Forty years under a tarp with no walls at all, that's insane honestly. I'd be convinced every rustle in the leaves was something coming to get me before I even fell asleep. Can't imagine waking up with a raccoon just staring at you from two feet away.

Yeah I've done this a few times on sticky calipers and it works fine as long as you don't blast all the seals out with pressure. Just go easy on the lever and it's golden lol.

Your aunt probably just got tired of being the family sheriff, you know? My own mom used to spend every holiday picking fights with my uncle about his drinking, but eventually she just started handing him a coffee cup and moving on. It was weird at first because I kept waiting for the explosion that never came. What really helped me was just letting the quiet be okay and not trying to fill it with fake cheer or old arguments. Sometimes the saddest thing about a family is when everyone finally gives up on trying to fix each other.

Spilled coffee on my own shirt before the waiter even got there.

Actually I used to swear up and down it was 10 cards too. My whole group played that way for like two years because someone's older brother taught us and he must have misremembered. It wasn't until I watched a YouTube tutorial on accident one night that I saw the 7 card rule and felt my whole world tilt. We had so many games where someone was sitting on 9 cards feeling safe, but now I see how that changes the whole robber timing. Makes way more sense why resources are supposed to be tighter in the midgame.