Monday, March 26, 2012

The Tent

Two girls.  Giggling and fun.  Day after day of early-summer temperatures.  Olivia spending the night here.   Two girls decide it would be fun to set up the tent and sleep outside. 

Tent is erected.  About 9:00 the girls head to their outdoors bedroom.  After a bit, it begins to sprinkle.  No big deal.  They have a roof.  But then ... it begins to really rain.

At 11:00, two wet girls straggle into the kitchen.  The tent had collapsed.  They had to slither out, with the wet nylon draped across their backs.  We all headed out --in the rain-- to try to prop the tent up enough to haul out the wet sleeping bags, wet blankets, and wet pillows.  You know what?  In a rain, it's hard to lift even a light nylon tent.  But we retrieved the contents of the tent.

Two days later, it was no longer sopping, soaked, and dripping, so that we could set up the tent poles again, letting the muddy nylon begin to dry.  Another day, and we could take a bucket of soapy water and try to wash the mud off the inside and outside of the tent.  Another day, and we can try to finagle a way to dry the underneath side of the tent floor.  Maybe we can have it fully dry before the next rains come.

Problem is, we don't even know why it happened.  So how do we avoid a repeat?  Poor girls -- they may be traumatized for life.  I'm sure they'll remember this every time they crawl into a tent for the rest of their lives.  Hopefully they'll laugh.

2 comments:

  1. This reminds me of a dark time of my life.
    I was on a college specimen-collecting trip in Arizona. 20-some of us pitched our tents on the side of the road. Since it was predicted to rain, my friend Jean and I decided to sleep in a van. We got razzed and teased for being wimps. About 1am, the rain started. About 1:30am, it turned to sleet. About 1:45am, many of those who had chosen to sleep outside began knocking on the door of the van. Jean and another tripper, who was also sleeping in the van said, "We are not letting them in. They were stupid and are now cold and wet. We will not get any sleep." I capitulated and felt awful about it. But I was dry and warm, and well-rested enough to cook for the wet ones in the morning. Hope that helps my case. :)

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  2. You wouldn't have all fit inside anyway, would you? And it was nice of you to cook for the popsicle-people.

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