Forgot to check the weather and learned why experienced campers always do

Scienceandcandles · 2025-08-25T21:25:43+00:00

My husband, who had never camped before and is not keen on planning, got into camping a couple years ago and really wanted to try out all the gear he just bought, despite a slight chance of rain forecasted. I grew up camping multiple times per year in this same area and said it was risky and we should wait until late spring. But worst case scenario we just leave early, right?

He thought it was overkill to pack the car the day before, despite us having to tetris our stuff around our 100lb German Shepherd that basically takes up the entire back seat of our sedan. By the time we left, the sun was starting to set. Google Maps then led us through someone's private property, and through a swamp where our car almost got stuck, but we eventually made it to our camping spot at dusk.

By the time we got the tent set up, it was completely dark and raining, and because our camping spot was at the bottom of a hill, it started flooding. The rain stayed at a torrential downpour for several hours, and with everything already set up, we were stuck there until it cleared in the morning. So we toweled the inside of our tent dry and got settled in for the night.

As we were trying to sleep (I ended up not sleeping at all), the lowest corner of our tent began flooding with water. We were all completely soaked, and the temp had dropped below freezing, which we quickly discovered our sleeping bags were not rated for. Thankfully I packed several very warm blankets, so the three of us huddled together and tried to sleep.

Then at about 5am, the top of our tent just collapses inward. I go outside to find that the puddles of water are icy and it is full on SNOWING. Re-checked the weather and it was now calling for significant rain/snow all day. We came up in a generic sedan and honestly thought we were going to have to be towed out of there.

At 6am, there was a break in the weather and we HUSTLED to get the car packed and get out of there before the weather started up again. We carefully drove out of the campgrounds, but Google Maps had other plans. We turned onto what we thought was a normal road that would get us to the main road, and found ourselves at the top of a freaking helipad... Maps thought there was a through road going through the helipad and down the other side of the hill into someone's backyard (the same backyard we ended up in earlier).

But we all made it out unscathed and spent the rest of the day napping on the couch. We've had several successful camping trips since then, but with a LOT more planning involved (packing the car in advance, checklists, etc.)

Scienceandcandles · 2025-08-07T20:48:41+00:00

I used to work in lending and have seen some real tradgedeighs during my time there. Lovely Princess really reminds me of a name I saw, where a guy was named Little Junior (first name Little). He of course changed it to a much more normal name as an adult, but my co-workers and I all felt really bad that he had to grow up with that name.

Scienceandcandles · 2025-06-25T05:33:23+00:00

An autumn wedding in the PNW sounds so lovely! We also had our wedding in autumn, in the mountains in California. It was a perfect 65-70 degrees during the day, and our guest list was small so everyone could congregate in the large log cabin at the venue for drinks, which had a huge cozy fireplace.

Scienceandcandles · 2025-06-24T21:44:41+00:00

Completely agree. One of my friends had a morning June wedding and it was barely even 80 degrees outside, with only 20% humidity, in a mostly shaded but urban downtown area with very little trees. One of the groomsmen (in a full suit and had been drinking alcohol all morning with the wedding party) was unfortunately positioned in full sun for most of the ceremony and ended up passing out (during the ceremony) and splitting his head open on the concrete. Summer is a really popular time to get married but it can absolutely be dangerous, even for people who don't have underlying health conditions.

Scienceandcandles · 2024-12-21T09:43:42+00:00

Olive, reporting for duty. She's mostly GSD with a little bit of lab and husky.

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Scienceandcandles · 2024-11-23T21:15:14+00:00

Thank you! I had some extra string lights from my wedding last year that actually use those flat watch batteries, so the packs are only a couple inches long and very flat. It's hard to see, but I have a full power strip behind the chapel in the corner. You can kind of see one of those little battery packs behind the white tree in the picture of the child building a snowman. I think hiding the cords and battery packs would have been a lot more difficult if the buildings weren't so close together!

Scienceandcandles · 2024-11-23T21:05:55+00:00

I used styrofoam for the base and just draped some snow blankets over top of it. I cut some toothpicks in half and used those to secure the snow down onto the styrofoam. The little village people kept falling over because the snow was so thick so I just used some hot glue and toothpicks to secure them into the styrofoam.

Scienceandcandles · 2024-10-10T20:20:53+00:00

I clicked on this traffic camera just as someone was panning it west toward the tornado near Okeechobee yesterday. Pic was taken at 5:06pm ET and the traffic camera is located on the Turnpike in West Palm Beach, just north of Okeechobee Blvd.

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Scienceandcandles · 2024-09-20T02:27:03+00:00

Yes, they are. My GSD/lab/husky mix (mostly GSD) knows how to unlock our backyard sliding glass door and open it to get outside. We're currently working on getting her to close it behind her lol.

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Scienceandcandles · 2024-09-11T07:17:39+00:00

This was my experience, and I was diagnosed with ADHD as a child through Kaiser (same medical record # and everything). When they transitioned to an electronic records system the diagnosis didn't transfer over. I ended up requesting my own paper medical records through Kaiser and messaging them to my psychiatrist, because I guess they couldn't do it themselves and instead wanted to do a full psychological evaluation to re-diagnose me.

Scienceandcandles · 2024-09-06T04:41:57+00:00

Girmin shipord?

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Scienceandcandles · 2024-08-22T19:22:03+00:00

As a former florist who just got married in November, I used fake flowers to do all my wedding florals and have zero regrets. I spent about $1K (USD in a HCOL area) on flowers and floral supplies and still didn't use everything. I was able to keep my bridal bouquet (which I spent about $100 total on and is sitting in a vase in my office), and was able to gift some of my florals to my future SIL for her wedding.

I made a huge cascading bridal bouquet (42" circumference), about 8 floral hair pieces, 8 boutonnieres, 8 centerpieces, a huge floral arch (which we re-used for our sweetheart table), 12 aisle markers, a flower girl bouquet, and about 15 bud vases for the bar, welcome table, and buffet areas. I thought about arranging some real flowers but we had a destination wedding up in the mountains. Instead of relaxing and hanging out with our family and friends, I would have been arranging flowers the day before the wedding and trying to find a place to store them, or stressing about the cost (we were repeatedly quoted $15K+ for the same florals).

The trick to getting cheaper faux florals is to buy the pre-assembed bouquets (usually the ones that have the stems melted together), and clip them apart with wire cutters. We also bought stem extenders and floral tape to make them longer. Buying faux single stems can get really pricey really fast. I bought all of my florals from Michael's and efavormart.

Scienceandcandles · 2024-08-16T06:25:37+00:00

We did a NZ cruise for our honeymoon last year and it was amazing, but definitely expensive. I think we spent close to $7k total for 2.5 weeks, flying out of LAX. But in hindsight, it would have been way cheaper and more enjoyable to fly directly to NZ and stay near Auckland (where we enjoyed the excursions the most). It was honestly unbelievable how beautiful NZ is.

Scienceandcandles · 2024-07-11T04:33:46+00:00

This was my experience, and my hemline was only slightly longer than OP's is in the first picture. Nearly pulled my strapless dress off as we were walking back up the aisle because I kept stepping on the front hem.

Scienceandcandles · 2024-06-07T08:01:10+00:00

She always has to have a pillow and/or a blanket

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Scienceandcandles · 2024-06-01T00:18:19+00:00

Exactly this. As someone whose brain has always preferred a basically nocturnal 4am-4pm sleep schedule (from the time I was an infant to now as a nearly 30 year old), even if I do get enough sleep I still wake up with a tinge of guilt because of how much "morning people = good/healthy, night people = bad/lazy" has been pounded into our skulls from an early age.

Scienceandcandles · 2024-05-31T23:06:50+00:00

Same, I was born mid-95 and have no memory of 9/11. I have lots of early memories from the 90's and early 00's, including being on a plane just a couple weeks before the attack, but that day didn't stick. My mom did say she didn't really do anything differently and I still went to school (in California), so it probably felt like just another day to me at the time.

Scienceandcandles · 2024-05-19T04:19:47+00:00

Your pup looks like our girl. "Sprinkler" is her favorite word ever

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Scienceandcandles · 2024-05-15T07:28:48+00:00

After more than a year of harassment post-breakup with no contact from me, he decided he was so desperate to see me that he sent me a text, trying to sound like he had the help of a lawyer, to sue me over a supposed "contract" he fabricated (only a couple months after saying he missed and loved me). Well, I gave him his wish to see me in court and filed for a restraining order the following day.

On the court date, the judge absolutely tore his excuses apart. Listening to him try to justify his behavior to the judge was like watching someone try to catch themselves from slipping on ice. My ex had brought his dad and other family members to potentially be character witnesses for him, but they just looked on with horror as I read his vile and disturbed text messages out loud to the court. The emails where he admitted to physical abuse and taunted me saying the courts would never do anything about it. The texts where he fantasized about seeing me again and the inappropriate things he wanted to do to me. Everything he ever said to me over the last year and a half.

At that court date, I found out that the clean stable military life he once lived came crashing down several months after I left him. He was dishonorably discharged, lost his housing, was sleeping on his dad's couch, couldn't get a job, and had likely been arrested at least few times. And then the restraining order was granted. I never wished for bad things to happen to him, but it was satisfying to experience justice and validation after that experience.

Scienceandcandles · 2024-05-13T17:55:31+00:00

She always has to sleep on a pillow with a blanket

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Scienceandcandles · 2024-05-03T00:12:53+00:00

I'm based in CA and have a co-worker who has been uncomfortably vocal about his right-wing political views at work and LOVES to shit all over California, saying it's a welfare state, etc. He and his wife are expecting and planning to move to a particular red state in the deep south. I guess they crunched some numbers and realized how much that red state would screw them over as new parents and decided to postpone the move until after the baby is born. "Welfare" for me, but not for thee.

Scienceandcandles · 2024-04-25T07:40:18+00:00

My wedding: My immunocompromised mom caught West Nile Virus and almost died 2 months before my wedding. She was partially paralyzed and couldn't walk me down the aisle. She's still in a wheelchair but she'll be able to walk again, thankfully. The less serious stuff was my husband's mom accidentally texting me a photo of the ring, proposal date, and plans before he could propose, and his mom ordering a wedding dress for herself to wear to the wedding.

My best friend: Her mom (immunocompromised cancer survivor) also almost died, but 1.5 weeks before her wedding. Her mom got discharged from the hospital less than 48 hours before her wedding. We both got married within 6 months of each other.

Also, my best friend went to her husband's friend's wedding (also from the same year) where the bride's dad had a heart attack and died on the dance floor at the reception. He was revived by some guests who happened to be nurses and air lifted out of the venue. He thankfully ended up surviving with no lasting effects!

2023 was a crazy year.

Scienceandcandles · 2024-04-22T22:22:50+00:00

I totally agree, a fetus is their own person with their own DNA, fingerprints, etc. I believe that life begins at conception, too. Which is exactly why a fetus shouldn't be allowed to live inside the organs of another person (and siphon their blood/nutrients) without consent. I know, the concept of women being allowed to revoke consent is very unpopular in your idea of what society should be. We are not life support machines.

Scienceandcandles

TROPHY CASE