Beware - it may blow up in your face

I had some family visiting over the weekend - family I don't get to see too often. It was a really nice visit. Too short in my humble opinion. I still had to work on Saturday at Job 3, so I only got to visit with them Saturday evening and Sunday morning before they headed out.

And for their 'relaxing' weekend, my Uncle S and cousin's hubby R broke out chainsaws to cut up a tree that split in two in the last windstorm. (Trust me, I was seriously worried I'd be blown off to Oz, and instead of it being Dorothy and Toto,  it was going to be JDay and Harriet . . .)

We went out to dinner Saturday night, and laughed so hard my tummy hurt and my cheeks burned. R had lots of hilarious stories, one in particular dealing with leotard ski pants and a Carhartt jacket. R's son, G, got to ride around on the ATV several times - grinning from ear to ear. He got to see the cows, feed the bottle calf, and pet horses. He had a great time.

After dinner, N (my cousin) and R followed me to my house so R could work on my swamp cooler. There have been quite a few days where I'd wished to have it working as my house would be so hot that I would be hot while doing nothing. Like sweating bullets. Anyway, R was a total sweetheart and got it working. And while he worked away (he even broke out his skilsaw for the board in my window), N and I got to have a nice little visit. It's rare that she and I are alone and visiting.

After R got the swamp cooler up and running, he explained to me how to keep it maintained and whatnot. I've been spoiled with central air conditioning my whole life. No judging. We went into the dining room and he explained the controls. So there we were, our faces mere inches from this swamp cooler, and he turned on the fan. On high.

WHOOSH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A cloud of dust shot in our faces. We both let out a cry of shock. Okay, I screamed. But either way, we both got dust in our eyes, noses, and mouths. I was suddenly doubled over laughing my patootie off - realizing that we should have expected that. R immediately went to the kitchen to wash off his face.

Once outside, N told us she'd seen it from outside, through the front living room windows and she heard the screams. (Okay, she heard mine) She said it was pretty darn funny. I couldn't stop giggling about it the rest of the evening. I had to wash my face and brush my teeth after that incident though. Although I swear I was still chewing on some grit when I went to bed later.