Ol’ Blue takes a ride….and…I LOVE FALL!

  McGyver and I have been really busy the past few weeks…Lots of family stuff going on, some fun and games, some…not so much.  All I can say is that I really hate witnessing the toll the aging process takes on some people….So very hard to watch, and some of these things are very hard to overcome.

On a lighter note, well..maybe not for McGyver…the old blue Chevy Pick Up truck pitched a huge-ass fit and refused to start yesterday…Ya gotta understand that Ol’ Blue is Den’s main means of transportation…I get the GMC, and he clings to his old Chevy pick up like a fly to flypaper…The darn thing was in the garage and would NOT come out..so McGyver pushed her out!  He borrowed a friend’s flatbed truck and pushed, pulled ,prodded and hooked on to Ol’ Blue with the tow strap..My wonderful black GMC had to help get Ol’ Blue on the flatbed…

 

I swear I saw a smirk in those GMC headlights!!!..Once on the flatbead, McGyver chained her down to the flatbed like she was a “crazed” truck.  There was no chance she would make a quick getaway.. Den hooked up the GMC to the flatbed and hauled her, kicking and screaming, to the truck Doc…..Hopefully the fix won’t cost too much, or her next trip may be to the junkyard!!!

Not much else exciting around here..I moved our front porch chairs to the East side of our screened porch to catch the warm morning sun with our coffee…I really do love Fall, but sometimes our North porch is a little brisk in the early AM…I also brought out a few more “Fall” items…Now don’t any of you cringe or chastise me for this…I am truly a witch at heart, and just like any good witch or warlock, I LOVE HALLOWEEN TOO!!!

The picture above is really primo cool!  As you walk by this young woman’s portrait, she changes from very pretty to  very NASTY and very HALLOWEENY..

 

I also got me some great purple Halloween lights to string on our back deck…I was busy all day decorating…

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This weather is soooo wonderful…The Hummingbirds are feeding at our 2 feeders like crazy…They should hang around until end of September, then they zip off toward the South for the Winter…I guess you could say that those little  Hummers join the other aviary folks and become “Snow Birds”…I really hope Den and I can follow them and get out of here this December, but it is becoming more and more questionable. As I have said before, sometimes life gets in the way, but ya gotta work through it, and we will… I absolutely HAVE to close with one more of my favorite Halloween Décor items…

YEP!….MY BROOM FITS JUST FINE, THANK YOU..AND I SHALL FLY IT PROUDLY!!!

“When witches go riding, and black cats are seen, the moon laughs and whispers, ‘tis near Halloween.”

                                                                                                                                                                                                                        ~ Author Unknown

Mimi and Papa are very , very tired, but very, very happy!

What a wild weekend we had!! It started Thursday night about 7:30PM and ended this morning about 10:30AM….We had campfires, pizza parties, 20th SHS class reunions, Purdue vs. Notre Dame outdoor parties, a tour of the Sandwich Fair, a grandkids sleepover, breakfast casserole and…oh, heck, I know I forgot something, but my body is soooo tired….My brain is sleeping , even though my eyes are open.!!   Instead of loading all of the photos one at a time, I will put on a few collages that will hopefully capture some of the Cave-a-palooza we had here…..Just imagine each photo steeped in gooey fingerprints and ground in cookie crumbs.

Saturday morning Chris , John , their 2 boys, McGyver and I all walked out to the fair for a couple hours…Since I took these with my phone, I can’t make them into a collage, so bear with me….

Papa was the official stroller pusher. ..Aiden tried his hand a milking a fake cow.  I declined. That fake cow was very creepy to me…made me want to give up milk.

 

We had to indulge in an Elephant Ears.  $5.00 gets you a heart attack the size of a large pancake. …For those of you who now think that we are eating a piece of pachyderm, an Elephant Ears at the fair is deep fried dough with sugar and cinnamon on it…I swear some heart surgeons were running this booth!

 

Of course we had to play some games..(what a rip)…We walked through the “petting zoo” too. ..After petting everything from a cow to a rabbit, I was glad they had some hand sanitizer stations perched at each exit….About 2 hours of fair is enough for me, but the boys had to ride a few rides…

 

.Before we left, I wanted to make sure that we rode the train…They charge $3.00  for anyone over 3, which is a great bargain for the ride…You go around the  loop twice, and that includes going around lots of the fairgrounds, a small tunnel and a crossing….The boys loved it!…so did Mimi (that’s me)…and we can hear that authentic whistle from our house!

 

Last night they had the tractor pull at the fair…This is a huge draw from the surrounding communities…Again, for those who aren’t very familiar with the county fair stuff and  who wonder WHAT the tractors pull….they pull a large sled that they add weights to as the tractors are moving…The tractor who pulls the most weight wins and they have qualifying eliminations in the afternoon and the finals at night….Some of the tractor engines are HUGE!!. and we can hear them very loud from our house..(They actually hand out ear plugs for those who are insane enough to watch from the infield and the grandstand)…McGyver and I went once…Once was enough for me, but Den loves it (he’s deaf anyway, so what’s the harm?)  Den went Saturday night with some of the other insane members of our family…I stayed back at the house with the grandkids and watched the traffic backed up outside our house….Sheesh!

I took the above photos from our front steps…As you can see, the weather was absolutely perfect for the fair… Saturday night I decided that I could build just as good a campfire as “Papa”, so I split some kindling with our camping ax and got one started….

 

This small little start turned into a rip roaring campfire….great for roasting marshmallows with the older grands…Maddox, age 16 months was in bed early, so Taylor, Peyton, Campbell, Aiden and I sat outside and enjoyed the evening…It’s amazing what interesting stuff you can learn when being silent and just listening to the kids (age 14,12,9 and 4)..Especially the oldest ,who is the only girl…very enlightening.

So, this morning I made a breakfast casserole and Chris, John and the kids left about 10:30AM…Den walked over to our brother-in-laws to watch the Bears game with him, and I set into vacuuming, doing laundry, sweeping crumbs and mopping up ground in frosting, pizza sausage and crackers….What a wild weekend!!! Papa and I are tired, but it is a good kind of tired from enjoying our family…the best kind of tired, eh?? Thanks for stopping by..I see I have a few new followers, and I promise I will acknowledge you soon, but tonight is an early cocktail hour..if we can stay awake….

The 125th Sandwich Fair

  Today is the first day of the 125th DeKalb County Fair..A.K.A. The Sandwich Fair…It was extremely hot here today, but Den and I walked out and did a couple loops around the fairgrounds…Also, today is our son’s 42nd birthday!..Kelly and his wife, Cindy, were both at the fair, working at the EMS building, where anything can happen from bee stings to heart attacks..A lady came in for a band aid while we were there…Kel is a paramedic and Cindy is an RN. Cindy is also the EMS co-ordinator for Valley West Hospital and the EMS booth at the fair….

Cindy on the left…..and Kelly on the right….Sure is nice to have Emergency Medical Personnel in the family…especially when McGyver walks into the slide of the Hiker!

Old steam engines, strange character and lots of good food….Thank God for Simvistatin!!

Left is the famous Fay’s BBQ line, where they serve up pork chops and chicken…There is a carnival too, and right is the Women’s Hall ..

They have a horticultural building for flowers and veggies…and on the right is the inside of the Women’s Hall …Just look at all of those quilts hanging up, Paulette!….

The above train on the right was built by a local farmer, Augie Otto, and it made it’s debut at the Sandwich Fair in 1973. It took him 7 years to build…and it is built to 1/4 scale. It is a model of Class 5-4 Hudson Type 4-6-4, Burlington Series 3000 Engine. It weight 5 tons, is oil fired, carries 200 psi and has full Westinghouse air brakes. Also, the whistle and bell tones are authentic ( can I just say, I wish that’s the whistle they STILL used today!)….

  So, McGyver and I not only walked our 2 miles this morning, but at least another 2 around the Sandwich Fair…Our kids will all be home this weekend, so it’s another CAVE-A-PALOOZA in the making….Hope you can endure a few more family photos!! Speaking of neat photos, Den and I usually go for an adult beverage on Saturday evenings…Since our Moose Lodge was closed last weekend, we ended up at an old haunt of ours called The Old Tyme Inn…

Notice the back bar of this place and the mural that is painted on it…Locals tell a story that waaaay back in the 1920’s or so, a transient worker painted that mural in exchange for room and board at the apartment above the bar.  I really wish they didn’t stack all of that booze in front of the lower part of it…And would ya look at that back bar woodwork??!!  They just don’t make ‘em like that anymore….

OK, so I threw another blog together, (as if you hadn’t noticed it WAS thrown together) There will be photos of our weekend at the “Cave”, and I will post them only after I do some editing, reviewing and censoring as I go…!!