CAMPING AT HORSETHIEF LAKE CAMPGROUND

On Friday, May 21, after Darrell finished work, we went camping at HorseThief Lake campground, we had reserved site #17, which Marlee and I picked out when we were up to the lake fishing. We thought it was the perfect spot, the one closest to the lake, and it turns out we were right!

During tourist season this campground is very busy and our plan was to camp there before the tourists arrived and with the "free" weekend at Custer State Park, we practically had the whole campground to

ourselves! This was our view out the camper window.

                                    

The weather could have been better, it was cool and cloudy, with sunshine ever now and then. It rained Friday and Saturday nights, but we were snug as bugs in our little camper. Darrell did a little fishing with no

luck.

                                   

Maggie and Marlee had fun playing on the rocks and chasing chipmunks and squirrels, they didn't have any luck either.

Marlee, of course, is the dare devil this year, last year she was the scaredy dog.

We tried to go hiking Sunday morning, but with all the rain and snow runoff the trail was a small creek, we got up so far and had to run around.  We did a little visiting with the campground host and found out they fulltime and host all over the country with their four dogs!

And for a very short time we joked that this was our "little corner of the world". We had such a good time, and felt very lucky we were able to enjoy this without a large number of people.  No more camping trips for awhile, we need to stay home and finish some projects. Father's Day weekend we have reservations  at Whitetail, which has turned into kind of a tradition. 

CHADRON STATE PARK & VOLKSMARCH

We left Rapid Friday about 1:30 to go to Chadron, Ne. to camp at Chadron State Park and walk our first Volksmarch since 2003. We arrived there about 3:30, the sun was shining, no wind, short sleeve shirt weather, it felt good with all the cold, rain, snow and wind that we have had lately. Sometime during the night the rain started,  pretty lightly at first, but the longer it rained, the more intense it got. When we got up in the morning, the whole sky was grey with no break anywhere in the clouds, and it was raining pretty hard. We were afraid we weren't going to be able to do the Volksmarch, we had decided we didn't want to walk in the pouring down rain. Anyway, by 10:30 the rain had stopped, it was still cool, cloudy and windy, but we decided we had a small window  of opportunity, so we took it. The 6.2 mile walk took us two hours and we never got wet. Maggie and Marlee walked with us, their first Volksmarch,  and enjoyed themselves so much and never acted tired. The walk started in this park in downtown Chadron, we were glad to be walking on sidewalks and streets and keeping out of the wet grass, the dogs were grateful too.

There were very few campers at Chadron State Park, we practically had the whole place to ourselves.Even though, the weather could  have been better, we had a great time! And, of course, we got to see how the new dually was for pulling.

FOURTH RUMMAGE SALE OF 2010

Saturday, May 1st. was the annual Rockerville Community Hall rummage sale. We set up Friday night, and weren't the happiest about our spot. We were in a dark corner of the building, with very little space on the floor to pile things. We were able to get quite a bit of  "stuff" on our two tables though.

 

It started at 7:30 a.m., and there wasn't a large crowd of people when they opened the doors. We didn't think we had the crowd of people that we had in past years the whole day. It was just a slow day, probably too much going on all over town. The food was delicious, tho, caramel rolls, pies, sloppy joes, coffee. It was a cool day with alot of wind. We were able to find homes for alot of our "stuff" that we had hauled to previous rummage sales, which we were very happy about. The sale ended at 2:00 p.m. and even though it had been a slow day, the two tables of rummage "stuff" is all the rummage "stuff" we have left. We're going to have to dig deeper for the next sale, that we are thinking of having sometime in June. We made $210.30, which isn't too shabby for a half a days work!

SPRING FISHING IN THE BLACK HILLS

After 3 days of steady rain, on Sunday, April 25, it looked like it was going to be a nice day, the sun was trying to push it's way through the clouds, so, we decided to take Marlee and go fishing at Horsethief Lake. We got up there about 7:00 a.m., and it really looked like it was going to clear up, we even saw a little blue sky.

So, Darrell got his fishing poles in the water, and I got all set up with a good book and coffee, and Marlee was busy checking things out. Lo and behold, here come the clouds and wind! In a matter of minutes, it went from clearing up to a stormy day.

Darrell started getting bites and catching fish right away, they were small ones and he threw them back.  Marlee and I took a long walk through the closed campground and picked out a camping spot that we plan on using the weekend of  May 22, we had to keep walking to stay warm. We found a beautiful waterfall near the lake, with all the rain, the water was rushing over the rocks, it was a sight to see.

                                      

As long as we walked  we kept warm, getting back to the dock where Darrell was fishing, Marlee got cold and crawled inside my hooded sweatshirt. I read my book, drank my coffee, and Marlee slept, all nice and warm.

After a few hours, Darrell got cold too and decided to give it up, the fish were biting, but it was pretty slow. On the way home it started to snow, and by the time we got home, it was snowing pretty good.....spring fishing in the Black Hills, you gotta love it! 

                            

                                    

MY BIRTHDAY :APRIL 23, 2010

 I had the most PERFECT birthday a person could have!!! At 9:00 in the morning we had a dress rehearsal for our play HAWKSHAW THE DETECTIVE.  In the morning when I got up and turned on my computer, I had Happy Birthday messages from both my sons!! The dress rehearsal went quite smoothly, actually enjoyable! Darrell took the day off from work and videotaped the play, and then afterwards everyone sang Happy Birthday to me!! Then Darrell took me to Red Lobster and I had the most delicious lobster!!!  We came home and rested a few hours, got a delivery of flowers from Jacob and birthday cards from both my sons and several friends sent cards. The flowers are beautiful!

And then my new laptop was delivered, another gift from my husband.......he had already bought me a dozen roses, and they are also beautiful!

And then on to the play at 6:00, the Community Hall was overflowing! Over 100 people came to the melodrama and booed and hissed  the villian, threw popcorn at the villian and by the laughter we heard just generally had a good time! I knew my lines very well, but I think I had a touch of stage fright, because, while I am waiting to go on, I have no idea what I'm supposed to say........ thank God they came to me!!We were all thrilled that the original Hawkshaw was able to come,  in her wheelchair after breaking her ankle at one of the practices in March. 

After the play everyone sang Happy Birthday to me again and then Rachelle and Donna took me down to the Gas Light for some demon rum (not really, we just had a beer) and some egg rolls. I can't remember a more delightful birthday!!

MADD DASH

On Sunday, April 18, at 1:00, Darrell and I walked the Madd Dash  along the Bike Path in Rapid, Clint and Nikki ran it.It was a 5K Walk/Run, all the proceeds went to the Madd organization in Rapid City. It was a  beautiful day and approximately 200 people  entered the Run/Walk. There were lots of prizes awarded and Clint took Third Place in his age group. Congratulations Clint!! Nikki ran the race,her first time, and she did awesome!!! Congratulations Nikki!!! Darrell and I were just glad we weren't last and finished with a pretty good rate of walking at 15 minutes per mile. We went to McDonald's for lunch and had a good visit before Clint and Nikki had to drive home..it  was a fun day!!

THIRD RUMMAGE SALE OF 2010

On Saturday, April 17, we rented a table at the Rapid Valley Methodist Church again, we were there in January 2010. The sale was from 8:00 to 1:00 and was another huge success!! We sold alot of "stuff" and made a little money! There was a steady crowd of people the whole time. The church sold their delicious cinnamon rolls again, and we had hot dogs for lunch. We had a little bit of "stuff" to pack up, but not nearly what we had brought out. Our total receipts was $265.00. It was a nice day of work and best of all we got rid of more "stuff". Looking forward and planning for the May sale at the Community Hall in Rockerville.