plug my ears and sing lalalalalala

I woke up this morning, felt a bit of a chill. The grey clouds hung low and threatened to release the rain. And my first thought was,"Ymmmm, I'm going to make some stew."

Stew? Stew! Stew is fall time talk.....Not yet.

This always happens...my mind flips a switch when August is approaching. I know that it is still summer...but I know it like a dying man who knows he only has a few weeks left to live. Only a few more weeks to savour and soak up the memories of fun that you pocket and pull out when the winter day blahs come over you.

So, excuse me, while I stick my fingers in my ears and sing and pretend not hear the wind blowing or the looming approach of August 1st.

Lalalalalala!

Sneaky thief!

Miss Lolo B was kind enough to drive out to our place and spend the day with us. It was full of our children's laughter as we had a picnic beside the river, went swimming in the pool and headed out to show them the local historical sites.

Lois had mentioned going to the museum and said, "I'll take my girls. You've been there four times already, I'm sure you are tired of paying the entrance fee."

"Lois, there's no entrance fee. We'll go together."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. I've been 4 times already. There's no entrance fee."

As we plodded along down the sidewalk heading towards the Musical Horse Ride, we laughed as our girls pretended to be horses while the two younger ones whined from the heat. As we approached the door to enter, Lois pointed at a sign: ADMISSION FEES.

My eyes nearly bugged out of my head..."Admission fees!" I croaked.

Lois just started laughing. "I'll pay," she said, knowing that I left my wallet behind because we obviously wouldn't need any money to get in.

So...apparently, my family has been stealing from our community by somehow getting into the museum and not paying.

After we got into the museum, I wondered several times, "How did we get into the museum? How did we think it was free? We've been here 4 times!"

Lois just kept laughing and saying, "I knew there would be a fee."

After stopping at the stables, enjoying the horse show, going through a few historic buildings, I once again found myself saying, "I just can't believe this. I feel terrible."

And then Lois cheered me up the way all great women and mother cheer up friends and children. She smiled and said, "Let's go for ice cream!"

Almost free gas for me

I, officially, live in a small town.
I stepped up to the counter to pay for gas. The teenager behind the counter smiles at me as he tries to process my debit card (checking card for you Americans). Suddenly there is a flurry of button clicking sounds as he tries to process my order.
“Dude,” he says to his buddy behind the counter. “What did you do to get the board going again?”
‘Dude’ comes over and hits some keys...which does nothing to proceed things. Instead, he shrugs and says, “Looks like you’re screwed, man.”
“Dude,” ‘man’ says, “can you get me the old keyboard?”
“Man, it’s not gonna do anything.” But he still goes and gets it.
It would seem that Dude is prophetic because it does not do a thing.He picks up the phone to call “the Boss.”
Enter Cranky old guy.
“Pump one isn’t working. Are your pumps not working?”
“No,” Man says, “I just haven’t authorized it.”
Old Cranky Guy wearing a look that says, “Why the hell not?” asks, “ What does that mean? Does that mean the pumps aren’t working?”
“No, the keyboard’s broken. I have to hit a key to authorize it.”
“Ah, I see. The pumps are not working.”
Exit Cranky old guy.
Dude hangs up the phone and gives an update to the now growing line of sweaty patrons in the cramped gasoline booth. “I’m gonna go put out the pylons, man. Take cash for orders.”
Enter pregnant lady amused by lack of problem solving skills the staff have. “And what do you do if you only have debit and no cash.”
Man and Dude look at each other for a moment.
Dude, clearly the leader in the group, tilts his head to the side and says, “Do you happen to live close by?”
“mhmmm.”
Sigh of relief from both boys.
“Great! Could you just write down your phone number and address. When the pumps are up again we’ll call you.”
“Ok” says pregnant lady. “I’m good for it.”
After leaving my number and address, I push open the door seeing huge line ups of cars, vans and trucks.
One lady keeps saying to Dude. “I think something is wrong with your pump. Are the pumps broken?”
Men, women and children all have their heads sticking out the window listening attentively as Dude addresses the crowd and says, “Yeah, pumps are closed, guys. Keyboard problems.”
I walked toward my vehicle at pump 5, and hear a family in the car say, “No gas here. Looks like the pumps are broken.”
I’m half-tempted to say, “No, it’s a keyboard problem.” But I keep my mouth shut. I just walk towards my vehicle as pandemonium among the townsfolk bursts forth repeating the small town news: “The pumps are broken.”

Living in the Old West

A re-enactment of a buffalo hunt

hanging out with Miss Inez

ah, there's nothing quite as handsome as man in uniform.

Sweet old lady from the WEst

These people were thrown in jail for pretending to be an officer of the law and a sweet old lady.

When this picture was taken, the photographer said, "You're in jail. You shouldn't be smiling."
And we said,"You would smile ,too, if you did what we did."

Trip Highlights

Since Happydoodler Holly begged so nicely...I'm back. I got back a while ago. But the day after I returned I felt compelled to move into our new house...and so I have finally plugged in my computer, caught up on youtube's version of So You Think You Can Dance and have downloaded some pictures of our trip.

A blurry pic of the City of Fountains-Kansas City, MO

Kansas at night in the Light and Power district

The only WW1 Memorial in all of USA

Downtown

Another fountain--at night this has a flame that burns on top

Best part of the trip: time alone with my man!