What the hailstorm did

It chewed holes in our zucchini leaves. I approve.

The Classic Fair Experience

I hit 60. WOOT! Chanel's gift to me was a trip the Western Idaho Fair. Hadn't been for years and was looking forward to chowing down the midway. You just can't beat the sheer geographic density of coronary-clogging goodies at a fair So here's how it went. 1. We pulled into the back 40 parking lot, hopped out and inhaled. Oh, the aroma of deep fryers and grease! Lovely. It hung lower than smoke over Sun Valley. No wonder people walked at a good clip from the back 40, to the middle 40, to the front 40 acres of parking. 2. Through the gates, stopped at the Idaho Statesman booth for the food coupon book, tore out our favorites and off...... 3. But first a detour through the exhibition buildings. I loved all the quilts and stitchery. Loved the food displays. Loved the photography. Loved looking at the paintings with Kevin not around. (He takes hours and appreciates them all.) Chanel & I took minutes, picked our favorites and then hustled to the commercial booths. Favorite: Remember the 60's when you could lose your fat via vibrating belt machines? Well now we have platforms. Stand on the platform, hang onto the handy rail, flip the On switch and ta da! Your booty fairly shakes itself. You don't have to move a muscle or break a sweat. It just made me laugh and I would have laughed harder had I known what the salesmen were charging (and guaranteeing) for such a machine. Well, we successfully negotiated all aisles and all salesmen and left the building with nary one business card, brochure, or flyer. I also kept it a big secret from the 20 or so cell phone booths that I'm still the only woman in America without one. Imagine the feeding frenzy. 4. On to the petting zoo. I must say those were some pretty docile Texas Longhorns whose noggins I was scratching. 5. And then the MIDWAY. I got the footlong corndog, slathered in mustard. Chanel, a cup of Churros. 6. We settled in to watch Lady Houdini hold her breath in a tank of water long enough to shuck locks and locks and locks. What a set of lungs! Her male partner (husband?) bragged it was her 1099th escape from death. His contribution to the act was to flinch & gasp at choreographed intervals + fish the locks,locks,locks out of the tank via magnet afterward. I also noticed he flirted with blondes on the side. We also watched the Black Street Boys because cheesy acts are all part of the fair experience. 7. By now the sun had set, the temperature cooled, and the crowds exploded. It was full time jostling to work our way to Carnival Land and stand in the long line for the Ferris Wheel. Having no tatoos to show the world, I felt quite out of place. And no one to make-out with. Just me and Chanel, two conservative little ladies in the the Drinking, Happy, Kissy crowd. What a relief to get our own wheel bucket and rise about it all. Turns out Chanel likes Ferris Wheels; doesn't like swinging the bucket in Ferris Wheels. 8. Thank you Idaho Statesman for including a Delsa's Ice Cream coupon in your book. The strawberry shortcake was the best and totally topped off the evening. 9. Biggest disappointment: Not being very hungry after that corndog. My brain wanted the gyro sandwiches, the Idaho Pizza breadsticks, and the baked potato ice cream, the pulled pork bbq, the elephant ears, the Navajo bread, and the 1 pound of french fries. Had to settle for mere inhaling and rolling out of there at midnight. 10. As we left, I said to Chanel, "Isn't this just like leaving Disneyland at the end of day? So sad, such a letdown. After months of saving and anticipating? Then it's overwith?" Nah--We went back to her apartment and watch 2 1/2hrs of Les Mis. Life is always a party with Chanel.

Dream car

We're shopping to replace both vehicles. Found MY car tonight, a red jaguar, well within the budget. I just love that cat hood ornament. I've told Kevin many times he can snap one off somebody's else's jag and hot glue to our van. Cheaper and just as cool in my book. File under new uses for hot glue in Pinterest.

Grandpa's van rumbles forth

Though the tires still had plenty of tread, it was ancient rubber. Aaron had supposed he would replace all tires on the reunion weekend, but he never got around to it. Hence Sunday afternoon he rumbled out of Nampa,about 2PMish with 100-degree temp, no A/C, into the desert with ancient and untested tires. (insert prayers here) He called from Burley. OK so far. About 10PM we got word via text from Chanel that one tire had shredded near Tremonton. We called him. "Don't worry mom & dad. I put on the spare." (equally ancient, equally iffy, and a different size from the blown tire) "I plan to drive about 45 mph on the shoulder and I have several friends between here and Taylorsville who I can call for help if I need it." Phone call from Taylorsville @ 1:30AM. "I'm home." Can you imagine....12 hours in that thing? At least I can check if off my list of things to worry about. PS. Three weeks ago Aaron, his kids, and us took the van for a picnic. This is when Aaron discovered in the little kitchenette cupboard that grandma had left it fully stocked with paper plates, cups, napkins, an old tablecloth, and a tub of unmatched silverware. Isn't that just like her--to leave things neatly prepared for the next outing? Believe me, the paper patterns were all vintage. You can't buy stuff like that nowdays.

In honor of Uncle Richards and my shared birthdays: a cat story

Dashaway, our 19-yr-old cat, had become arthritic, incontinent, bony, toothless, mangy and banned to the garage. (For the incontinence) Kevin & I were at an impasse. I wanted euthanasia. He wanted resurrection via vet bills, meds, lab tests, etc. Money was spent and diagnosis obtained. The vet said bad thyroid requiring weekly lab tests to regulate. For our efforts Dashaway might regain her weight, but vet gave no guarantee for curing the incontinence. Kevin wanted to proceed. He felt sinful about euthanasia. I presented him with a handful of human medical bills, which I didn't know (at the time) how I would pay. I guess he saw which should be the higher priority because he agreed to euthanasia if I promised to never, never, never have another cat the rest of my life. This is a hard promise for a cat-lover, but I made my deal the with Devil and Dashaway went to Heaven. This brings me to Aaron & Chanel. Weeks later they were hanging out in the SLC Disney store when they spied the fat, plush Lucifer from Cinderella. They slapped high fives and chortled,"Mom has got to have this cat!" Oh, I laughed when Chanel brought it home! Lucifer sits on my bed with his permanent sneer, resembling the anti-social Dashaway perfectly, only fatter and not opposed to a good belly-rubbing. I think he will satisfy my latent cat-loving as the years go by. Wilson kids, do me a favor and go buy a cat for your father.