The Great Escape

July in Arkansas isn't any cooler than the 105 temps we saw in June, so we headed on the road to Michigan, with quick stop-overs in St. Louis and Chicago.  In St. Louis, we couldn't get a room at the Drury, so settled for the Hilton.  I was praising Shatner's Priceline the whole way there, for getting us a 1/2price room, on 4th July weekend, with 3days notice.  My words of praise turned to shouts of "curse-you-Shatner", when we saw that our room was little more than a twin bed, in a closet, behind the front desk.  Have you ever seen a hotel room door open into the hallway, rather than opening into the room?  Still, would have laughed, except the bathroom door rammed into the ceiling light when you opened it, which constantly woke Jack, and the hotel was packed due to the softball world series (do they really need one of those?), so we couldn't change rooms.  

We left St.Louis in the dust, and headed for Chicago, to celebrate our nation's independence from G.B., and get Jack some much needed running around time.  Our stay with the Mays was awesome, and Ollie let Jack mess with all of his toys, including cars and trains.  We enjoyed riding in the third-row seats like an extended family, and the boys immediately wanted to head for the trampoline.

The cookout at the Johnson's was great, and we enjoyed a laugh about the top 40 tribe moments, evaded the pink-eye, and climbed on the swingset.

We got a chance to hear tales of jet-set travel in Europe from Kristen and Scott.  Here they are enjoying a campari and soda.

The next morning Jerry came over to make pancakes, and we headed for MI to go on Jim B's boat, to cruise and watch the fireworks.  In the photo below you can see the old Coast Guard station at the Grand River entrance to Lake Michigan.  The main building seems to have been renovated, but the boat house needs quite a bit of work.  Buying and renovating this place would be on my "to do list" if we won the lottery.

Talking with Jacqui's mom about the plume-line, the constant movement of the dunes, and the musical fountain

Which cooler has the beer?

This photo needs a bit of back-story.  On the way to MI, Jacqui said all we need to do is drive to Bon's and change Jack before we get on the boat, because Bon was nice enough to take care of all the food and drinks for everyone.  Bon even called to see what kind of beer you like.  It's already on ice in the cooler.  Great! I said, "I'll just pack a few extras just-in-case".  Woaaa, there mister, you don't need any "extras", I was told.  When we got to Bon's, and Jacqui wasn't looking, I added a few beers to Jack's milk cooler (just to keep the milk containers from tipping over).  Turns out, "just-in-case" came in handy again, because the ladies forgot to bring the beer.  Usually not a big deal, but we're talking about 4th of July, on a boat, from 3pm till 10pm.  That sort of ups the ante in my book.  No worries, we had a great cruise, great food, Jim B. provided the patriotic soundtrack (Connie Francis, Jim Neighbors, etc.) and we enjoyed the fireworks show.

 We enjoyed our time on the water so much that Jacqui suggested we rent a boat for the day.  We had some fun cruising and eating lunch in a cove, and really opening up the throttle, once we got onto Lake Michigan.  Jacqui had that thing flying, and now I know she loves speed.

The main purpose of the trip to MI was to attend Jacqui's cousin Meghan's wedding.  Meghan married a guy from Pennsylvania that she met in North Carolina.  This guy, Clayton, lived in my hometown in MA, while he went to grad school.  Small world. 

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We got to spend some alone time hiking and going to the beach while Bon watched Jack taking naps.

We pass this site every time we go for a hike in the dunes near Bon's house.  Would be happy to hear what you think it is supposed to represent.  What does holding the flag over an angels head signify?

We got to spend time with family friends the Petersons, before they kept Jack overnight during the wedding.  Jack learned more about dogs, and the Petersons learned about Lightning McQueen.  Colin may have learned the difference between the front and back of a diaper, information which will serve him well in the future.  I took Jack out on the beach to watch the volleyball girls, and he had a big cry because I wouldn't give in to his request "just let to touch it" during the game.  We kidded Bon about taking Jack on a 2hour beach walk (with no drinks) that we will from now on refer to as "Bon's Bataan death march". Jacqui's dad came down to spend some time with her and the boy, took us to breakfast, and for a walk along the jetty.

I've added a few photos here from last month.  Below, you'll see photos of the construction of Arkansas' Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.  There is one part of the building that looks like an armadillo (there's lots of these around the area).

Looking at the site from the viewing platform along the hiking trail

We mentioned we have been spending some time at the Springdale Aquatic center.  Jack really likes it though he hasn't quite figured out why the ground in the sunny area  is hot and the shady area is cool. 

I'll buy this round

 Here is a photo of Jack sweating like a hog at our campsite (tent packed full of stuff including a partially deflated air mattress).

enjoying the Lake Ft. Smith pool

We noticed a verbal explosion on the MI vacation. Jack's describing and commenting on everything, but mostly the Cars Movie, the Cars Movie Book, Lightning McQueen (aka: the 9-5 car, MY RED CAR), Mader Truck, Flying Purple Car (Holly Shiftwell), Mack The Red Truck, dinosaurs eating everything and trains crashing into everything.

We got a notice from school that indicated that Jack hit one of the biters, I mean classmates, in the face with his Lightning car.  As a result, he has lost the privilage of bringing it to school.  It's been a challenge to get it away from him before he goes to school, because he almost never puts it down.  Bad timing on that, because I'm scheduling a meeting to discuss Jack moving up to a class of older/other kids and improved curriculum.

We'll leave you with one last story.  Crime recently came to the Clabber Creek neighborhood.  There have been some incidences of theft from open garages, defacing vehicles and  an attempt at stealing a Harley.  We even had a brush ourselves.  I noticed a purse, and a steel case containing poker chips and cards, leaning against the side of our house.  It's in an area that is a bit sheltered from the street (near some bushes).  While I was on the phone reporting it to the police, Jacqui was violating the crime scene, going through the purse, and noticed the wallet had no cash, but did still have credit cards and a drivers license and a bra.  This incident has caused me to take a poll.  How many of you (women) carry an extra bra in your purse, and why?  As you may now know, I'm a fan of "just in case", but how does that apply to a bra?  I figure there was some neighborhood strip poker going on (maybe they moved from the Glenn).  I asked the cop for his opinion, and he suggested somebody just "forgot it there, you know, probably drinking".  That's a lazy explanation in my mind, but they are not known for the best police work here.  Maybe they'll get some clues when they send it to the CSI crime lab.

That's it for now.  Next up in August will be Ramadan in Maine (August 1st) and celebrating my parent's 50th with the whole family at the beach. When we get back, you may hear about the watermellon festival, catfish at the Backwoods Barn, and our tomato harvest.

Holy Sh*t it's hot here in June

This is the temperature guage in my car.  Yes only 105, but it feels hot enough to melt lead.

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.

May is all about the boy

Despite $4.00 gas we did some driving in the month of May.  Fayetteville to St. Louis to let Jack jump around with his cousins Tyler and Carter, then on to Chicago to celebrate Kentucky Derby day with our friends, the May's.  We took a side trip to the Lincoln Park Zoo and looked for ducks and fish in the pond.  This walkway was a new addition since the last time we were there.  We liked it.



We got back from Chicago and went to the Tulsa, Oklahoma aquarium.  Jack's still a big fan of the sharks, hermit crabs (which they let you touch), starfish, and the turtle exhibit.  In the photo below you see him feeding them a shrimp, using a little pole with a clothes pin on the end.  We lost the clothes pin in the tank.  Sorry.  If Nan is reading this, Mamma says "no frog giggin".

When you're in Tulsa, you have to let Jack ride on the carousel at the mall.  The guy that runs the ride did take out a dirty carney rag to wipe down the horse before he got on.  Sorry, no photo. Jack likes this ride much better than riding on real pony or a camel. You also have to let Jacqui go to look at shoes. 

Jack had a bit of a meltdown in J-Crew while Jacqui was trying on some clothes in the fitting room. I had to ride the escaltor with him five times then play on these cars to calm him down.  Note to self: don't bother putting money in the rides because he just gets out yelling "make it shtop".

The photo below is from a side trip to Alpena, Arkansas to go to the "museum". 

I went to a bassmasters tournament talk.  That's when some of the top anglers come out to talk to the fans about their technique and their gear choices.  The top anglers make millions in prize money and millions more in endorsements (notice the shirts).  Did you know they don't usually use traditional fishing line?  They're using carbon fiber "thread", and their poles are built in three sections and made from three different materials all so they can "feel" the fish nibbling.  They took questions from the crowd and each angler picked a little kid from the audience to ask the first few questions (Do you catch a lot of fish?  Do you use a bobber?).  The crowd laughed and these guys answered the questions very professionally.

It seems the tables have turned at Jack's daycare.  After being on the receiving end of several biting incidents, we got word that he had hit one of his classmates in the face with this red car you often see in his hand.  The I let them know I'd talk with him.  They said one of the kids wanted Jack's car and continued to try to take it out of his hand. They don't tell you who, but for three days he was saying  "Roman is a slyper".  We didn't know what it meant until I asked one of his handlers what "slyper" might mean.  She said that they talk to the kids about not "swiping" or taking each other's things. Hmmm, Roman - swiper - hitting.  Got it.  I talked to Jack and he seemed adamant that Roman deserved his ass-kicking.  I agreed that it was wrong for Roman to swipe.  I suggested they might try to share next time.  We'll see how it goes.



Jack made a Mother's day card at daycare for Jacqui.

I think this is a this is supposed to be Fonzie, in Puerto Rico, wearing drunk glasses, with vampire teeth.  

Back on the road again for the first annual Chicago Tribe Trip to St. Louis.  Got to spend some quality time with the gang, had some good fun at the zoo, enjoyed some local beverages (king-dewey anyone?), sampled some of the night life, and thankfully didn't have to fill out any police paperwork when JG got mauled by one of the locals named "NayNay".

While in St. Louis we went to the Children's museum where they had a construction site for the kids to play in.  Ollie and Jack are working on this dirt pile dilligently.

There was some type of fashion show going on in the lobby of the hotel when we got back.  Nicholas was not amused but his dad thought it was awesome.

Here is a photo of Nora rehersing what it would be like to be in the Oval Office calling the Kremlin.  Please don't read too much into what is going on in the chair in the background.

In the photo below, we thought we'd get one last photo of Jack at the St. Louis zoo standing with some razorbacks.  It didn't end up being the kind of photo you'd send to grandma.

I think this was taken at the Naturals baseball game.  The kids were supposed to run around the bases.  We were in line to make that happen but Jack was loosing his mind, so we had to leave.

To close out, we took a trip down into the river valley about 2 1/2 hours to Petit Jean State Park and hiked the Cedar Falls Trail ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FiexgJLp10 )  .  It was a short but strenuous hike, though you are rewarded with the opportunity to walk under a 65ft waterfall and cool off in the swimmin' hole ( Notice the red car and rock that he's planning on bringing to school.  Watch out Roman.  

Hope you like the photos.  Next up in June: Father's day float on the Buffalo River, Jack's first camping trip, racing the J24 on Beaver Lake to defend our lead in the standings, wine tasting at the Walton Arts Center, more moonshine stories.

April in Arkansas and the beginning of tornado season

April went into the record books as the most tornadic month down here in the past 75 years . We had a few sleepless night due to the threat of "tornadic activity" in the area. I think the season runs from late March to October. The tornado warning radio went off three separate times one night with broadcast messages.

 I also noticed that even when the cable tv is off, the cable box still flashes "EAS" to notify you that the Emergency Alert System is broadcasting instructions for your area. Here's our drill when the emergency radio siren goes off: get up and mute the siren; view the screen on the radio to determine where the weather currently is and how fast it's moving; if it's more than 50 miles away and moving 25mph, go back to bed and wait for the next siren; if it's less than 50 miles away, listen to the broadcast to determine how fast it's moving so we can decide how much time we've got (most move across land about 25mph, so storm cells 25 miles away will take about 1 hour to reach us); if it's close, get Jack and get into the walk-in closet. The closet is an interior room with a door and no windows and should be sufficient for anything other than a direct hit. Most of the tornados stay in the river valley 50 miles to the south or 50 miles to the west, and they seem to cease when they reach our elevation and the broken terrain. In this most recent event there were 5 fatalities in various areas about 45 minutes south of us.

Sailing was cancelled on April 3rd due to high winds (steady 30kts and gusting over 40), which would be reason for excitement in Chicago's racing community. We decided to take that opportunity to head about 2 1/2 hours south into the river valley to hike Mt. Nebo ( http://www.arkansasstateparks.com/mountnebo/ ). We have ranked it among the top 5 most beautiful places in Arkansas, and in the top 2 best hikes. We should note though, that the "money-shot" view from Mt. Nebo State Park, is marred by a giant nuclear power plant seen in the base of the valley, where it takes water from the Arkansas River.

 Here, Jack is 30lbs of sleeping baby, and I am building my core strength.  This is the view into the Arkansas River Valley from Mt. Nebo state park's lodge.  There's camping here and I think we might try to break out the tent (and air mattress for Jacqui) in June.

Family photo time.  We didn't intentionally try to be matchy-matchy, and in this photo I'm the only one wearing a camo hat.  Jacqui left hers at home.

Easter went well. We took Jack to our Clabber Creek neighborhood egg hunt. He still doesn't trust the guy in the Easter Bunny suit, and he's more interested in picking up rocks than eggs, but did enjoy the moon walk. On Easter Sunday Jack searched for his easter basket and hidden eggs, and we hosted dinner after church for a few friends and had a some adult beverages.

 Here you can see we've substitued cheerios for chocolate in the eggs.  He likes them thought is was fun to see raisins in there too.  You can also see his red-neck egg basket (milk carton) that they made at school.

The boy is on a sugar-high and bunny hopping all over the house.


Our garden is coming on strong. The herbs made it through the winter under a cover of plastic and now are thriving (oregano, parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme, tarragon, chives, and mint), though the mint is out of control and will be removed this month and put in a pot. Jacqui planted arugula, spinach, cilantro, basil and tomatoes. We found that nobody sells Arugula in the stores down here, and it grows so well that we've been having it in salads for a few weeks. We lost the tomatoes in a late season cold snap, but have since planted a few more which were promptly hammered by a hailstorm.

We took a drive to Prairie Grove Gardens a few towns away, to pick up the new tomato plants (Arkansas Traveler, Black Stripe and Early Girl). While we were there, we met a gypsy woman who had a thick eastern european accent. She proclaimed the following about Jack: He's not going to be happy in life unless he's a doctor or a teacher, because his personality requires him to dominate and to serve others. To which I replied: "That's interesting. Can I pay for these plants now?" Now I'm wondering if there's a gypsy curse on my Tomatoes, like that episode of Gilligan's Island.

We enjoyed our road-trip to Chicago for Kentucky Derby Day at the May's, but for some bizzahhh reason I don't have a single photo from the party.  We look forward to seeing y'all in a few weeks over Memorial Day weekend, and I promise to take a few then.


Possible topics for the next update: more racing on Beaver Lake, more hiking (and flooding) down in the river valley, Demolition Derby at the Springdale rodeo, photos of me in my camo waders, Old-Fort Rodeo Days in Fort Smith, U of Arkansas granduation, Memorial Day Tribe trip to St. Louis, and what ever else we run into.

March Maligned

St. Patrick's Day is here, you see.

We'll pick some shamrocks, one, two, three.

We'll count the leaves and look them over,

And maybe find a four-leafed clover.

One week we get nearly two feet of snow, and the next we are consistently seeing temps approaching 70 degrees.  Spring has arrived and, as is our tradition here, we drove up to Eureka Springs for the St. Patrick's Day parade.
 

I wasn't aware that the kazoo was from Ireland.  I would have thought maybe a drum, a whistle or some type of bagpipe would be more appropriate.  These guys were good though, and will play anything but Yankee Doodle.

This is the Eureka version of kick the can.  You can't tell in this photo, but the parade route is all downhill, and the route is lined with kids and cars, but he manages to keep the keg from crashing into anyone, or anything.  Maybe it's the freedom of movement offered by his schoolgirl skirt (ask any Scotsman, that's not a kilt).  

 We celebrated Jack's 2nd birthday with a cake that Jacqui made (it was awesome).  Jack has been a fan of airplanes lately, so Jacqui used her culinary skills to make an airplane cake, complete with jet engines made from chocolate Rolos and chocolate cherries.

Bon visited, and her gifts were a big hit with the little man.  He's still got some things that he plays with regularly, though for some reason, has not been much into us reading to him this month (he might still bring you one of his "baby" books that he knows really well).  He continues to be a fan of Legos, and is a champ at building a tower, a house (just a square), and "a preshent" (a square block made from Legos) that he then gives to himself (an only child).   When he's outside, he wants to be chased around, kick a ball, hit the ball off the tee, play with water, or dig a hole (but has not learned to STAY OUT OF THE GARDEN). 

Jacqui's dad Curt and his wife Jan visited on their way from Arizona to MI, and brought some great gifts as well.  Here, Curt tries to show Jack that although you may drive for show, you put-put for dough.  Jack's also learning you don't use the clubs as hatchets, or baseball bats, or hockey sticks.  All lessons I'm sure we'll be continuing through adolescence, and if he’s anything like me, by then he’ll probably be using dad's irons to hit rocks off tees into the neighbor's fence.

We took our first hike of the spring, just a few miles in and out along this creek. It had a waterfall to sit by and enjoy lunch. Saw some wildflowers coming up and the dogwoods are blooming.  The rest of the trees are still a few weeks away from blooming up in this area, though just 45 minutes south of where we live, many are in full bloom.  Maybe next week we'll head down to the river valley (south of Fort Smith), or over to the delta, to show you the rice fields, the cotton in bloom, or maybe a gator.

I think this is the first time he ever said cheese when a photo is being taken.  In case you're wondering if it's safe to sit here, it is.  The worst spiders and the sankes don't come out for another couple of months.  This is rough country, which is probably why it was favored by outlaws.  Back in the day, nobody in their right mind would follow you into Arkansas on a horse.  Did anybody see the movie True Grit?  The book was written by a guy from the Ozarks, and is about this area (though it was shot in Texas because you can't easily get camera crews into this area). I watched a bit of Ken Burns' new PBS special on the civil war, and he talks quite a bit about the Ozarks.  We've heard that after the war, the area was full of rebs who just couldn't let it go, and who would run "border raids", robberies and other such mischief.





 We ran into a couple in their 80's by the trail head who asked us "are y'all goin up to see Earnst?" Adding, "He's a be givin away somethin', I'm sure". Well, I've become quite good at deciphering most of the swamp talk down here, but didn't have any idea what they were talking about.  It was only later as we were driving away that we realized they were talking about the author of the guide book we had with us (a gift from Tom and Suzanne).  However, after seeing this house (one of the landmarks on the way to Earnst's), we decided against the side trip.

The boy is becoming "as country as a turnip green", here sporting a pot belly and a redneck t shirt. His diet now includes hush puppies, breakfast sausage, biscuits (no gravy), sweet potatoes, and taquitos (a Tribe staple from south Texas). We've been going out for fish on Fridays, as we're in the middle of Lent, and will try him on catfish again (not much success there).

Hope you enjoyed the update.  Next up: our celebration of the first Sunday after the first fourteenth day of the Paschal Full Moon that is on or after the vernal equinox (that's Easter).