Hi, James!  This is a retitled continuation of a previous message to you:   
      
   AH>  It's a long story, but I am beginning to see the   
   AH>  humour in it....  :-)   
      
   JB>  Well, that's the first dose of medicine.   
      
      
             Agreed....  :-)   
      
      
      
   JB>     
      
      
             Not to worry!  IIRC I've already expressed my opinion that a singing   
   Mommy is a happy Mommy.  As a former band teacher, I can belt out a tenor part   
   so the guys in the back row can hear me.  Tone quality is another issue.  :-))   
      
      
      
   JB>  Did this summer find you too digging in the dirt?   
      
      
             I learned some time ago, when I had chronic lower back pain, to pace   
   myself while digging.  Eventually my back got better.  Then Nora came along...   
   meaning I had less opportunity to work solo in the garden.  Nowadays I'm still   
   using kitchen scraps & whatnot to make compost.  Much of the gardening I do is   
   on a smaller scale, though, and is more indicative of her preferences....  :-)   
      
      
             What happened in this case relates to a camping/kayaking trip.   
      
    1)  A fair amount of stuff needed to be organized beforehand:  kayaking gear,   
   firewood, groceries, spare clothing, etc.  I started well in advance because I   
   didn't want Bum Shoulder #1 to fail me while we were kayaking & because we had   
   some extra packing to do this time.  We'd heard there was to be a bicycle race   
   involving the same stretch of road we'd have to use to get to kayaking camp...   
   so we left a day earlier than usual & stayed in a public campground overnight.   
      
    2)  I made it safely through the first afternoon of kayaking.  Once we arrive   
   at the camp there is no shortage of young, energetic, able-bodied SP's willing   
   to help carry stuff down to the lake & back.  But there are still a few things   
   we prefer to do for ourselves... one of which is climbing onto the roof of the   
   RV & stowing things in a box added by the previous owner.  While Dallas was up   
   there I heard an ominous cracking sound.  I wasn't particularly worried at the   
   time, but the significance of this little detail became apparent the next day.   
      
    3)  A light rain began just as we were packing up.  By the time we'd returned   
   to camp, a few miles down the road, the rain was torrential.  But once again I   
   wasn't particularly worried.  This *is* the Wet Coast, after all... and I have   
   been in the same area on other occasions when a downpour didn't last more than   
   ten minutes.  We ate dinner, sat around the campfire, and went to bed.  But as   
   Robbie Burns observed... the best laid schemes o' mice an' men gang aft agley.   
      
    4)  It rained heavily from 4:00 PM until 8:00 AM, when we had to get up if we   
   wanted somebody else to cook breakfast for us.  Nora was soaked.  Her bunk was   
   soaked.  The upper bunk (where we keep extra blankets & whatnot) was soaked...   
   and I've heard from people who should know that in this climate anything which   
   absorbs water & has not seriously started to dry within forty-eight hours will   
   probably be a writeoff!  I believe them because we lost a canvas tent that way   
   years ago.  The rain was still quite torrential after breakfast... so we drove   
   home, threw a tarp over the roof, and hauled everything out of the bunks ASAP.   
      
    5)  As far as the RV is concerned "all's well that ends well".  We managed to   
   salvage everything, except for the toilet paper!  Apparently it absorbed a lot   
   of the water which landed in the upper bunk.  And the roof repair was actually   
   quite straightforward because we realized what was going on before any serious   
   structural damage had occurred.  While Dallas was standing next to the storage   
   box on the roof, one of the screws by which it was attached to the roof let go   
   ... leaving a hole which wasn't too hard to find.  That was the sound I heard.   
      
    6)  As far as I'm concerned... I had to put all this stuff back where it came   
   from, and while the bunks were empty I thought I should remove the mildew from   
   around the window sashes.  This *is* the Wet Coast & Nora had recently noticed   
   a musty smell in her bunk.  I had already cleaned what I could reach while the   
   bunks were in use, but there's more working space in the absence of mattresses   
   & we didn't want the mildew to spread any further.  Then, as we were preparing   
   for the next trip, Bum Shoulder #2 began to object vociferously.  It no longer   
   felt better within a couple of days after I'd exceeded my limit... [wry grin].   
      
      
             I still have to be careful about what I do & how I do it, but as you   
   may have already guessed I can type a lot more comfortably now....  ;-)   
      
      
      
      
   --- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+   
    * Origin: Wits' End, Vancouver CANADA (1:153/716)