A weekend of extremes ~

My girlfriend Jen told me she had tickets to see Jack Johnson in Bend, Oregon. She said she was no longer going with her date and would like me to be her new date. Well... lets see... yes!

I love Jack Johnson and I love Central Oregon. The choice was easy. There was one issue, I needed a baby sitter while I was over there. So I gave a call to another girlfriend Alea and she was available to go with us. She gets a free place to stay and I get a sitter!

This weekend was fun, but a variety of odd events. To start off with, while we were heading across the mountain to the ranch a cougar crosses the road in front of us. I have NEVER seen one in real life, let alone that close to me and in the wild. Suffice to say it freaked me out. It was cool.. but still a reminder that there are cougars near our house over there which I never took all that seriously. This was a bit of a reminder that perhaps I should, because they are HUGE!

​​SMLXL

The ranch offers a community pool, golfing, gorgeous views, and plenty of places to go hiking. One of the perks of our house over there is that it is about 100 yards from a hiking trail. Quite possibly one of the best ones in that area. I enjoy going on daily hikes when I have a chance. Otherwise, we sit on the deck and drink wine. Neighbors come by to say hi, but in general it is quiet and relaxing.

Anyone who knows anything about Central Oregon, knows that it is pretty rare to rain in August. Yes it is possible to get a thunder storm that will breeze in and then blow out. But it just isnt that common to have bad weather. Well, as luck had it... it drizzled and was "cold" by my standards.

Around 10 am Saturday, Alea arrived a day behind us. The boys have a gator so they were out driving around and golfing. Once Alea was settled in and myself and Jen were ready. We headed into town to get some groceries and alcohol. Brady was acting a bit strange but nothing that would warrent me to ask questions. We were gone 3-4 hours and when we got home I went to make food for the little guys. Brady was acting even more strangly. He had his face all screwed up, talking quietly (not him at all) and just seemed tense. I kept asking him what was wrong. Finally he explained to me that he had driven the gator into the house and broke a faucet.

Internally I was irate, but I thanked him for being honest and calmly sent him to his room. I went out back to assess the damage. I could hear water running and the crawl space area was completely flooded. ARE YOU KIDDING ME! There were some wires in the area, so I shut off all the electricity to the house and stepped down into the water to open the crawl space door. Under the house was not as bad, but he certainly flooded that area as well. I am no plumber, but I knew whatever happened was bad.

I sent Jen to the road to turn off the water at the meter, so we could prevent anymore flooding. Then I was able to scoop water out and get a better look at it. In the meantime I had Jen calling various plumbers on a saturday to see if we could get someone out to the house. Unfortunately no one could come out till the next day, and for a charge of $75 (not including the gas surcharge of $20). Well, this is my parents house and in part of using it I take care of it. Despite the fact that my stepdad is very capable of fixing the issue. I felt it was my responsiblity to pay for it to be fixed.

There was just one issue, in the meantime.. while we wait for it to get fixed.. we have no toilets or showers. The neighbors told us we were more than welcome to use their home. Tho they are wonder and kind people, we really didnt feel like 3 adult ladies and 2 little boys could really impose on them that much. Instead we borrowed some buckets and filled them with water so we could flush in the middle of the night.

Thankfully less than a mile away was a park, where they do not lock the bathrooms up at night. The bathrooms are also pretty new and nice. Hooray! So we just had to assess the shower situation. Then I remembered, down at the pool the bathrooms have showers... voila!

Sunday the weather was a bit nicer, and the sun came out. Being me and Jen had our concert to go to.. we figured we could take the boys down to swim and then each take a turn hitting up the showers. So we did, and let me tell you it felt amazing! When we returned then Alea could run down and have herself a shower as well.

In the meantime we were waiting patiently on the plumber to arrive. We needed to leave no later than 4 pm and it was 2:30. To make matters worse, the clouds had rolled in yet again and they were menacing. The friendly plumber arrived, it started to rain, and he in fact confirmed what I thought was wrong with the pipe. He did not have the fitting on him, so it would require him coming back in a day or two to fix it. He wrote me out an estimate... $300 (including site fee and surcharge). Ok here is the issue, it was just about a 3 inch piece of pipe that cracked (old). You literally could remove the elbow joint on one end and the 3 way (T or whatever it is called) on the other end and replace that small piece. Pending the use of PVC or Copper it could cost for product $5-$20. I knew this, again, I am not a plumber.. but I am also not an idiot. If I had more skills I could have fixed it myself. But I didnt want to potentially make it worse since I have done no plumber at all. Needless to say, I paid the man the $95 for showing up and thanked him for his time.

I called my stepdad and he insisted he would fix it, so I said I would pay for whatever the cost was. Yet again we are stuck with no water and even if I had the guy fix it for us, it would not be until after we left. Us ladies figured, we made it 24 hours, we could make it another 24 hours with no water. We considered the situation as "roughing it".

As the clouds threatened to dump rain on us, we fed the boys and left Alea to their maddness. We arrived to Bend and found our parking spot and made our way to the venue. We got in, went and grabbed some whiskey's and went to find a damp spot in the grass.

Now, let say this - I am not much of a concert person. My summers are full of concerts and events which I do not have to pay to go to. I get to stand behind the safety of a bar, or backstage or in VIP. I dont have to mingle with people, be bumped into, or have drinks split on me. Additionally, just a few weekends prior I had injured my shoulder, and awaiting a doctors appointment to help with the pain. So... I am in pain, the weather is crap, and I am surrounded by people. Nothing could go wrong at all!

The Bahama's opened for Jack and people started to settle in around us. In front of us we had two couples who were very "cool". Next to them was a couple with an under-dressed baby. Next to me was a couple and their teenage son. Most of these JJ poser fans were wearing Hurley Hawaii shirts. Side-bar, I have been wearing Hurley since before it was mainstream. When it was literally only found in surf shops. Love the brand, loved to surf, do not love the fact that every single person who goes to Hawaii has to buy a Hawaii Hurley shirt to flaunt that they have been to Hawaii and love Jack Johnson. Basically there was clones and sheep everywhere.

Ok, back to the people. So behind us was like 2-3 larger groups of people ranging from mid twenties to mid fourties. All of which were having a GOOD time. Between excessive drinking and smoking pot, they were having a blast. I like to drink, I dont smoke.. but I am not against people who do. I do however have a problem with people who get out of hand and have no consideration for those around them. These people were oblivious to anyone around them.

As the concert went out they were drunkenly dancing like fools. Nearly tripped over the couple holding the baby. The second time then tripped over the father (thankfully not holding the baby) the couple moved. I would have loved to move as well, but there was no getting closer for us. I didnt want to crowd into people either, so we stayed.

Well, between bumping into the back of us, accidently pushing us.. I was reaching my limit. Next I see a lit cigarette blow past my face missing my eye by inches.. then the girl falls into the side of me. I give her a very stiff elbow that sends her falling in the other direction. Had my shoulder been up to par, I would have punched her. Sounds bad, but I would have done it.. square in the face.

I am growing more irritated and the people behind us are getting more and more annoying. I am one more nudge away from throwing punches. Jen decides that we should start making our way to the back of the venue towards the exit. Added bonus is getting out of there before everyone else does, so we do.

We make it back home, grub out on some disgusting drive thru food and despite all desires to have some drinks, we were all tired. I basically had been given my fill of socializing and entertainment for the night.

Monday we packed up, cleaned the house and headed back to the valley. For the first time ever, I was ready to head home. Beteween annoying concert goers, broken pipes, no water for flushing or showers, and rain. I was happy to head back to the muggy valley. I loved my time with my friends, but I also love being able to shower!