A nice visit

I'm starting this post rather late in the day, but we just got back from the cabin about half an hour ago. If I don't finish tonight, I'll finish tomorrow. 

Rocket Boy arrived Thursday as scheduled -- his flight was a little late, but that just gave me more time to put off cleaning the bathroom. At the very very last minute, RIGHT before going to the airport to get him, I spent 15 minutes working on the terrible bathroom floor and toilet. So ridiculous -- I don't know why I couldn't have done it sooner. But whatever. 

When he walked in the front door, the house looked much better than it did a few weeks ago, so I decided I didn't mind that he immediately started making cleaning plans. He's worked on our bedroom and the living room so far, and interestingly, those are both rooms that I worked on before he got here. I think I cleaned enough for him to be able to spot more things to clean. Or something like that. Anyway, the book group is coming here next Monday (I haven't told him that, don't want him to panic), so it's great that he's cleaning.

The kids and I were slightly sick for a few days before he came, and on Thursday I kept Teen B home and he and I both got covid tests. But they were both negative, so I guess we're fine. Just some tiny little bug. I have a nagging cough, and I sneeze now and then, but that could be allergies. Teen A has been coughing for several days, but insists he is fine, refused to stay home from school. And Teen B actually had a brief sore throat, plus a little coughing, but he seems fine now. Whatever.

The visit is going fast. Friday, RB worked for several hours, but also found time to repair some things (e.g., two lights in the kitchen). Saturday he got a haircut and took the kids swimming, while I had a Zoom call with old friends. And today we went to the cabin -- we hadn't been up there since July, of course, since that was the last time he was here. That was the time we continued on to Salida, when the sky was hazy and ugly from smoke.

We had completely missed the fall color -- all the aspen were in the gray ghost stage. But it was a beautiful day, gorgeous blue skies. I love South Park in the fall. It has a certain glow. I never have pictures of that, because I'm always driving when we come over Kenosha Pass and down the swooping road into the Park. You'll just have to take my word for it. It's magnificent.

They'd had a few snows the last couple of weeks, and there were patches of it still in shady areas, even though it felt very warm -- in the 50s and with bright sunshine. But what was most noticeable was that the beaver ponds were mostly frozen, just a few patches of open water and I did see one small area where the water was moving, over on our neighbor's property. Winter is coming, quickly. I didn't see any beavers.

As always, I couldn't breathe up there -- maybe it was even a little worse than usual, despite losing some weight and getting regular exercise. It might have been that tiny bit of congestion I have right now. I don't know. All I know is that it was very difficult to walk back up the hill from the ponds, and I was sleepy the whole time we were there, from lack of oxygen.

The kids were very bad -- even though they'd said they wanted to go, earlier, they complained the whole way there and all the time we were there. Teen A helped Rocket Boy with a small project (more shelves), did some drilling and such. Teen B just played on his devices, though later he took a walk with RB down to the ponds. 

I don't know exactly what we've done wrong with these boys, but we sure haven't gotten them to love the cabin. They used to enjoy playing with RB's old toys that we keep up there, but they've grown too old for toys (that was fast). Maybe if we'd spent more extended time up there, instead of driving back and forth the same day, always, that would have helped. If we'd gone up for weekends, spent a couple of days hiking around... That's my fault, because I can't breathe -- I'm miserable when we try to spend the night. And we've never gotten them into hiking and camping at all, even though we started to in Ridgecrest. When we moved back to Colorado, we only camped a few times with the twins club, never on our own. I don't really know why. Things just didn't go right after we moved back.

When we die, the kids will sell the cabin the next day. Unless Rocket Boy predeceases me, in which case I'll sell it the next day. I know he thinks about that. I wish we could find someone who loves it -- then he could leave it to them. I'd go along with that idea. But I don't know anyone who would love it. 

Now we just have a couple more days together. Tomorrow the kids have the day off from school, sort of a replacement for Indigenous Peoples Day last Monday, which wasn't a holiday for them. I finally get to see the endocrinologist, I need to go to the grocery store and the library, I need to finish the kids' laundry and call the orthodontist, and other than that, I don't know what we'll do. I want to decorate for Halloween, but no one else has shown much interest. RB could work; he could do more cleaning; I'm sure there are more things to fix. Tuesday the kids go back to school and RB has the dentist appointment he came out here for. 

And then he flies back Wednesday afternoon.

On Saturday, when he and the boys were trying to decide what to do, he suggested going to the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, but their new exhibit (which will include sloths) doesn't open until next week, so Teen A suggested they go next weekend instead. "But Dad won't be here then," I pointed out. 

"What?! He's leaving so soon?" It hurt to see how sad that made them. Big teenage boys that they are, they still really miss their dad. I explained that he'll be back for Thanksgiving. "My band concert?" Teen B said hopefully. "I don't think so," I admitted. The band concert is November 9th. I wish RB would come for that, but I don't think he's going to. 

I've been reading up a storm, four more books this week. The best was The October Man by Ben Aaronovitch, a delightful supernatural mystery set in Germany! I loved it. I went online to see if there were sequels, but his other books are set in England. I read one a couple of years ago and didn't like it so much, but this book was really fun. Maybe he'll write a sequel someday. These characters seem too good not to continue with.

Somehow I jumped from #51 to #1 this week on the list for The Midnight Library, so I'm just waiting for it to arrive at the main library (it's listed as "in transit") and then I can read it. Plenty of time before next week's book group meeting. Just have to fit it in among everything else. I still have piles and piles of things to read, and of course November is looming. As soon as we cross over into November I have to set aside the fun stuff and go back to serious books about Indians and Presidents.

So, a couple more days to enjoy being with Rocket Boy, a couple more weeks to enjoy October, a few more years to enjoy my teenagers before they move on with their lives.