Westward HO!

We rounded up our two lasses and heading west. 

West to the yonder side of the mighty Mississippi River. 

To the bustling town of Hannibal, Missouri. 

Where they heard tales of a man with a bushy mustache who had extraordinary storytelling gifts. 

Where they entered a cave that was only 52 degrees. 

A cave full of bats, history (we heard a story about a dead body that was super creepy), mysterious passages, and wonder. 

They thought the Mark Twain Cave was the COOLEST thing they had ever seen and done. 

I would have to agree. 

Super neato!

They did some sluicing for gems. 

Something they love to do!

And we found the Ingalls sisters when we were there!  

Besides seeing the Ingalls girls, I was also blown over by the awesome salad I had for lunch. 

We found a cute coffe shop/cafe, Java Jive. 

My salad of wild greens (Gigi yelled out "Mom, you're eating grass!") was topped with blueberries, carrots, cukes, and almonds. With the most marvelous poppyseed dressing. 

My fellow travelers/diners told me the sandwiches they ordered were spectacular, too. 

And our meals were served in hand made earthen pottery vessels that you could also buy at the pottery shop connected to the cafe. 

I love finding a jewel of a town.

A town full of caves, history, and awesome food. 

Oh, and the gelato we had...Creme Brûlée, lemon, strawberry/kiwi. 

The Ingalls girls were beside themselves!

My Shame and The Drought

I must apologize.
I feel terrible about it.
The weight of the county rests on my shoulders.
It's with a heavy heart that I must disclose the following news...
I am the reason we are in a drought in this area of Central Illinois!
I KNOW!
How could I do this to people?
How could I be so insensitive?
Have I gone mad?
Don't answer that...
It finally dawned on me what was happening.
If I hear news of rain on the horizon (or in Iowa), then I carefully watch my weather app and notice the various shades of red, yellow, and green on the radar.
I guesstimate the impending rain drops' arrival.
I check the velocity of the wind as it starts the tree tops a whippin'.
I look for dark cloud cover.
And then it happens.
I bring in any beach towels that are hanging on the deck and I unhook the hammock from it's breezy trees and put it in the garage.
It is this motion that pulls the clouds north.
The cumulonimbus on the verge of arriving from the west hold onto the water within as if they are old ladies living on social security and they aren't going to Kroger to spend their dimes on those plums until they go on sale!
It's all my fault.
I am ashamed.
From now on I am going to NOT stare at the Doppler.
If I see dark clouds a brewin' I will ignore them.
If the trees start dumping their leaves into the pool, damn those leaves, I will just scoop them out and smile.
And I will leave the towels on the deck.

Thirst

There's that scene in the movie Vacation when Clark finds his way out of the desert and he is about to die and his family says they are hungry and he says in a raspy voice that is in dire need of liquid "I'm so hungry I could eat a sandwich from a gas station!"

This reminded me of that.
In a roundabout way.
Because this is a cat.
At a birdbath.
But it is hot out.

"I'm so thirsty I could drink out of a birdbath!"

Share The Wealth

I have a gajillion coupons for free food.
I've also scheduled a few pool parties in the coming days.
Maybe...

I could drive around to all of the places on my coupons to outfit my pool deck table with a myriad of yummy delicacies.

Some pizza from Monicals.
A chicken fingers and fries meal from Lock Stock.
Ice cream from DQ.
Custard from Culvers.
Cupcakes from Lana's.
Pizza from Papa Murphys.
A couple of McD's hamburgers.

I'll divide them up into bite-sized portions and let the guests go wild!!
It will be the start of a great new trend in pool parties.
Gone will be the days of watermelon, chicken wings, and corn on the cob at pool festivities.
Instead people will move into the tiny-food movement.
Tiny portions of all different kinds of local fast foods will be offered to hungry swimmers.
It's a great idea!!
It's a...it's a...

Oh, never mind.
People won't dig it.
Swimmers are ravenous beasts.
Who am I kidding.
I'm keeping the coupons for myself anyway.
And I'm going to eat full portions!

Softball, Bees,and Berries

It's the unofficial start to summer.

We have had two pool parties already.

Many more are on the horizon.

Please, if you are reading this then you are invited to come over.

It's the season of cookouts, baseball, and apple pie.

Where in our little corner of the world that really means it's the season of cookouts, softball, and black raspberry galettes.

Zoe has been a hit on the softball team.

Hit as in she actually does that every time she has the bat.

Chad and I have both declared that we don't know where she gets it from.

I think it's one of those skipped-a-generation traits that she got from grandpa.

Grandpa used to play on a Staley Men's Softball Team way back in the day.

Now Chad.

He's a different story.

We took him to a batting cage once and that nightmare still gives me the willies thinking about it.

We will NEVER let him do that again.

NEVER!

Anyway, Zoe is turning out to be a mighty fine player.

She even got to play 1st base last game.

Holla!

Her team sponsor is The Winery.

A bar near Millikin University that has a juke box, booths, dark lights and a dirty grill that serves greasy burgers with chips.

The back of the shirt says "had a Winery burger lately?"

I think it's hysterical.

It's that time of year for picking black raspberries.

Actually it's a month early for picking black raspberries.

We usually gather these in early July.

Never at the end of May.

But a gathering we have done and I made a black raspberry galette today.

And the bees are out in abundance.

Fat and buzzy and I really love these bugs.

So do the dogs.

Dumb dogs.

Always try to eat the fat bumblebees.

They are going to regret that one day when they go after the wrong flying and buzzing bee and get a sting on the tongue.

I'm just sayin'.

Holy Hackensack!

Holy Toledo! 

The grass is so high already!

We are going to have to bust out the mowers this weekend before we lose a cat in the yard. 

It's becoming a jungle. 

Lola the fertilizing dog makes the grass grow higher in some areas.   

And it's only March.

We never have to mow in March.

It's so un-Illinois like.

I fear for the summer.

It's going to be 120 degrees.

It's going to be a replay of our July Vegas wedding where people were heard screaming, "my eyes are burning out of my head!" 

It's not going to be pretty, folks.

And Holy Toledo.

Why Toledo?

The guy who started that saying (according to Wikipedia) was an Oakland sportscaster named Bill King.

Was he from Toledo?

Why not Holy Oakland?

Holy Billings?

Holy Hackensack?

Holy Laredo?

Well, anyway...

Holy Hackensack!

It's going to be a sizzlin' summer.

Don't lose your cats in the grass!

So Far...

So far things are going smoothly for us this summer 

Living the carefree life...

 

Swimming in the pool...

Grandpa has started his mole-killing spree again,

 with a little help from Lola who dug one up today and gave

it a bone crushing CHOMP.

 

Zoe had her dance recital...

Gigi being Gigi... 

Oh, and those cicadas!  UGH!

They are finally on their way out...

So far, So good.

Really?! Already?!

The weather is warm and the wind has died down.  The yard has some rather tall spots in it thanks to the extra fertilization of dog pee and poo.  I got the mowers out today...

Boy, oh boy, it's going to be a long summer. 

I can tell already just from my first attempt at mowing today...

...little trolls bent a section of the thingy under the riding mower that the blades sits within.  They did this when I went in the house to eat some jellybeans.  Maybe I should have brought out some jellybeans for them and they would have left the metal thingy alone.  Mower doesn't work now.

...the other riding mower we have has some issues with hills (nice, huh?) and while we don't live in a mountainous area, we do have some slight inclines in the yard.  

...and then that mower ran out of gas.  I am not doing any siphoning, thank you very much.  The gas station is too far away and I need more jellybeans.

...the push mower is in the barn where I think I will leave it.

So, two large riding lawn mowers are sitting in the pasture, patiently waiting for Chad to come home and do some pounding and sweating and cursing and fillin' up with go juice.  

It's going to be a long summer...