Forks

Man, I am exhaustipated (so tired you don't give a shit).

This weekend was tiring, I got very little sleep, it was way too hot, and we had a great time.
Per my previous post, There was a show by Morning Light at the Olympic Correctional Facility near Forks, Wa.

Friday Mrs A. and I took the day off, with the intention of getting an early start (but not too early). L. had two medical procedures, so we didn't get out of town until 6:30. I would have been better off to have gone to work and saved the day of Vacation. Everything turned out fine for L.

So we ended up pulling in to the Hotel at Forks at 11:30, only to find out that the band had still not arrived. The guy at the counter wanted to hit the hay, so we put a note on the office door and he gave me the extra key to the other suite, which of course meant that I had to wait up for them to arrive.

They pulled in at about 12:30, so I didn't get to bed until 1:00. At about 4:30 someone started up a diesel truck right outside our window and woke me up, so I was running on about three hours sleep.

The weather forecast was for sunshine, so the band elected to have an outdoor concert, setting up on the soccer field. It turned out not only sunny, but it broke the temperature record by 11 degrees. It was 90. Well, unpacking and setting up the stage and everything was hot and dusty work. Not to mention that there was an invasion of these enormous black flying ants, which got into everything.

I was so hot that the band was concerned about the instruments being out in the hot sun. Mrs A. suggested that we borrow a couple of sheets from the facility. After talking to the guards, we scrounged up this enormous blue tarp. But what to do with it.

Since this was a daytime outside show, we weren't setting up the light show. I suggested that we take all the scaffolding that we normally use to mount the lights and use it to turn the tarp into a tent. It took an hour or so to get it set up, but it worked out OK.

There was a pretty stiff breeze, so it threatened to go parasailing a couple of times, and we had to retye some of the ropes when they pulled the eyes out of the tarp, but everyone was thankful for the shade.

April started losing her voice during the show, and had to ease up on the high notes, but she managed to make it through the show. They even introduced a couple of new songs.

Setting up the sound system was a real pain in the butt. We were on a slight rise over the soccer field, and there was a solid wall of trees on the far side. It provided this split second echo that distorted the sound. Because we were on a rise, the midlevel and high frequencies were going right over the heads of the audience, so we had to unstack the speakers and set them on the ground. Sound check took better than three hours, and with the hot weather and endless sound check, tempers got shot, and words were exchanged.

We came back yesterday, and took the long way around, to complete the Olympic peninsula Loop. We stopped at Ruby Beach on the way back, and spent a couple of hours playing at the beach. What a beautiful day.

When we got home the house was still standing and actually reasonable in order. I think this is the first time we have gone away and not come back to complete chaos.

K. is sick, has a nasty cold and congestion. We got a knock on the bedroom door at 3:00 that they needed to borrow the car to run him to the Hospital. His temperature was over 103 degrees, and his breathing was very strained. I thin it was overreaction to run him to the emergency room, but they are fairly new to the parent thing, and tend to think everything is a crisis. They were gone a couple of hours and came back and everything was fine. All the hospital did was give K. some children's tylenol, and we have plenty of that at home, but the women were not receptive to logic, and I didn't dare to tell them to calm down.

So I am sitting here kinda zombified this morning, and I sure a hell better remember to used Spellcheck this morning.