Well, Marcellus and I departed for Land Grab on Friday at about 12:30 p.m., after successfully loading the trailer with the FFG stuff, with the invaluable help of Jeff and George. The trip was uneventful, thank goodness, which was a pleasant departure from the crazy trip from last year. The help from fellow FFG'rs and the right kind of trailer made all the difference in the world.
At about 6:00 p.m. we were standing in front of Troll, where we discovered that we had forgotten my blue card. Fortunately, we were able to sort the whole thing out. It's nice when you know the people at Troll ;-)
We stayed that night at the Comfort Inn in New Castle. The room was not bad, but it was supposed to have a Jacuzzi. Much to our disappointment, the Jacuzzi must have been installed when the Mongols were conquering China. At any rate, we refused to get into a Jacuzzi that sported rusty fixtures with suspicious shades of green. Blech. However, the air conditioner was running very well, and we slept well.
We checked out from the hotel, left a note indicating our disappointment with their historical and extremely vintage Jacuzzi, and at 8:30 we were merrily heading for Land Grab.
And a merry experience it was. Unlike last year, this time land grab went around smoothly and everyone was happy with their land allotment. This year we are not located next to the highway, but a little bit higher, between Dun Carraig -- which lucked out with our old corner -- and Kaffa, with Padraigh's Ale House and the Barony of Hidden Mountain at the back. (And no, no screaming children. Yay!)
At about 10:00 a.m. Jeff arrived just in time to help us start setting camp. The first order of business was to install our pavillion and Jeff's tent, which was done rather quickly under the circumstances. The weather and the fact that we had cold water and food ready helped make things easier.
At 1:00 p.m. Jeff and Marcellus went with Cal from Camp Urso to pick up our stuff from storage. It was all there and we were starting to unpack the trailer with last year's stuff when George arrived. Needless to say, he was greeted with much joy.
Having four pairs of hands made the rest of the unpacking much easier, not to mention the installation of the rest of the encampment. By 4:30 p.m., we had installed George's tent, the entire kitchen - with pantry and all, the storage tent, the dining tent, and Delfina's day shade, plus the gate and the solar powered lights. Phew!
At that point, Marcellus and I went back to the storage place and returned the trailer. The bad news is, we were greeted with the news that the rental of the trailer for the way back would be more expensive than what we paid for the way up. Bummer. Oh, well. No helping it now.
At the end of the day, after attempting to learn how to juggle pins from Jeff, and after deciding that I get more bruises from hitting myself with the blasted things than from fencing, we had dinner and we all went to bed exhausted and smelly, but satisfied with all we accomplished.
(The smelliness was due to the fact that our water system was not yet installed and the Cooper's solar showers were not working yet. Plus nobody wanted to walk to the Cooper's store to the regular ones. But since we all smelled the same, nobody really cared -- except perhaps for any birds that may have dropped dead above our tents :-)
Sunday very early we had a thunderstorm, the first of the many that plagued us that Sunday. Marcellus was coming back from the porta-castle when he was caught by the storm and got totally drenched. It was at that point that he realized that we had not put a tent condom on the storage tent, that the storage tent leaks, and that the Lady Havoc - our ballista - was in the storage tent.
Needless to say that he, Marcellus, at 4:30 a.m., set up to cover the bloody tent in the middle of a thunderstorm. In the end, the Lady Havoc was saved and at least one of us got a shower.
Later, at about 9:00 a.m., and after having a hearty breakfast at the Beast and Boar, I made an ice run to the Cooper's Store and ordered the firewood, while Marcellus, George and Jeff stayed at camp digging holes for the kitchen sump, the shower sump, and the fire pit.
Talk about timing, they had just finished the job and I had just walked into the camp, when it started raining again. By then we had decided to put some shower curtains around the kitchen pantry so stuff would not get wet. It worked very well, but we were soaked. Again.
Since we could not get out of the kitchen tent, and there was nothing else to do, and we were extremely bored, we decided to play the doumbeks. Only difficulty, the only available doumbek was in George's tent, and nobody wanted to a) wet wet running for it and b) getting the doumbek wet. In view of which we decided to teach Jeff how to play doumbek by using the blue tubs that were currently residing in the kitchen. I am sure that our neighbors appreciated the drumming.
When the rain abated, we looked at the sump, and decided that maybe it needed to be a little deeper. George decided enthusiastically to dig deeper. If I am not mistaken, he's probably reaching China by now.
While it was still raining, albeit not so torrentially as in the beginning, Marcellus and I decided to go pick up the poles for the sheet-wall. We found some terrific ones at Lowe's. Green, sturdy metal, easy to install. A bit more expensive than we wanted, but well worth the price as we can re-use them again.
Also, at our return, we devised a washing station for the pots and pans with a drying rack. Not a sink yet, but something that will make things easier for the cleaning crew as we will be able to do dishes without bending. I think that everyone will like it.
At our return we found that George and Jeff had not only installed the shower tent, but also the hose and filtration system. What a team! (Plus, they had the good sense to place the entrance to the shower stall facing the storage tent so nobody would moon the neighborhood.)
So, in the end, we all started the setting up of the sheet-wall, which looks pretty good. We headed back home while Jeff and George were busy finishing the job.
And now, the scary part: While I am at home relaxing from the drive back, I realize that we have left Jeff and George in charge of the sheet-wall, with paint, and airbrush, and three cans of compressed air. I am afraid. Very afraid.
Belphoebe