Bye, Bye Summer

Summer gave BFE the best weather ever. I can't remember the last time I turned on the air conditioner and I haven't been tempted to turn on the furnace. For a month or more it didn't rain, wasn't windy and the day temps were in the high 70's to low 80's with night temps in the area of 55. As far as I'm concerned, summer doesn't get any better.

My gourds agreed. They took over the trellis, the fence the trellis lays against, the bushes a ways down the fence and the fence that runs perpendicular to the trellis. The vines are loaded with birdhouse gourds. I'm so excited about the crop that I don't care that I only harvested one sick cucumber and the other variety of gourd that I thought I planted never appeared. Next year: birdhouses galore. Also next year: better gourd / cucumber planning and planting.

Loaded Trellis

I planted Mexican sunflowers again this year. The butterflies love them and this year the bumblebees have been thick.

Boo! Bee!

Pretty Butterfly -- Don't know what kind

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Before the season officially changed from Summer to Fall a friend and I went to Spencer to the Clay County Fair. Captain Crab worked that fair for years and every year little H and I would go up and stay in The Hotel, park on the fairgrounds, get into and hang out at the fair for free.

It has been years since Crab worked the fair and therefore years since I've been there. I was taken aback by the changes there. One thing that didn't change was my route and the views I so enjoy.

Heading in to Gillette Grove

The first thing that threw me was the Sky Glider. Just like at the state fair! We took that first so I could get my bearings -- things had changed that much.

View from the top

Some things you can always count on

More things you can count on -- though I saw cabbages almost as big as some of these pumpkins

I was surprised at the new buildings. They had a convention center which was filled with shills. I like fair shills as much as the next person, but we walked through every building and every building that didn't have animals or trains in it was full of or surrounded by vendors selling CRAP. Not that I wasn't tempted. I really, really want an infrared sauna.

Vince couldn't make it. Something to do with parole violations.

The old train building was replaced with this incredibly large structure crammed with an intricate tableau of railroading.

A whole lot of choo choo

There were cities, small towns, a replica of the fair itself, a circus, a replica of Arnold's Park (which has no meaning to anyone who hasn't been near the Iowa Great Lakes), areas of industry, milling, mining, farms, and fishermen in row boats, barges, changing seasons... Gee, I didn't realize I liked tiny stuff so much.

Fire department in a snow covered town

The weather was on the warm side. We walked, sought food, looked for a seat in the shade and started the process over again. We figured we spent 6 hours walking in the heat and dodging the same bitch with a stroller for most of those 6 hours. Hey lady! Get a clue! Your infant is not enjoying broiling at the fair!!

Then we headed home and went through a small town only slightly off the track. I'd never been through it before but it was worth it just for this:

The -- end?

Speechless - You Wish

This little headline caught my attention:

Fines proposed for going without health insurance

Yes, by all means, require all Americans to feed the feed coffers of the insurance companies or suffer the consequences. Don't those idiots in Congress get it? SOME PEOPLE CANNOT AFFORD HEALTH INSURANCE. And any insurance they could buy would do them no good if they so much as stubbed a toe. (Bill: $500 they do not have against their $5000 deductible.)

While Congress is at it they might as well require everyone to buy a Ford and really help out the economy. Hey -- why not require everyone to shop at Walmart so the Wally World shareholders can keep raking in the dough while denying to insure most of their workers?

I may volunteer for the death panel. Please let my President lead.

Noblesse Oblige

From Wikipedia: "In ethical discussion, it is sometimes used to summarize a moral economy wherein privilege must be balanced by duty towards those who lack such privilege or who cannot perform such duty."

In hearing and reading about the Kennedy clan I came to believe they were indoctrinated with "noblesse oblige" from birth, taught that their wealth was not ordained by God and they had obligations to the people who made that wealth happen and to the people who had no champions at all.

When reading of the escapades of a few of them I knew that at times some fell short:

"... it has been used recently primarily to refer to public responsibilities of the rich, famous and powerful, notably to provide good examples of behaviour or to exceed minimal standards of decency."

A few of them failed at times, including Ted Kennedy. But I think he worked like hell to overcome his failings and live up to the noblesse oblige legacy.

RIP, Teddy.

PS

Don't even get me started on Walmart.

Save Big Money (and get pissed off)

Yesterday in a fit of git-er-done, I went to Menards. I hate that place. Like Walmart, I knew I hated it when I went it. But there were some things I wanted NOW since I had started a project.

Had I been patient, I could have had boards custom cut at the nearby small town lumber yard, picked up paint at the hardware store in the same small town, and gotten other incidentals there that went with my project.

But I was in a big toot (I have a small window of time to complete the project AND clear a path for Captain Crab when he returns from where ever in hell he is) so I drove to Big Town, through frigging road construction, clear to the other side of town where the behemoth Menards resides.

I headed towards the paint looking for cheap-cheap-it-doesn't-matter-paint and the first thing I took notice of was SHOELACES!! Because everyone looking for lumber, paint and hardware needs shoelaces!!

I passed many items that, had I thought about it, I could have used at home. But I eschewed them all because I went there for paint, boards and some hardware.

After I completed filling my list I ended up in line behind a guy I know. He told me I did NOT want to be behind him in line because he was paying with a credit card and for some reason, credit transactions were painfully slow.

We chatted some about the store in the big town that Menards put out of business. It had a contractors area (where my friend would have gone) where things were expedited. It also did not have bird seed, picture frames, dog beds, coffee, soup, shoelaces, bleach, books or DVDs.

In spite of having more than six items (the limit), I went to the express lane. I'd forgotten how the check out process is so very, very whacked. You put your stuff on the conveyor, run to the other end, swipe your card, put in your numbers, bag your stuff, pull your receipt, pack your crap in a cart and haul it out. Now that's service!! I don't know that I would have been able to pay with cash or write a check.

I cannot express how much I despise Menards and regretted giving them money.

Stay Off My Road!

What would you do if you were driving down the road and met a car in the other lane stopped half on the shoulder with a woman inside obviously screaming and alternately waving her arms, pointing at the road and pulling at her hair?

If you were the asshole in the white service truck, you would keep on going at a break-neck speed and aim for the kittens in the road.

I was on my way home from my weekly supply run to the big town, traveling down the county hardtop when I noticed tiny creatures trying to cross the road ahead. I slowed down and was dismayed to see that it was five kittens. My first thought was to gather them up and take them home. There's nothing I love more than a kitty! Five kitties = five times the fun!

I slowed way down and the kittens puddled in the middle of the road. I crept closer and they pooled on the pavement in the left lane. So I pulled up and off the road a little with the intention of getting out of the car and shooing the poor things completely off the road.

That's when I saw Major Asshole heading for them and went through the histrionics trying to get him to SEE THE KITTENS ON THE ROAD!! SEE--LADY IN DISTRESS--POINTING--AT THE KITTENS IN THE ROAD??!!

He clipped one -- the others mercifully ran back across my lane and into the ditch. In my rear view mirror then I saw mama kitty on the opposite shoulder and the clipped kitty trying lamely to reach her.

My next step was to put the car in park, gather the brood and reunite them all, hoping the clipped kitty only had superficial wounds. But the oncoming traffic kept coming and coming and coming. Each and every one of them on some ridiculous mission requiring no attention and tremendous velocity.

I went home in tears.

Stay off of my road, please.

Summer So Far

Summer is whizzing by and leaving me in the dust. There will be no pictures of my flower gardens in this post because they are choked with weeds, as is my little sweet corn patch. The tomato patch is covered in landscape fabric to ward off weeds or I wouldn't be able to find it. There may or may not be tomatoes ripening on the vines.

In June I went to The Cities and got distracted on the way home and posted about it. The next weekend I took pictures for 3 days at town celebration for which I maintain a website. Then I spent days editing photos and the website.

Then came the 4th of July. Right after that I got thrown into the planning and preparation for our little K Town Celebration, which happens in NINE DAYS. Yikes! So much to do, so little time. Oh, and last Saturday Crab and I tended bar at a wedding. I had little sleep the 2 nights before (my list of things to do keeps me awake at night, doing NOTHING but fretting). Crab had spent the day before on his feet all day at a dog and pony show. I was led to believe that we would be relieved of our duties after the buffet was served. I was lied to. We ran our butts off for 10 hours and got home at 1 a.m. I am just now recovering from that.

I have taken a few pictures here and there. On July 6 I was marveling at the "snow" that covered the grass.

The cottonwoods were just busting out all over.

While I was playing with settings on my camera and watching it snow, the dog was busy inside. So I guess it was snowing inside, too.

A mega roll of Charmin

On July 13 I went to the neighbor's house to take care of some K Town celebration business and found this on the side of the road.

The silly bird was at least a half mile from water. As I got closer to him, he hopped into the ditch, so at least he was off the road. I like to think he was a juvenile who hadn't learned to fly yet and that eventually he hopped (or flew!) back home.

On Tuesday night there was yet another meeting for the celebration. It was held in the park until some of us had to pee at which point the meeting moved to the bar. It was a nice night so we sat outside. I noticed darkness in the north and decided I'd better head home to shut down this box which had been left running.

Storm brewing

I checked the radar and the cell was north of me. No big deal! Then I checked which way the storm was moving and shut down right away. It rained and hailed and the wind blew. I'd left a cooler by the front step on the east side of the house. After the storm I found it had rounded the corner of the house and had landed half way to the mailbox.

It was a beautiful day yesterday, right up until another little storm cell came in the evening.

Wednesday's storm

Gourd Blossom

No hail this time, but it sure did rain.

Rain

Coolest Wedding Thanks Ever

Captain Crab and I crashed a wedding reception last month. We had tons of fun. The other day we got the coolest wedding thank you EVER. The names have been changed to protect the innocent and the guilty. The guilty being me and Crab, of course.

We go to weddings we are not invited to and don't send in the RSVPs for weddings we are invited to. The cards get shoved into the "do later" pile and then before I know it, the "respond by" date has passed.

I usually call and beg them to please, please not turn us away when we show up. IF we want to go to the wedding. There are the weddings we can't figure out why we were invited at all. Those RSVPs, well, um, let's just say we are dripping in social graces and we may be high on some people's shit list.

It's About Blooming Time

Red Hollyhocks

Hollyhocks and Sunflower

Oxalis Vulcanicala "Molten Lava"

Yucca

Petunia

Linden Tree In Bloom

Bugs Loving the Linden Blooms

After looking at the pollen spilling from the hollyhocks, I'm glad I don't suffer from allergies. That hollyhock looks lethal.

I Hate The Interstate

I hate the interstate so much that I wanted to take a slower way home from my trip to the cities. I was so relaxed on this road that I got slightly misplaced.

Petey Must Die

The last time H was home she saw the ground squirrel cleaning up seed under the bird feeders. "Aw," she said, "I'm naming him Petey".

A few days later Crab and a neighbor were enjoying the time honored practice of sitting on the front stoop, drinking beer and trying to shoot ground squirrels. There was at least one rodent fatality that day. I secretly hoped it wasn't Petey.

Cute little Petey appeared the next day to stuff his face under the feeder and has been showing up daily. We co-exist. I don't bother him and he hasn't bothered me until this morning.....

Eating flowers!

Gardening Stuff & Bird Notes

The cardinal pictured in the previous post did not hang around. I was lucky to get a picture. Why, oh, why do they always leave me? I have sunflower seeds! I have water!

The orioles are still here, at least. I had an plastic net onion sack filled with yarn bits hung in a tree. Last week I checked it and it was empty. The other day I tiptoed through the long grass and looked up in the trees until I saw the orioles high in the branches next to their nest. They are nesting here! Take that you stupid cardinals!

I have been trying to get my flower gardens in order. It's work. It's work I have to redo constantly since Gretchen thinks freshly dug flower beds mean a new dog wallow for her. She jumps in her swimming pool (small stock tank) then rolls and digs around in the dirt sending teeny, tiny petunias flying. I think that dog would live happily with pigs.

Besides the grave stone I made for Ringo, I have been making pavers for lawn edging. These are studded with glow in the dark stars that used to be stuck all over the daughter's ceiling.

In other news, yesterday I made a trellis for cucumbers and gourds.

I discovered that the dirt I made was not done cooking. The weed seeds sprouted like crazy as soon as I filled these "planters". Tomatoes sprouted, too. And even though I didn't plant any squash in there, I may have some squash growing. The thing is, I can't tell because the cucumbers and gourds look the same as squash. So we will see what I end up with. It could be a good year for things not planted.

Memorial For Ringo

Ringo was my fuddy duddy little buddy. I adopted him from a friend who had adopted him from a shelter. I loved him long before he came to live with me. He was funny, smart and talented. In spite of his size, he was a wonderful watch dog. He was no match for the UPS driver, however.


Ringo has been gone for sometime. I buried him under the cedar trees by the bird feeders. I can see Ringo's grave when I look out the kitchen window so I think about my fuddy duddy little buddy every day.

Ringo's grave. The cardinal did not hang around.

I made a new stone for Ringo with his tag in the center of it. The other day I moved the rocks and placed the stone and planted some flowers. It is a more suitable memorial for a dog I loved so much.

R.I.P.