Getting a Clue

Here we see Big Dawg, Lauren and Luciano playing Clue. You know, Miss Peacock, with a candle stick, in the kitchen. Big Dawg was overheard telling Luciano how a lead pipe can be used to kill another person, "first you light the lead pipe on fire, then you through it at them."

I don't think I have to worry about him being a terrorist... at least not anytime soon. But we've hidden the matches for good measure.

While they were playing "Clue" ... a Robin stoically ushered in dusk in our back yard (below)

Cucumber Conditioning?

Sidetrack planted a cucumber plant too close to our AC compressor unit. This guy grew between the grate and the vents. Probably not good for efficiencies, but good green energy, right?

Flooding in Central Iowa

In eastern Iowa it is not close to 2008 or 1993. Here is the Iowa River looking north at Park Road Bridge. To give you some idea of how big the flood was in 2008, This bridge was a few feet under water. Roads on left and right were not accessible. On the left, out of the frame of the photo, is Hancher Auditorium, no longer functional and soon to be relocated to higher ground.

Here (below) are photos taken just off of I-80, east of Altoona. This is not far from where the young teen was swept away by flash flooding. The photos don't do justice to the amount of water and the current sweeping across the road. The water in some of these photos is 4 - 5 feet deep. Keep in mind this is very flat land, so it's 4 - 5 feet deep (out of the banks of the South Skunk River) for acres and acres and acres. This is land that is normally dry, or growing crops.
I was talking to a man who actually lived up on a hill. He explained that the ground is so saturated that his basement took water because there is nowhere for the water to go.
So I took this photo from the parking lot of a Kum and Go Service Station, they had plenty of business, because the flood waters blocked to road to Casey's, across the street. We had rain and storms four nights in a row that brought 4 - 6 inches of rain each night. Crazy.

So all this night time rain brought forth an interesting factoid about Iowa. Apparently (according to KCRG Weather), due to the strange geographic location of Iowa, the state gets more rain at night than any other state in the US. It's similar to the way that southern Florida gets those afternoon storms between 4 - 6 p.m., then clears up. That's how Iowa's storms are, except between 11 p.m. and 4 a.m. Strange, huh?

Look Who Passed Through Iowa City!

We've overheard it said that all roads pass through Iowa City, and while we know that's a stretch, it is always nice when unlikely out-of-towners come to call. Mo called towards the end of last week to let us know she was passing through. So Peanut and Mo spent Saturday night, getting caught up on all things Menomonee Falls. That and walking the dog, watching a movie, and baking cookies.
Of course, no trip to Iowa would be complete without a trip to a cornfield. It so happens there's a nice field at the end of the street. Last year the farmer was rotating beans through, but this year... corn as high as an elephant's eye. Here we see Fox Vernon along with Buzz, Sidetrack, Chalupa and Big Dawg.

Fox was in from VA, and it was terrific to get caught up on our extended family. We're still working on getting him to make the move to the heartland. I'm afraid we'll be working on it for years to come.

Before the guests, BD was sent on a mission to rescue Chalupa from Camp Wapsi Y. Here we see her (third purple shirt from the left) singing a song with her cabin mates at the week of summer camp came to close. So now we have all but one of our brood under our roof.

The week ahead will have Beaner returning from "mission" work in downtown Pittsburgh. Sidetrack and Buzz will begin financial gymnastics to align our resources so we can sell our house in Monkeydoo. Chalupa has a Iron Camp in preparation for Olympic Development Program try-outs. Peanut will run a few extra miles for West High Cross Country practice.

Buzz's New Year's Resolution Running Streak (a minimum of two miles a day) has reached August. This is a record streak. It's been challenged a few times this year, but nothing so painful as last Sunday, after the run in Northern MN. One day at a time... one mile at a time.

Truman, the cat, was days away from being "put down" due to a cancerous growth on his head. Miraculously, this dang growth has begun to shrink (2 days from the lethal injection). He no longer has nine lives... to be sure. But he's still with us today.

And so the adventure continues.