Sign of the times?

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I have it on good
authority that the
characters translate
to *#@~*%@`~^#%

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Before I forget.... again!

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I was gonna do
it before I went
to bed last night
...okay?

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This Just In:

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Yeah, well I didn't
know about Jon
John 'n Kate, either

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Um. . . er, okay

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Wait, I get it.
After a few of each
of the liquid
refreshments, the
snakes show
up on their own.

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I was gonna talk about the weather...

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...but then I found this:

can you guess
what it's called?

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Whew... we almost didn't make it.

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The official temperature yesterday almost didn't reach 100 degrees. It was already after 5:30pm when the local weather forecaster finally announced that the National Weather Service recorded the day's high.

Sure there are more
important things in
the world, but we're
talking' 11 days straight

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I'm sorry

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My niece, the middle one, had some issues with some tomato plants earlier this Summer. Well, I don't know, maybe she's still having issues with those plants.
She posted about it on Facebook. I gave a brief response and thought nothing more about it until the other day.
I feel bad because I never entirely researched the issue. It turns out that while my response was quite possibly correct, it was only one of the possibilities.
It seems that the plants which were having difficulties are in pots or containers. The ones that are planted in the ground evidently are doing okay.
It is fine to plant tomatoes in containers. Just make sure that the container is deep enough to handle the root system and deal with the amount of irrigation necessary for growing tomatoes. Tomatoes need a lot of water to bring enough calcium into the plant to grow decent fruit.

I have three nieces:
The Blogger;
the middle one;
and the little one.
Yes, they have names
but I haven't used
them for their
own protection

Sara, Anna & Rebekah

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Huh?

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It's been awhile since we visited the Word Verification topic. What I want to know is the the heck is this?

and where on my
keyboard can I find
that last letter?

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Just a little something to amuse while I try to keep from overheating.

There's something else
I just received but I'm
pretty sure it's NSFW

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Two more:

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Walter Cronkite
Frank McCourt

They'll be missed

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Okay, here's the story.

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No, it's not the duck story.
Our eastbound trip to Minneapolis via Chicago (doesn't make a lot of sense to me either, but wait til you hear about the trip back) was uneventful. The arrival and greeting at the airport was a pleasant surprise. There was a potential confrontation with another traveler at the shuttle kiosk, but that was only because he all but shoved me away from the machine as he appeared from nowhere. I chose not to make an issue of it as I mumbled something like, "I guess he didn't see me standing where he wanted to stand." In the interest of not creating an international incident (this fellow and his companions were from Iceland, where I can only assume they are still learning how to smile), I stepped back and watched while they attempted to print their shuttle tickets. A friendly airport employee attempted to assist them, but they were quite rude to him and he gave up after awhile.
But that's not the story either.
No. Since so many have heard about Sharon's accident I figure that I should at least mention that after we arrived at our hotel, checked in... and found that the Icelander was staying there too... unpacked, powdered our respective noses, checked out the hotel amenities (yes, there's a bar), we went out. Actually we went down. Our hotel's first floor was on the seventh floor of the 2o some odd story building. The hotel only takes up six floors. Depending on where in the building one wants to go determines which elevator to take. Anyway, we rode the hotel elevator down to the hotel lobby, crossed the lobby and boarded the elevator to the ground and headed out to find a place to have a meal. After about ten steps it dawned on us that we had no idea where to look so we decided to return to the front desk at the hotel and ask for some suggestions.
We didn't make it.
As Sharon stepped over the uneven curb with one foot, her other foot caught the edge and upended her such that she kissed the concrete and scared the daylights out of me. It could have easily been serious. It really didn't look good at all. To top it all off it was the main topic of conversation for the rest of the week. In fact by the time Friday's final session came around, it had become international news.
So that's the story of how I went hungry the first day at Minneapolis.

by the time we left you
couldn't even tell
anything had happened

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In an earlier post I alluded to starting a tradition in Boston. Actually it started right here where I am sitting now. It has something to do with using online services to find the best airfare available. In any case, we have found that flying on July 4 in the U.S. is not nearly as hectic or stressful as it is on other days... at least not for us. Then, too, this year it was also on a Saturday, which also seemed to help lower the stress level.

Then again maybe
it's my imagination?

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Hiatus. . . what hiatus?

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What I should have said is that I wouldn't be reading as many other blogs as I normally do.

Yes, we did go to the Mall of America

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Last day of Convention

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I'm still trying to contact an acquaintence from England. I know she's here and I know she's been looking for us, but for any number of reasons all of our contact has been second hand. That's what happens when you skip the parade.
Maybe at today's final session I can find the British delegation.

If I don't, I'm going home

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Another day in Minneapolis

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So today was the opening session of the convention. The International President briefed us about what he's seen Lions do around the world this last year. Then he introduced Colin Powell, the keynote speaker. That really got everyone pumped up. Then there was a presentation from the chair of the Beijing Olympic committee. She spoke for a couple of minutes. The translator told us that she would like to "say a few workds." Ultimately the presentation took almost as long as Colin Powell. Anyway, the session ran about 45 minutes long.

Tonight we go to the Metrodome to watch the Yankees play the Twins.

So far the weather's been great
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Today in Minneapolis

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While everyone else marches in the Lions Parade, Sharon and I will make the supreme sacrifice and man the Lions Float booth at the exhibit hall at the convention center. Tonight there is a Beach Boys show. Somewhere in between we're supposed to have a luncheon with the folks were were on the Council of Governors with.

yesterday we

rode the Hiawatha to

the Mall of America...

the ride was a bargain

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If you've been following. . .

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. . .you know that we made it to the land of 10,000 lakes with no difficulty.

Boy do I have a story to tell now... er later
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HAPPY 4th OF JULY

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This blog is on hiatus for a little over a week because we're going to the Mall of America and a to a baseball game Lions Clubs International Convention at Minneapolis.
We'll be back someday.

I think maybe
we may have
started a tradition
in Boston

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So, would you recommend this book to others?

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I finished reading 1491. Anyone who is just a little curious about life here in the Western Hemisphere might consider reading it. I got a lot more out of it than I did from the class in pre-Columbian history that I took while at college.
It sure makes many of the folks who write history books appear at least foolish.
But... if you're looking for a light read pick something else.
Oh, and the guy who wrote it isn't a historian.

...at least he wasn't
when he started

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Well I didn't know that

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"It is a sobering fact that unless you
use the rendered grease [of bacon],
you are eating only one-fifth of what you buy."
~Irma S Rombauer & Marion Rombauer Becker

"I think it's much more interesting to live
not knowing than to have answers which
might be wrong."
— Richard P. Feynman

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Bacon!!!

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