Take me out ....

The adventure for today was...........

Field of Dreams (film site) ...  

There have been very few things that I have had a strong desire or strong displeasure to see/visit on this journey of ours, but the Field of Dreams film site was one of the things that I really really wanted to see ~ since we were sort of in the area! 

I have very very fond baseball game memories for a lot of reasons ... 

When my boys were younger we spent a summer or two at many many Red Sox games ... I bought several tickets and one week one of the boys and I would go to a game and the next week the other one and I would go and some weeks both boys and I would go ..... so when my oldest son (SSgt Joshua) got married seven (WOW seven!!) years ago when the mother of the groom had the dance with the groom guess what the tune was ?.?.?.?.?.

You got it........ it was "Take me out to the Ball Game" 

So anyway, baseball has always been my favorite sport .. then along came football ... another story for a different day but ...

In spite of the 85 degree weather today (but it really was a dry 85 degrees! and it was sure better than the 107 degree day in Nevada - UGH) we had a great day and I am so glad we went there ...

To the right are Rick and Sir doing the coming out of the corn field scene - what do you think?  A good rendition of that scene from the movie?  Speaking of the movie - I wanted to rent it before we went today so we could sort of have a "refresher" course but we never "got to it"...

If you can enlarge the photo to the right (I've had comments that some of the photos I post can't be enlarged and I have no clue why some can't and some can ~ Chad got any idea??)  Anyway, the photo to the right is Sir and I sitting on the bleachers looking at the field .... 

And here are Sir and I on second - posing oh so nicely .. well maybe not so much, remember it is 85 degrees?

And now it's the Whelan boys rounding first ...

 After we got back near the "campground" we took Arlo swimming in the lake to get him some "down time" and cool off a bit.  Later Rick and I went to the local American Legion and met a local couple.  As usual we chatted and got "to know each other" and told them "our story" .... 

 

Who has ever met someone who really and truly, first hand experienced a tornado?  Well the woman (Lynn and her mother Marlene who was also there) told us about the tornado that came through Oelwein in 1968 and destroyed their home ... it was quite a story and as much as I thought I could imagine what it would be like I really had no stinking idea - nor do I ever want to come any closer than the story I heard this afternoon ... as they described it, it truly sounded like a freight train and when you notice the cloud signs or hear the alarm sounding you don't have much time ~ a matter of minutes ~ to take "cover" ........ the entire second floor of their home was gone ... they were "trapped" in the cellar until help arrived to get them out but according to them it was only a matter of a few minutes before neighbors started clearing away the rubble to get to them in the cellar.  Another "odd" thing was that the tornado destroyed every other house on their street for a total of 11 homes!  To hear their tale truly left me with "goose bumps" and they were so calm and at ease telling the story - yes it had been many years but I'm not sure I would care to relay the tale if it were my first hand experience ... Anyway, another one of those people stories I've mentioned so often ~ just meeting people along the way and hearing about their life experiences!  Isn't it great!

Raspberry, blueberry or strawberry rhubarb???

Yesterday, as I had mentioned, we went to the Amish community here.  It was pretty interesting and there were lots of great photo ops!  I did ask one young man if I could take a picture of his horses and wagon and he said sure as long as you don't take one of me ~ I took that to mean no people pictures at all.  I well could have misinterpreted the comment but I didn't want to push my luck and offend anyone so unfortunately there are no people pictures.  I would like to have chatted at length with some of them (sort of like I wanted to get the readers digest version of the Mormons in Utah).  I know absolutely nothing about their religious beliefs so I guess I'll wikipedia it ~ that will certainly provide the readers digest version! 

Anyway, the picture above is a wagon coming out of a side road onto a major county road ~ it was odd to see this for sure.  They just go along on the side of the road ~ and that horse was really moving.  That wagon was driven by a woman and she had her two young children with her ~ yup it would have made a great close up shot...

Below is a shot of a few wagons (are they really called wagons or are they buggies?) parked outside (there actually were about 25 of them parked here) a produce and livestock auction.  The wagons were parked clustered together in the same parking lot as about 40 cars - it was a neat contrast.

Below are a couple laundry pictures!  Yup I may have really gone off the deep end with this huh ~ taking pictures of laundry.  Rick said the people in these houses must think the '"tourists are getting really crazy these days taking pictures of laundry!!  I took the pictures because I really loved the colors and how the clotheslines looked with all those colors so perfectly hung!  The first one really cracked me up when we went by this house and on the way back I had to pull over to the side of the road to take the pictures.  See that long white line going up on the left side of the photo?  THAT is the white laundry and it is hung on a HUGE clothesline going from the house to the barn...... it just cracked me up - it looks like a kite string!  The second photo is a close up of the first one - check out that quilt on the end - isn't it beautiful and colorful.  In a previous life I used to make quilts but nothing as beautiful as that I fear!  The third picture is just a random Amish laundry photo (again because I loved the colors).  

Last is a view of an Amish farm property.  When we first saw these farms I said to Rick oh that must be one because of the windmill.  Again, he thought I was nuts .... but my logic was (and I still believe I am correct!! - stubborn who me?) that of course they have windmills to power their water pumps because they have no electricity.  I was very surprised at how large their houses and property is.  I guess I was thinking more along the lines of the Shakers who live so simply in sparse homes - maybe?  

And oh, by the way, raspberry, blueberry or strawberry rhubarb?  We bought one of each!  Froze two ... the third one, well guess what ......... yup we ate it.  It was delicious (blueberry, and I don't even like blueberry pie!)

I'm baaaaaaack

Rick took that picture the other day when we were out on the bikes ~ nice job huh!

So yesterday we traveled 150 miles from Albert Lea, MN to Oelwein, IA.  We extended our stay in Albert Lea by two days (no more extending for a while - we have commitments in Louisiana in two weeks and in South Carolina October 13).  We really liked the fairgrounds we were at in Albert Lea, although it wasn't as social as the fairgrounds in Sioux Falls.  The downside (??) to the one in Albert Lea was no satellite because of the trees surrounding our site so we would take the laptop to the local library every few days.  

We had the bikes out quite a bit in Albert Lea.  That was an interesting town ... a very friendly Elks Lodge and a very unfriendly American Legion Post!  Not a lot of restaurants in the town - my birthday dinner was Applebees!  Rick asked the girl at the library what was a good restaurant to go to ~ her answer ~ Applebees, Pizza Ranch or a Mexican place in the mall!!!  Oh well that was the day we went to the SPAM museum so birthday lunch was a spam reuben!!  Like Ricky says, he takes me to all the best places!

Below is a picture for you Kimberly - this was outside the office in Northwood, Iowa ~ everyone there said they didn't know you ~ I was wondering if any of them were in Kansas City with you!

Today I guess we will get the bikes out and explore the town of Oelwein (and hopefully learn the correct pronunciation of the town).  Also, there is an Amish community here that I want to go to ~ word has it they have baked goods for sale on Friday and Saturday - I need a raspberry pie in the worst way.  Also, we are right on a lovely lake so you know what that means - Sir is ready to go swimming at a seconds notice!  So we'll probably take him to the lake then head out after he's tired...

AAAHHHHH

Internet again ~ for the moment!  We just arrived in Oelwein, Iowa for the long weekend.  Stay tuned...........

A long week with no internet

UGH, it's been a long week without internet I never (well I guess I really have) realized how dependant I am on it!  We have been busy busy busy but I still like to "check in" at least once a day.

We are in another very busy Fairgrounds.  There is this huge cow at the entrance and surprisingly enough Sir wasn't afraid!  Perhaps because he has also been so busy that he was too tired to be afraid - unlikely though!  He has been swimming and playing in one of the many many lakes around here (remember, Minnesota is the land of 10,000 lakes!).  He NEEDS Casey with him to play ball in the lakes!

One of the three or four events happening in the fairgrounds this weekend is a chilli and ribs cookoff competition.  We went to the chilli tasting last night ..... and of course over indulged .. I had to take a picture of one of the smokers set up for the ribs today (you know, that "pig thing" I've got going on!).  Also, blue grass music all during the event.

We are, once again, down the road from a small local airport.  This weekend, there is an airshow.  Rick is quite an airplane "nut" so we will be there again today.  Yesterday we were there while the pilots were practicing etc.  Very interesting.  I guess airplane people get as obsessive as motorcycle people can get.  There were some "beauties" there.  One in particular just stood at at me ...  I hope you can click on it to enlarge - if not check this out!  I am going to do an album of plane photos on our picassa site when I have internet at the house again.  In the meantime here are a few more.

 
 

That's all for today... Hopefully, I'll play "catch up" next week.

a Spam birthday?!?!

So we arrived in Minnesota yesterday (Albert Lea, MN to be exact).  We are staying at another fairgrounds.  Lovely fairgrounds with grass and trees and much newer buildings etc. than the Sioux Falls fairgrounds ~ we are very happy "campers" but....... because of the trees we have no satellite!  So we won't be on line (email or blogging) so much for the next week.  At the moment I am at a local library using their service  

Rick thought it would be most appropriate if I celebrated my birthday at the Spam Museum in Austin, MN about 20 miles east of here.  He forgot, however, to bring candles!  

We took the bikes over there and really had a fun time.  Hormel knows how to make a "museum" ... it wasn't as "hokey" as I had hoped, but it was close, but it was full of fun facts and lots of fun exhibits - and they all included the visitors...... hands on stuff!  Fun, fun, fun ...

Above is us (obviously) with "Spammy" who is there to greet you as you enter ... (hey how am I doing with the Alves school of smiling - keeping up with my refresher courses as needed aren't I?!?)

Below is a statue located outside the entrance ~ no we did not bring Babe and Wendy (thankfully).  But let me tell you .. Minnesota has more corn fields (and pig farms, by the smell) than I could ever imagine possible.  I wondered out loud how a world could need so much corn and Rick pointed out to me that perhaps, probably, it is used in ethanol production - let's hope that is so!

Here I am hard at work at one of the exhibits ~ the challenge was to see how long it takes to "package" cans of Spam.  I don't remember my time, and I guess we didn't take a picture of it but let me reassure you all, I will not be hired by Hormel as a Spam packager anytime soon!  It was fun though, and this is one of the "hands on" exhibits I was referring to.

Below are the "Pig doors" you go through at the beginning of the self guided tour of the Spam Museum ... aren't they too cute and creative!  I loved them (you know that "pig thing" again).

And lastly, the bikes outside the Museum.  We really had a fun day.  We were both ready for naps I think when we got back, but Sir doesn't like it when we return after four hours or so away and want to have naps - rightly so, he thinks it should be HIS time!

I'll try to get back to the Library often, but we are here for a week so it probably won't be every day.  Although, it is going to rain tomorrow (or so they say, weather forecasts don't seem to be all that accurate here in the Midwest) so perhaps we'll be here again tomorrow.  Or we may go in the car with Sir and explore whatever else may be around ...

Rickster's world ...

I tried to do this post last night but couldn't upload the photos ~ our satellite issues continue  and we still have no satellite television (oh horrors) so we can't watch the Red Sox.  We do, of course have local television ....... since I watch very little tv it's alright by me except the Red Sox issue!

Anyway, these are a few pictures Rick took - the coach last night, pretty well packed up ready to leave today ... all the chairs and awnings are in, the wheel covers off, the sunscreens off the windows .... looks pretty barren and bare doesn't it!  The tacky flamingos are even put away.

Below is a photo he took of the moon - we have had some outstanding full moons the last two nights.  I am not sure what the two more vertical lights are but he did tell me that the moon was really pretty over the spires of St. Joseph's Cathedral downtown and we are a mile or so away.  That church is outstanding - you can see it from anywhere in Sioux Falls and it is especially pretty at dusk or dark when it is lit.  There are some really nice pictures of it in the Sioux Falls book the Mayor gave us.

And last, but not least is a photo Rick took (with his phone, not bad huh) at the "cage fights" the other night!  I think I'm delighted I didn't go and sort of surprised he did, but he said he'd never been to one and wanted to see what it was all about ......  At least it was here so he could walk to it and home but he went with another guy from the "campground" who works here so they went in Kevin's golf cart.  That would be the same golf cart that Sir Arlo attacked the tires on!  That was after Sir thought he should roller blade and bicycle with two guys on the other side of the Grandstand fence!  Apparently anything that moves he needs to be the boss of!  And Chad thinks Indie should be trained as well as Arlo is!!!  Arlo is trained very well but has this issue with things that move ...............

That's it for now - short post as I need to get going buttoning things down inside the coach so we can be on our way to Minnesota.  Stay tuned....

Just some Saturday evening stuff

While rick is out watching the "cage fights" (another event at the Fairgrounds) I thought I'd upload a couple photos of "happenings" in the world of Whelan.  

The top one is a shot of one of the many (read hundreds) of critters that dig up the fairground grounds.  I thought they were prairie dogs but they are smaller than a prairie dog so I don't know what they really are but I just call them gophers or critters.  They dig holes - like huge holes all over the place.  Arlo is quite interested in them to say the least!  I posted a photo a few weeks ago of him determined he was going to get to the bottom of a gopher hole!  They are kind of cute critters but truly a nuisance or an ankle twister if you're not careful!

The other night we sat outside till about 1:00 am just chillaxin' and I got a decent shot of the moon - can't explain why the heck this night shot came out alright - I guess I'll just never understand this camera!  Got any hints Chad?

Today we finally got the bikes out - well Rick was out on his yesterday while I had a rather zombie like day trying to adjust to new medication so I stayed home.  Today my bike came out and we headed north to Lake Madison about 50 miles away.  What a gorgeous ride through acres and acres and acres of farm land and rolling hills.  This side of the state isn't quite like the western side with the beautiful Black Hills.  This is more rolling hills.  But so much open land out here it amazes me still.  Then again the population of the entire state is only around 750,000 so I guess that says a lot.  I am still seriously thinking about buying land here.  The housing here is unreal - the further from the city you go the cheaper it is (obviously I guess) but there are houses (habitable houses mind you) with some land for $15,000!  On the outskirts of the city I saw one for $49,000 with 1 1/2 acre!  Rick thinks it would be wiser to buy in an area that we would be comfortable in year round - I don't know about that.  All I want is land to put the coach on while we are here, which obviously would not be in the winter.  But I digress I guess didn't I .....

Anyway, I (we) have this thing about taking pictures of town signs that are the names of friends etc (remember when we went to St. Onge!)  Well on the way up to Madison we passed this one ... so Chester, we're thinking of you and wish you were riding with us here ... When I was in Iowa with my sister there was a town named Guthrie Center, which I thought we should go to so I could have a picture of Sir Arlo sitting at the town sign but Guthrie Center was on a different scenic byway than the one we took!!!  Maybe a different time.

Here is a picture of the bikes at some buffalo in Madison ... we did pass a buffalo farm on the way there but that wasn't where this was taken ~ this was just some buffalo on the side of the road!  Is that eligible for "roadside America" - not quite the big ball of string but........  (stay tuned, however, next weeks journey has a beauty of an example of roadside America in the plan)

And below is some place we stopped at the north end of Lake Madison.  It was a great peaceful setting and a pretty decent place but the menu did nothing for me so we only had a cocktail and left .... went to a place at the southern end of the lake to eat - not much better than the northern end but I needed food .... and the choices were rather slim .... We had a great ride though - perfect weather, perfect roads and perfect riding companion!  

Thursday, that ended up being Friday's post

Another sunset picture to start I guess!  I took this Tuesday evening ~ wish I could get the wires out of my pictures though.

We've been off line for a couple days having satellite issues and no internet is really frustrating ~ gee what did people do years ago huh!  Anyway, Rick somehow got us internet back yesterday but we still have no satellite television so no Red Sox - boooo hiss.  I guess today he'll "call the man" and hopefully it'll be fixed soon.  We shall see we shall see.

On Wednesday we took Sir to the Veterans Park here in Sioux Falls - another of the gorgeous parks here.  We hadn't been there before and were quite impressed.  It is down the street from the park that has the Japanese Garden (haven't been to that one either!) and down the street from the family aquatic center - pools, huge water slides etc. for the public (don't know if it includes "transients" or not though).  Anyway, we had a nice walk through the park and Sir got to do some swimming and ball chasing (but missed Casey with the ball chasing part).

Then on Wednesday night we went to another Canaries game.  This was the last night they'll be in town before we leave so we decided to get in one more game.  So of course, more pictures.  "Cagey" the mascot of course walked by us several times so we couldn't pass up that photo op.  I had on my Red Sox sweatshirt - Cagey is trying to cover it up!!  So funny that silent bird!  I just had to take another shot of Cagey's backside - love that tail!  At the stadium (called the "Bird Cage") they have a section called the "party deck" - $20. gets you the game, all the food you can eat and all the drink you can drink - no hard liquor and only Miller Lite for beer but hey, it worked (water and diet soda for me, I'm not a beer kind of girl).  I pretty good deal do ya think?  Oh yeah ~ the Canaries won.

All week long at the fairgrounds there have been many police cruisers here for some sort of training every morning.  Rick found out yesterday that they hire people to be the "bad guys" ~ he wished he'd known sooner ~ he thinks that would be a good job for him too, he says he can be a bad guy!

I think we are going to get the bikes out today and wash them then hopefully put on a few miles.  Speaking of which I did 4 1/2 miles on the bike trail last night ... what a gorgeous ride along the river (the Big Sioux River).  So peaceful it was and I didn't know I was capable of that distance, which of course makes me wonder how Chad did Boston to New York twice ... man I couldn't even do the entire bike trail, which I think is a 13 mile loop!  Ah youth!  Ah training!

Back to "normal" Tuesday

Last night we had dinner and fun with our friends Rick and Jaye.  They were among the first people we met when we were out here last September to establish our residency etc. and we just "connected".  They are such fun fun fun people with whom we have had a lot of good times and lots of laughs.  They will be leaving tomorrow for a vacation and we will have left Sioux Falls when they return.  Being the emotional person that I am, I've had a difficult time leaving a few places along the way but last night was the worst ~ I just didn't want to leave them - they have been so very very gracious, warm and welcoming.  They alone could be the Sioux Falls Chamber of Commerce/Welcome Wagon (do communities still have Welcome Wagons?).  Also, they brought us a very very special gift - a cloth embroidered by Jaye's grandmother who is 102 years old.  What a treasure!  We sure will miss you two ....

Yesterday was eye doctor day etc.  UGH ...... two and a half hours later - seriously, two and a half flipping hours for an eye doctor's appointment!  I left with a new perscription etc.  When I was finally on my way out of the building Rick was on his way in to find out what the hell happened to his wife!  

I guess though that Richard made good use of his time (while I was getting dialated, examed and frustrated with the entire opthamolgist routine) by catching up with  pal Richie etc.  At some point he recieved a call that came up on his phone as unknown, strangely enough he answered the call!  It was Vicky, the personal assistant to Sioux Falls Mayor David Munson.  Mr. Mayor heard that we were new to the city and would like to meet with us ... HUH!  Seriously, I couldn't make this up either - my eyes may have been dialated like I was out of control but my hearing was alright as Rick was relaying the story to me ....

So off we go today for our appointment with Mr. Mayor with whom we discussed our delight with his fine city ~ we talked about the lovely park system, the fun "sculpture walk", the lack of crime, the value system here and the joys of traveling this great country meeting people and seeing the wonderful things we've seen and realizing how truly fortunate we are!  Now seriously, who would have thought!  It's just the way our life goes on this journey - a conversation among friends (Rick and Jaye with Vicky a few days ago) and we get a phone call that Mr. Mayor would like to meet us!

So here are the Whelan's "keys to the City" (seriously)!  ohhhhhh this life of ours ........ 

pinch me please.

Monday Monday

The "party's over" .... the fair ended at 10:00 last night.  The stuffed animals (photo below) are all bagged up and ready to head to Rapid City (I guess).  It was amazing to us, as we walked through and around the area about 11:00 last night, what a buzz of activity it was.  It seemed like the "break down" was much much quicker than the set up for sure - what took days and days and days to set up seemed to be disassembled in a matter of hours.  Arlo and I haven't walked down to the midway area yet but I suspect that it is all gone and a huge mess is left.  All the outside vendors have left and the ride people are still here, although the "campground host" tells me they won't all be gone for another week.  After they all leave we can move back to a sewer site but we may not be here then.  We were scheduled to leave yesterday but decided to stay another week so we shall see.  Rick and I are both getting anxious to get back on the road, as much as we have loved being in Sioux Falls (except the library card foolishness) we're ready to hit the road again.

Today is going to be a "catch up" day, although I have an eye doctor appointment this morning.  The rest of the day will be spent cleaning this joint up and getting back to "normal".  For whatever reason the coach looks like a time bomb exploded in here ~ I guess the ticket work slowed down our house keeping ability or something!  Plus we are having our Sioux Falls friends over tonight for cocktails (unless it rains and the place turns into a mud wrestling arena).  They are leaving Wednesday for North Carolina and we won't see them again until we return to Sioux Falls ~ who knows when that will be ~ hopefully sometime next summer but we couldn't possibly plan that far ahead!

Speaking of North Carolina, my Marine and family got there last Thursday.  I guess they really pushed to travel across the country.  I thought they were going to have a slow, leisurely trip but I thought wrong!  They are looking for housing at the moment as they've been in motels for a couple weeks and are anxious to get settled and back to a routine.  I guess there is a base housing unit that will be available tomorrow and they were also looking at places off base.  We shall see ... Joshua did say they are both very happy to be back in North Carolina, as much as they loved California, they're glad to be back on the other coast.

Another Friday for rambling on and on and on

A view of the line for the "senior lunch" yesterday!  The sponsor (Blue Cross) started serving at noon and the seniors started lining up at 11:10!  We decided to take a long walk around the fairgrounds and see what the line was like afterwards!  

The photo above is of some of the fairgrounds help.  You may have to click on the picture to enlarge it so you can see it better but the Minnehaha County Sheriff brings in a van load of prisoners daily to help out around here.  Prior to the fair they came in once a week to prepare for the fair I guess and I imagine they'll be here for a time after the fair closes.  I thought this was only done in the south but I really like the idea ~ don't  know how they (the prisoners) feel about it but I suspect they like being out in the world for a few hours.

I need to ramble and rant about an incident the other day that is really bugging the heck out of me and I just can't "let it go" ..... On Monday we went to the main Sioux Falls Library to get library cards ... we go through the filling out the application stuff and take them and our drivers licenses up the library card young lady.  She starts entering our info in her computer and asks for our permanent address which we point out is on the application.  Well the legal address we (and about 5000 other full timers) use is our mail forwarding service.  She states that we don't live in a mailbox (not only was she cute and pleasant, but she is very smart to boot) that we are "transients" - well this term goes up my butt about seven miles ..  She continues to tell us we have to have a permanent address that is a house OR we can bring a campground receipt stating how long we are paid ahead for and can get a "temporary card" up to that date.  Keep in mind, we rarely plan ahead and often extend daily.  So we left fairly angry/frustrated without our library cards.  I "stewed" about this for a couple days and emailed the mayor and the head library lady.  The mayor passes my comments to the library lady, who never bothered to reply to my email to her, but does reply to the one forwarded from the mayor.  I would like to meet said library lady because she surely sends a rather unpleasant email and I can't possibly imagine that a head library lady can be quite so unpleasant.  Her point was that the library is for taxpayers, not transients.  I point out that when we registered our five flippin vehicles in Sioux Falls we paid taxes on them.  I further pointed out that our drivers licenses were legally issued with the mail forwarding address, we legally registered to vote with the mail forwarding address, we legally got permits to carry concealed weapons with the mail forwarding address and we've legally registered our dog with the mail forwarding address!  I also pointed out that if they would like they could have a credit card security for any books they felt might be pilfered by the transient Whelans.  Are we the only ones that think this is beyond absurd!  I just can't let this go and yup it is driving me crazy ........ I hate foolish, nonsensical rules and this might be the epitome of said foolish rules.  And head library lady's tone really was unnecessary.  Part of me is so tempted to go there daily with a campground receipt and as them to issue us daily temporary cards, go through the entire foolishness daily!  Darn, I think I've worked myself up again over this!

Yesterday we took Sir to a lovely huge park to run off some of his pent up energy.  He has been a mess since the fair started and the fairgrounds is a buzz of activity - he doesn't even want to go outside but obviously has to but will only go to the small area behind the coach.  When we go to work at night we leave all the air conditioners on as well as the television to try to drown out the music at the grandstand ~ last night was a group called "Staind with Theory of a Deadman" - heavy metal, head banging loud loud loud stuff.  The ticket booth we were in last night was right in front of the Grandstand!!!!  Tonight is Chicago so I suspect that will be loud, but hopefully not as loud!  Anyway, we will take Arlo out for some off fairgrounds time today ~  while the car air conditioner is getting a recharge, Sir will be getting a recharge!

A Thursday morning quickie

Above is Baby Whelan's (Baby Alves-Whelan??) latest photo.  Isn't (s)he  beautiful and getting so big!  It is amazing to me how distinct the face and arms are at this point ....

And you know the one above is the worst picture of us ever taken but it is so unclear who it is that perhaps I could convince you it isn't really us!  Rick insisted the photo be taken from outside looking in ..... hence the glare.  Anyway, that is us on the first night of our "work job" selling ride tickets.  One down four to go.  It was quite a study in humanity I'll tell you ~ and the word is the economy is poor ~ by the end of the night we had gone through thousands of dollars worth of tickets ...... it was absolutely amazing to both of us.  The place was mobbed - Sugarland (a country music group I guess) was playing last night and that drew a heck of a crowd.  Like I said, a great study in humanity it was .... there sure are "all kinds" out there.  We did have fun though and the night passed fairly quickly except the last hour when I don't think we sold even $100. worth of tickets.

Gotta run now and get to the auto service place - need the ac "recharged" and have to get back in time for the "senior lunch" here at the fair.  Then we have to take Sir to play at a quiet park before "work" tonight.  Sir is absolutely petrified of all the goings on here and he went to the vet yesterday and it seems I am not the only one packing on the pounds - he has gained 10.3 himself ... another case of lack of exercise I guess, although I am riding my bicycle some ... Arlo, not so much.

Some sights, but not the sounds of the Sioux Empire Fair opening day!

I wish I could add some sounds of the fair but I just can't figure out how to do that ~ it is doable but not for yours truly.  Wouldn't it be great to open the blog and also hear Jimmy Buffett!  The possibilities are just endless.  Maybe someday I'll find my brain and be able to make sense of complicated, technical instructions but probably not today!

So the fair finally opened yesterday and LOOK who was there (and is required to be here all week!).  None other than Miss Sioux Empire - aka Lexy.  She won the competition Monday night and will go on to the Miss South Dakota competition next spring!!  She is a cutie and a sweetie indeed and Rick thought it would be delightful to have a photo of us with her ~ so here's lookin' at y'all!

We had so much fun (well I did anyway) walking and walking the grounds several times yesterday.  I think my favorite part is "Old MacDonald's Farm".  This is sort of a petting zoo for kids - well maybe not as a lot of the animals are not accessible but it is a nicer, much better lit area than the barns are.  We did go through a couple of the barns and Rick made a comment that the smells (hay) took him back many years to the Hingham Riding Stable where he, Patrick and especially Nancy spent many many hours - it was an interesting observation, a nice trip down memory lane I think.

Below are the piglets in the OMF area - I haven't made it to the swine barn yet so stay tuned for that ~ as some of you may know I just have this thing for pigs - it all started with the movie Babe and the stuffed Babe that Rick gave me for Christmas one year.  My Babe talks and she and her pal Wendy traveled all over the country and many Caribbean Islands with us before we retired - we have pictures of them everywhere raising havoc - Wendy has a reputation for bad behavior (problem child that she is).  Anyway, I may have to go back to OMF today and try to count the piglets in that pen cause I certainly can't tell from this picture how many there are, but that's quite a pig pile isn't it!

The pen below (not accessible for children to put their hands in!) is a bull and a buffalo.  I didn't notice the ring in the bull's nose until I uploaded the photos but when I saw it it reminded me of my mom because........... many many (perhaps a thousand or perhaps 40) when I wanted to get my ears pierced ~ this was a huge long long battle in my house ~ my mother was so horrified that one of her daughters would want to do such a trashy thing that her most often used line was "what will come next a ring in your nose" ... so I guess that was my trip  down memory lane yesterday but I think Rick's was a better one.

Here is Mama goat and baby ... that baby just would not leave Mama alone - it got really physical trying to get in there and poor Mama just put up with it.  I think that baby needed a few minutes in a time out chair but I decided not to suggest it and let Mama do her own child rearing without any outside interference.

And below are tiny horses - smaller than a Shetland Pony I think.  A few months ago I found a picture of Patrick (taken in September 1981 when he was three) walking a small pony around Hingham Riding Stable and these horses reminded me so much of that picture.  (p.s. I have been trying to upload that photo for 20 minutes and just gave up so I can post this blog entry!)

Outside OMF they had this wooden cow (Rick says it is "udderly ridiculous" isn't he so witty).

Inside the cow is a bucket of water with four "udders" sticking out the bottom and kids "milk the cow" - well I still remembered how to milk a cow successfully - I guess it may be like riding a bike tho!  Rick had no interest in trying to milk the cow .. silly Rick.

And how about these beauties - Kimberly are they guernsey or jersey cows?  They are such a nice color.  In the dairy barn there also is a cow who had just given birth two hours prior - they had already taken the calf back to the farm and were going to "hand" feed her with Mom's colostrum for three days then they feed her for three months (I think it was) rather than her having her mom's milk which, being a dairy farm, is income for them!  For some foolish reason I thought that of course they would allow the calf to nurse from Mom!

The last photo today is me with the Sioux Falls Marine - I wish it were my own Marine, who I think is visiting Graceland today.  The Marine booth here at the fair had a pull up bar set up and a list of "prizes" (stickers, shirts, visors) you could "win" for doing a certain amount of pull ups - Rick won a sticker!  Too funny.  I did discuss with the poor recruiter that my Marine preferred going to Iraq rather than recruiting again - can you imagine trying to recruit right now!  

Today we have a couple errands to do, Sir has a doctor's appointment and we need to pick up Rick's new eyeglasses.  Then tonight we start our "work job" selling tickets ........ we have official "staff" shirts and all!  Stay tuned for that one!  They wanted us to start last night but we had already made plans to have dinner with our Sioux Falls friends Rick and Jaye so we officially start at 6:00 tonight!  Sioux Empire here we come!

An "earily" busy weekend!

No I didn't mis-spell in the title of today's post - it was intentional.  Dana and Wendy, you guys know where this is going don't you!  

This weekend was very very busy here at the Sioux Empire Fairgrounds getting ready for the big day tomorrow when the fair opens!!!  Yes, our job applications are in!  We cracked up at having to seriously fill out an application ~ something we never expected to do again in our lives!  Imagine, a whole application process to work a few hours over the course of a five day fair!  HMMMMM - interesting!

Anyway, the picture above is of one of the cars participating in an autocross event here at the fairgrounds on Saturday.  We were sitting in the coach and kept hearing screeching tires and I finally decided to get on my bicycle and investigate and came across the event.  It was interesting to watch for a while and this was my favorite car there - an older (1950 ish?) jaguar.  There was also a horse show happening here on Saturday which was fun to watch.  And the local semi-pro football team, "the Law Dawgs" had a game here Saturday afternoon.  Busy, busy busy around here and all the while the fair people continue to set up! 

And that all brings me to the "earily" part!  Yesterday I decided to head out to Mitchell ~ about 60 miles west of here.  Mitchell is famous for .......... The Corn Palace!  The Corn Palace is a building that is entirely covered with corn!  Seriously, cobs, husks, you name it ~ see for yourself!  They strip the building each year (early summer I believe) then put up tar paper on which they have drawn the layout for the design for the year and start covering it.  It is "interesting" if not unique to say the least.  Our friends Dana and Wendy were there some years ago when they were full timing and they were pretty under-whelmed with the whole thing, so it is a joke of sorts between them and me.  They referenced a similarity to the corn palace and wall drug and I guess I can understand the connection.  Both places leave you scratching your head wondering who the heck dreams this stuff up!  But I am glad I went yesterday ~ I mean how could I be 60 miles away and not see it!  Plus it is on the route to Sturgis and this is rally week so there were just hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of bikes and trailers headed out there - and that sort of made me wish we were there now!  I'm glad we were there this year prior to rally but a part of me did want to be there yesterday as all these bikes were going by me!

The picture below is inside the Corn Palace, which also is covered with cobs!  Of course, there were t-shirt vendors and vendors of all things corn - all of which I left right where it was!

In closing today a brief explanation of the photos below.  When my Dad passed away a few years ago we of course had to clean out/go through and get rid of everything.  My younger son Chad (who is very family oriented) took some of the old "Peck family" photos and sent them away to be scanned.  There were photos of my siblings and me as very young children and some much more recent photos of my boys and my nieces and nephews.  Below are two of my favorites in the collection - my dad and the other of my mom reading to my brothers boys when they were much younger (weren't we all!).  I have put all of the photos on the picasa site but they did not transfer well so they really need to be "tweaked" and I'm not sure how to do it - I may wait until I get them on a cd from Chad and see if they transfer from that better ~ but they are a trip in the way back machine to see - there are some beauties there for sure, and of course a couple that I have no idea who the people are - one of the down sides of having both parents gone - there's no one to ask!  But thankfully, Chad cared enough to do something with them!

Friday ramblings ...

Above is our new Grandog ......... she is Indy and was just adopted by Chad and Amy .... she is about a year old (right Chad?) and a doberman mix ......... Indy, Chad and Amy will start dog school on Sunday - and not a moment too soon ...... Amy  shouldn't lose anymore sandals ~ a woman needs all the footwear she can get!

Below is the Lovett family that is starting a biiiiiiiig journey today.  They will be leaving CA to drive to NC for SSgt. Lovett's new assignment back at Cherry Point.  Drive safe and enjoy the travel kids - there is so much to see along the way .... make fun memories on this journey ... and Trish please keep that camera close by, Grammie wants pictures, lots of pictures!

I sent Connor a map of the United States with stickers on it to show him where he is starting and where his new house will be as well as stickers for his grandparents in Michigan, a sticker for Rick and I, a sticker for Chad and Amy, one for his Papa and Banana in MA and one for their close Marine friends in Quantico, VA and asked him to put stickers on the map showing where he stayed and he can show us his creation when we see them in a few months ..... I think it may have been too much for a three year old but we shall see!  According to Josh he was much more interested in the stickers than the map or the task!

Last night (or maybe it was early this morning ... I think it was around midnight) we were walking around the fairgrounds so Sir could get a bit of exercise before bed and I saw this absolutely incredibly shooting star (Rick did correct me that it was a meteorite) - he caught the last of it out of the corner of his eye ~ it was just outstanding to be in a place I love, a beautiful calm summer night and seeing that was like the "frosting on the cake" and I'm sure it was a chocolate cake!

Today is an errand day .. pick up the mail, pick up the repairs at the jewelry store, make vet and dentist appointments, pick up a couple things at the market and drop our "job applications" at the fair office.  We had so many laughs about filling out a job application for our fair "job" next week ... we just crack ourselves up sometimes and this is certainly one of those times.  Chad just called me to see if I'm working at the circus yet!!  Fun fun fun we are having ...