Dog Days of Summer...

Beautiful flowers on the casino property

   

       Some days things just don't go as planned.  The local church schedule was not convenient as we generally like to eat breakfast our prior to attending a late morning mass on Sunday.  The casino has restaurants, but we opted for the only other place we could find nearby, a Perkins Restaurant, in Shakopee.

     

       The parking lot at Perkins was full and they told us it would be a ten minute wait.  Valerie headed for the ladies room and came back surprised to find that George had already been seated.  There was a large party seated nearby and the server seemed anxious to get our order in, but we needed a few minutes to look over the menu.

      

Fitness Center is fabulous with an indoor pool 

      We waited and waited, and when our server began to deliver meals to the large table beside us, we let her know we needed to order.  She quickly took it and disappeared.  We noticed a couple of parties that had been seated after we were and had received their food and finished.  George got up to look for our server who advised him everybody's food was late because the kitchen was backed up.  We waited some more and discussed walking out.  We opted for talking with the manager since we hoped our food would be out any moment.  All in all, we were seated for over an hour and our entire meal was comped, but it certainly put a crimp in our plans.

      George had taken apart the air conditioner vents to clean the filters and realized he needed a bucket and Valerie wanted to hit the pet store to get a a change of food for the dogs, since their appetites have greatly diminished lately.  

Princess Zara forgives Valerie and apparently approves of her new food

      The intense heat and humidity seems to have followed us north.  Valerie wanted to check out the fitness center  across the street that is part of the casino complex, so we stopped and took the tour.  Upon our return it was just too hot to work outdoors or do much other than work at our computers or nap, so we opted for both.

      Valerie brushed out the dogs, cleaned their teeth, and filed down their nails early in the evening after it began to cool down.  They are not fans of grooming, but are happy to receive their treats as rewards.  They both approved of the taste of new food mixed with the old boring stuff, so they had a fairly good day, as dog days go.

The late-night knock on the door...

      Valerie took a power walk and George walked the dogs, and it was suddenly late.  George had gone to bed, Valerie was finishing up some work when she heard thunder above.  She looked out to see flashing yellow lights and security knocking on the door of the rig next to us.  Our door was next, and we were being warned that a severe thunderstorm with high winds was expected and that the shelter was open if we wanted to make use of it.  

     

       It was already 11:45 p.m., and the excitement was about to begin.  The winds howled against the big slide out which suffered a torn cover, rocking the coach, while torrential rains pelted the fiberglass.  The storm awakened George, along with a stomach ache, just in time to discover the slide out was leaking.  Between the two of us we found enough towels and a couple of bins in which to catch the rain droplets.  

Water leaking in through the slide out

      The heaviest rain and wind has subsided.  We have fans on the wet spots, and hope that this is the end of the heat, high winds, and rain for awhile.  We have had enough weather excitement this summer!  It's now 1:30 in the morning, and the dogs wish we would go to bed so they can get some sleep.  That seems like a very good idea.