fishing trips and puppet shows

so the weather has turned ugly. it's been lovely and warm and, if anything, too dry for weeks and weeks, but the last two days have been windy, rainy and quite cold. the shift was apparently precisely timed to coincide with harrison's scout fishing trip, which was also conveniently scheduled on a school day, requiring all boys to skip school, and one leader to be unable to depart until many hours after the group, leaving one leader in a small car with his large dog, too many boys and piles of backpacks, tents, tarps, poles, food, water, sleeping bags, mattresses, boots and a canoe to transport. rob had not planned to go on the trip, but offered to drive people and gear to the campsite (supposedly 2 1/2 hours away) when it became apparent that the trip wouldn't happen otherwise, since leader #2 would be arriving too late to bring anyone or anything essential. the place ended up being nearly 4 hours away, and after helping the group set up camp in the rain and getting home at 9:00, rob found out that leader #2 had decided not to go at all in the end, so leader #1 was stranded four hours away with too many boys and too much stuff to bring back. so rob is driving out there again today after spending the morning cleaning the church with the priests (which is one of the reasons he wasn't planning to go on the trip in the first place.) anyway, it sounds like the boys are really enjoying the trip even though it's wet, cold, and out in the middle of nowhere. harrison has caught fish. i believe he has eaten some of his catch. asher is at the airport today on a cub trip to some program called "spaceport." i don't have any idea what they're doing there. ted has built a puppet theatre out of a cardboard box and has been regaling us with impromptu puppet shows featuring arthur and francine and lots of fights. apparently carboard puppets without arms can't do much else. dexter has become adept at rolling and rotating himself pretty much anywhere he wants to go. unfortunately, he is fast and not always accurate, so he gets himself stuck regularly in tight corners, or banging his head on the corner of the fireplace, etc. if we weren't moving soon, i'd look for a gate for the basement stairs. we should be in our new place (basement stairs have a door) on june 15th. i'm not particularly worried about packing up because we're only moving a few blocks, but it will still be more work than i would like and not long enough since the last move. i will live, however, and we will get it done. i will make much use of angela.