I can't recall a day in June that hasn't been in the 90's and we've still got July and August to deal with.
I haven't watered the grass once and it still looks ok. It's a type of hybrid that takes the heat very well. All the other plants here need a tremendous amount of water though, and we're not getting much help in that area from Mother Nature. Dry as a tic's eye, as they say down here.
Speaking of Ma Nature, I hear the corn in Illinois isn't measuring up and lots of fields didn't even get planted. Look for late harvest wheat surplus as that seems to be the planting option. The old adage of corn needing to be knee high by the 4th of July tells me that production is going to be WAY down which should add more supply side pressure to feed prices, and will surely flow through to fuel and meat.
What else have we been doing? On Thursday evening we head down to the local park (Gulley Park), have a picnic and listen to music. Most of the bands are country-oriented, bluegrass or folk music. Jack likes to run down and look at the instruments. He's a fan of drums right now, but really likes guitars and girl singers.
We had a few good races on Beaver Lake in the J24 and I believe we dropped to 2nd place overall for the season. Next races aren't until late August so that will be on hold unless we can put together a few private races between friends.
We went to look at the progress on the Crystal Bridges Museum that's being built here. It's going to be one of the largest, if not THE largest collections of American art in the US. It's funded by Alice Walton (of WalMart). I have photos of it, but the camera's battery is dead so I'll have to download those for you next month.
We went to a wine tasting at the performing arts center a few weeks ago. Had a few good wines, some laughs and even met some new people. We're trying to connect with a couple we met there who have a kid around Jack's age. They seemed like alot of fun. So, we'll see. I heard the comic Louis CK say something funny, but true. As you get older, it feels wierder and wierder to make new friends. Tough to explain, but it's a bit like dating, but not in any kind of good way.
I have a funny story to tell you. We tried to ignore the relentless heat and go camping down by the lake in Fort Smith for Father's Day (my idea). I imagined cool lake breeze blowing through the tent and Jack and I gazing up at the stars. Jacqui requested that I pick up an air mattress for the tent (sacrilage) but I complied and even had an electric pump to inflate it. However, just as I laid-out the mattress, Jack approached from the rear with a GIANT rock and heaved it onto the virgin vinyl bed, yelling Hi-Yah! Like a Russian throwing the shot-put, he lauched the thing with such force, that it made, not one, but two, holes in the mattress. Did I mention that it was 94 degrees? I quickly patched the hole (I had not identified the second hole underneath yet), stuffed it into the tent, and inflated it. I then loaded all the sleeping bags and other items into the tent and we headed out for the trail on a hike. The route was the begining of the 165 mile-long Ozark Highlands Trail. We hiked five strenuous miles and it was hot and muggy. We knew though that the state park there has a good pool with lots of stuff for kids Jack's age to play with, so after the hike, we hit that before heading back up the hill to the campsite. I started a fire to cook dinner and hopefully roast some marshmallows (yes, I know it was still 94 degrees). Knowing that fires can take a while to get going, I also started up the coleman grill and threw on a few sausages while Jacqui followed our son around as he got filthier and sweatier. I wish I had a photo of him walking around in just his diaper with sandals and carrying a dirty rock that, due to his sweat, was turning him into a muddy mess. I noticed that the air mattress had deflated due to the second hole, but patched it, re-inflated it, and stuffed everything back into the tent. Did I mention that it was still 94? We ate our food in silence, with perspiration pooling in our plates, and, I imagined what kind of damage our relationship might take with the three of us in that tent. All I had to say was, "Ya know we could probably just leave all this stuff here and be back home in about 45 minutes to sleep in airconditioned comfort". Ten minutes later we were on the road, laughing and making plans to come back in the morning to break down the camp and try that again in the fall.
The rodeo was in town recently and I kept Jack out of school to go the the Rodeo Parade. It was a bit too hot to stand in the street by the reviewing stand where we were last year, so we found a shady spot around the corner from the finish line and watched everything go by. It seemed funny because they had to walk through this little neighborhood.
This year there was a concert after the rodeo. Jacqui and I took Jack, and we met up with some friends there. Nothing too crazy happened, no loose bulls, and we didn't see anyone's skull get crushed like last year. After the rodeo, Jacqui took Jack home and I stayed and saw Eastin Corbin perform his hit "I'm a little more country than that" along with a bunch of other songs that kind of all sounded the same.
Well, that's about it for now. I've got to get outside and blow-off some fireworks to compete with the neighbors. Hope you like the stories, and we'll hopefully have more to share in July, after spending time in St. Louis, Chicago and Michigan over the holiday.
