Rain? Can it really be Rain?

We pretty much had a wet weekend. not much rain, but it cooled to low 70s and I didn't feel the urge to water my trees.

We did apparently have some tornadoes just 15 min north of me, and was in a Flash Flood Warning most of yesterday evening, but we were safe.

This fall appears to be extreemly busy for me. Friday I have a doctor's appointment, followed by cleaning the Rabbits Cage (he's a bit overdue, so no more putting it off :). Then A friend is coming into town this weekend, which would signify the annual Ren Fest trek and Olive Garden Unlimited Pasta Bowls dinner, but I'm on call Primary this weekend, and don't feel I should wander too far away from a computer (I doubt that Canterbury, England ca 1560 has a Internet Hotspot) so it'll be pushed till later.

When Later? probably October.
Next weekend is the Kansas State Fair
Weekend After that is a Wedding In Topeka
Weekend after that is meeting #3 with the priest (getting the Vegas Marriage blessed within the church :) )
weekend after that? crap, I'm on call Primary again. BUT the first weekend in October looks open.

and as a final thought: I think the Coffee may have been a false alarm. However, I think I'll try and slow my intake of it, to once every other day, instead of Mon-Fri. Never hurts to be safe.

Problems in coffeeland

Well, Folgers Simply Smooth coffee, while tasty and apparently soft on stomachs, might still be too much for me. I've been doing a cup a day for about a week and a half now, and I'm beginning to wonder if my Reflux is acting up again. Nothing severe yet, but it's probably enough of a warning that I should lay off it for a while, perhaps one cup a week, perhaps permanently.


Back to International Foods I go.

Bummer, and I was so enjoying coffee again...

State Fairs & Fried Twinkies

Went to the Iowa State Fair this weekend. This is Fair #2 of 3 for the year, I think I posted a bit about the Missouri one, at least in a comment, if not to sum up:

Too new at it to say if it's great or not. Midway beats out Kansas Midway, and is on par with Iowa's, Hard to find roasted Ear of Corn.

We stayed at the Meskwaki Hotel & Casino in Tama, IA. It was pretty neat. I sat down with 5 bucks at a "Little Green Men" slot, and turned that into 27 bucks. bought a shot glass with some, and then had fun loosing the rest to a Harely Davidson penny slot. Also enjoyed at leasat 3 buffets at that place, my favorite was the breakfast one on Sunday just before we left.


Iowa State Fair - Big and Crowded. I can see why they tout it as World Reknown. however, they claimed the parking was full, and closed off the lot. This annoyed me because we saw a LARGE section of parking still unclaimed. Blessing in disguise however, most of the locals around the fair turn their lawns into parking spots for 5 bucks a car, and we pretty much parked right next to the Fair in someones front lawn.

Ag Building is 150+ years old, and had some really big heads of cabbage. MO's watermelon weighed about 10lbs more than the IA one, but IA had some pumpkins that were around the 300lb mark.

Had my first ever Deep Fried Twinkie there. Had to wait in line for it to. First thing to realize, that, although deep frying most things makes them crispy, it does now with a Twinkie. So once you're used to the texture, it' was actually quite nummy. Next year, I think I'll try a Deep Fried Snickerrs bar or Oreo Cookie.

Midways are EXPENSIVE! Sara's youngest brother wanted to go there, and so we didn, not realizing that it costs an arm and a leg and a few other body organs to ride only 3-4 rides. Armbands weren't being sold anymore so bang went that. I did ride two with Ben, I enjoyed them, but I think he got a bit too dizzy. He went on a centrifuge one (closed container that spun you around) and I'm pretty sure that did him in.

We also got a good "Old Timey" photo of us in Civil War Garb. Didn't know which to take (Union or Confederacy) so we flipped a coin, Confederates wone the toss. I outranked my father in law (They gave me the 1 star General uniform, he just got a standard uniform) so I was happy. Ben was happy he got to hold a gun, but wanted at first a rifle, then two pistols, but was happy enough with the one gun. Mother in Law & Sara got Hoop skirts.. first time I've seen that, they really went out on it.

Mine had a flaw however, looked like a scratch so I asked for a remake. He said yes, but wanted to make sure if I could live with the error. I told him normally I would, but the minute flaw was on me, and I would see it every time i looked at the photo. He laughed and gave us a new copy.

To wind up, I had a good weekend, and today I'm going to have to mow the lawn for the first time in two weeks. The weeds that have taken over my once lush lawn need mowing.

Folger's Simply Smooth

Well, due to recent developments in my gastro intestinal tract (read: Acid Reflux & Age) I had to swear off coffee. This was dissapointing, as I always thought it was a right of passage to drink when you got older. I watched both sets of grandparents have some over morning coffee, and when I got to work, most of my co-workers had a mug in their hand all day long.

Well, I found that instant coffee (that International Foods stuff) I could drink, but it doesn't wake me up like Coffee Coffee.

Then Folgers comes to the (I hope) rescue. They've made this coffee that's supposed to be easy on sensitive stomachs. So, I bought a small case and am going to try it out.

The first cup is a bit bitter, but that may be due to my making the pot a bit to strong. New personal brewer and all, don't have the "right amount" down yet.


I'll keep myself and my blog updated on whether or not I have found my salvation in the morning.

Crackdown on posting

Well, since Mr. Anonymous thinks my blog is a personal Ad Space, I've added one step to prove you're a human being to post on my blog. Hopefully that'll be the end of it.

If I must I'll put stronger measures on it, but I hope I don't have to as I feel it limits the amount of posters I would have. (All 4 of you :) )

Always buy a Home Owner's Warranty

there's a few things in life you always must remember.

Always have a towel
Look both ways before crossing the street
I before E, except after C. and sounding like "A" as in Neighbor and Wiegh.

and now I give you this:

Always buy a Home Owner's Warranty.

Why? Simple, SOMETHING will break within the first year of you living there. there's too many things in a house for this not to be true.

Mine was the Air Conditioner. Came home from work and the house felt funny, and had an odd smell (the smell was nothing, but it set me to thinking something wasn't right). Well going upstairs I found the air blowing with all it's might, but no coolness, and we were at 84 and climbing. For those who read this and do not live in Missouri, we've been having average 105-110 weather for about 2 weeks now. This day was one of the hottest so far.

Went outside and heard the A/C trying to start, then quit. Called my Home Owner's Warranty People, and found that YES, they covered this.

Unfortunatley, I could not get a person out until the next day, around 1ish. This sounds bad, but since I heard people were having to wait weeks to get the A/C fixed, I decided it wasn't so bad. It did help that I have two small pets who overheat easily, and a Pregnant woman in the house to speed up the repair, but still.

But it did make for an interesting eveining.

Had to go buy another fan for downstairs, as the one we currently own was on the bunny, doing his best in all that fur to stay cool.

We pulled out the hideaway in the basement, and had the whole house opened up with air going everywhere. We did have a reprieve that night and went down to about 67 degrees. It made the basement cool, but upstairs was still so warm.

Well the guy came, and found that athe two speed motor decided to quit working in the higher gear. He reccommended replacing it, which he hopes to do today, insurance withstanding.

It was a 3 year old A/C, so he was as surpised as I when it quit. Now the bill. What could have easily been a bill that could have reached up to 1000 (parts, labor etc) I just had to pay a service fee of 55.


so in conclustion BUY A HOME OWNER'S WARRANTY! :)

Tree Sickness and Midyears

Well I have this one tree in my backyard that's acting funny.. Certain limbs at the very ends are dying. This could be passed off from the extreme heat and lack of moisture lately, but this was happening during the heyday of April Downpours.

I've gotten some advice from my folks how to treat it. Anyone else have any ideas?


Also, today is my Mid-Year review at work. Good or bad, these things ALWAYS make me nervous. I'm fairly certain I'll get a good review, but I guess whenever anyone gets called out on how well their doing, they tend to try and find anything they've done wrong or could do better (in their minds at any rate) to prepare for any unexpected comments.

I'm not worried I'll get a poor review... so why am I worried?


Oh, and to Mr. A. Nonymous... my blog is not an ad service... keep your posts about cheap airfare from it.