tent, closed it up, out came the burner and the steak, and we had a lovely dinner and evening. I started building the kits for the embroidery challenge...
Until we noticed we were killing rather more mosquitoes than usual. On further examination, one of the roof panel drapes had flipped up, creating a nice gap, through which mosquitoes were pouring. There were literally clouds of them. They were clinging to the tent walls, buzzing around our heads. Even after the gap was closed, we couldn't keep up with them, and took shelter under the mosquito net. Which also had a gap of some kind, somewhere. The mosquitoes still came in. Slightly less miserable, but not an experience I ever wish to repeat... the buzzing... the buzzing... THEY WERE IN MY BRAIN. I do not have enough words to describe the horror that was the cloud of mosquitoes. Augh! The storm subsided, we fled to the outside, managed to get a fire going, and shortly after retreated to bed. There were no mosquitoes in my tent... Max & Mickel slept in their car... I found more gaps where things had, I think, shifted during the storm, and allowed more mosquito entry points. Clan McFarland came to our rescue with the new Favorite Toy, a tennis-racket shaped, battery powered, bug zapper. Made short work of the population inside the Taj, but it was a little bit noisy for a while...
A&S Tents set up on Thursday morning, quick, easy, painless. We hauled tables, chairs, checked out the barn (there was a wedding at the campsite the previous weekend, and they'd left all the decorations. Mickel and I decided to keep them too. Fairy lights, white poofy tissue paper balls, green and yellow lanterns... It was Prom, 1599, and it was wonderful. :) ), set up gate, tents, taped off certain camping areas now that we had tape... Thursday was just about perfect. Twig came back around 2:00 or so, with the stuff we had forgotten, and the new dutch oven, which finally arrived. Stupid FedEx. It apparently sat in the shipping warehouse in Utah for a WEEK. Twig's job this past weekend was cooking (and making sure I didn't go crazy, apparently, both of which he did well.). Staff arrived, set-up finished, silliness occurred, and ice cream was eaten. We were ready for the event. I think.
Photo set 1, pre-GNEW, is here. Flowers, tents, and DOOM. More of the actual event to follow a bit later, because we still have a trailer to unload, and I apparently have a lot to say while it is still fresh in my mind. It was a full weekend.
Through careful manipulation of my schedule, thanks to July 4 being a Monday this year, I had a solid week off. Had to go into work for an hour or so on Monday, which was not fun, but had to be done... Tuesday Twig and I packed up the HiHy and the trailer, and had a little adventure on the way to the site... Stopped a few places; picked up forgotten things, got to the place to pick up the dry ice 20 minutes after they closed, got photocopies of the scroll, went grocery shopping, and proceeded to trust technology that ought not to be trusted. Apparently there are three Buckfield Roads in the vicinity of the site, and only one of them, of course, is the right one. This is not the one TomTom put us on (well, kinda. It was the right road, but we got sent the wrong way, which resulted in an hour of driving around, trying to figure out where the heck we were...). Eventually made it to site, met Max & Mickel, who had pizza waiting for us, and set up the tent at the height of Mosquito Hour. What fun, what fun. The bugs were extremely happy to have two more bodies to feast on, I think.
Wednesday dawned bright and clear. Had a lazy morning, lazy early afternoon... Took some fun macro photos of the clover and hawkweed and bugs in the lawn... Twig left around noon to head back home so he could meet the guy who was buying Suzi the Motorcycle and send her home to Massachusetts... Max and Mickel and I had a lazy afternoon, we flagged off some space for the royal encampments, wandered around the site a bit, met the McFarland clan, had some cookies. I took a nap while they played bocce, and Mickel woke me up around 5:30 or so, with the news that there was a storm moving in.
I changed into jeans, grabbed the A&S box, tied up the tent, and fled to the safety of the Taj. There was just enough time to get everything lashed down and take a few photos of the incoming DOOM before the wind and rain started. The sky darkened, the clouds moved in, and we hid. The initial part of the storm lasted only an hour or so, but it was a doozy. Apparently the 3 1/2" thick ash center pole of the Taj Pavilion, which Max had always claimed was "overbuilt", flexed in the 60mph winds that blew across the ridge (he has since retracted this claim). The walls and poles and ropes held, though, and we were treated to an exciting time... Mickel and I wanted to see what was going on outside, but didn't dare open the tent. One downside; no windows. The storm cleared, and we were treated to a beautiful sunset. Damage assessment resulted in the Taj being fine, the Autocrat's tent having lost a post or two of their awning, and three stakes snapping on my tent. We replaced them with some spare metal ones... good excuse, now, to finally get those good metal tent stakes that we've been talking about as long as we've had the tent... (
crazyroman, I'll get you an exact count if you like... If you make 30 like we talked about yesterday, I'll probably just take 'em all... it's good to have spares. Will get you the size we need soon!) Thoughts of starting a fire outside to cook dinner were only briefly entertained, since round 2 of the storm was imminent, and started raining on us. Back into the tent, closed it up, out came the burner and the steak, and we had a lovely dinner and evening. I started building the kits for the embroidery challenge...Until we noticed we were killing rather more mosquitoes than usual. On further examination, one of the roof panel drapes had flipped up, creating a nice gap, through which mosquitoes were pouring. There were literally clouds of them. They were clinging to the tent walls, buzzing around our heads. Even after the gap was closed, we couldn't keep up with them, and took shelter under the mosquito net. Which also had a gap of some kind, somewhere. The mosquitoes still came in. Slightly less miserable, but not an experience I ever wish to repeat... the buzzing... the buzzing... THEY WERE IN MY BRAIN. I do not have enough words to describe the horror that was the cloud of mosquitoes. Augh! The storm subsided, we fled to the outside, managed to get a fire going, and shortly after retreated to bed. There were no mosquitoes in my tent... Max & Mickel slept in their car... I found more gaps where things had, I think, shifted during the storm, and allowed more mosquito entry points. Clan McFarland came to our rescue with the new Favorite Toy, a tennis-racket shaped, battery powered, bug zapper. Made short work of the population inside the Taj, but it was a little bit noisy for a while...
A&S Tents set up on Thursday morning, quick, easy, painless. We hauled tables, chairs, checked out the barn (there was a wedding at the campsite the previous weekend, and they'd left all the decorations. Mickel and I decided to keep them too. Fairy lights, white poofy tissue paper balls, green and yellow lanterns... It was Prom, 1599, and it was wonderful. :) ), set up gate, tents, taped off certain camping areas now that we had tape... Thursday was just about perfect. Twig came back around 2:00 or so, with the stuff we had forgotten, and the new dutch oven, which finally arrived. Stupid FedEx. It apparently sat in the shipping warehouse in Utah for a WEEK. Twig's job this past weekend was cooking (and making sure I didn't go crazy, apparently, both of which he did well.). Staff arrived, set-up finished, silliness occurred, and ice cream was eaten. We were ready for the event. I think.
Photo set 1, pre-GNEW, is here. Flowers, tents, and DOOM. More of the actual event to follow a bit later, because we still have a trailer to unload, and I apparently have a lot to say while it is still fresh in my mind. It was a full weekend.