Dumpster Divers

We had leftover Jack's Stack Barbeque (see www.jackstackbbq.com) after some presentations at work. It was good for lunch a couple of days, and leftovers for home, then a small remainder went into the dumpster.

We did not realize that we left the local furry critters off the invite list. Unfortunately, the dumpster acts like a Roach Motel for Raccoons (maybe a Raccoon Hotel?). Raccoons go in, but they can't get out.

These guys had obviously had their fill, as all the barbeque pans were licked shiny clean. They didn't look like they had spent the whole weekend in the hot dumpster, which would have dehydrated them and made them look really ragged. They looked fresh as a daisy.

However, they were trapped. We used the old trick of lowering a pallet into the dumpster to serve as a ladder. These youngsters were not shy and came out almost immediately. From the top of the pallet, they launched themselves over the gap to the fence, then climbed down and ran over to a nearby catalpa tree for cover. The last we saw them they were running into the field across the street. I'm sure we'll see them again.

Stump Grinder

I rented a stump grinder and ground down 23 stumps this weekend.

There's something about the nice clean lines of the yard when you're done. It's totally worth it.

I just didn't expect it to be 95° the day I did it. Can anyone say Heat Exhaustion?

Bye Bye Yew Bushes

These bushes were planted when the house was built in 1973. They spilled over the sidewalks, and rather than severely cutting them back so that they would look like hell for a while and then grow back nicely, I kept trying to sculpt them delicately back. So they always pushed back over the sidewalk. They kept getting these fungal infections where big pieces of them would turn brown, and I kept trimming them back, hoping they would recover.

I liked the fact that they provided cover for the kitties and that you could hide behind them, and I guess I assumed they had to stay.

They had to go.

City Hall Fountains

We went to the "Jamaican Jams" concert in front of Lee's Summit City Hall.

It was the first time I'd gone up close to the building, and was suprised to find that they had fountains, too.

The first time I noticed fountains that weren't a basin that held water where it would be inappropriate to walk in (I always wanted to wade out into the JC Nichols fountain and sit on the back of an alligator) was the Crown Center fountain. You'd see a picture of kids having a blast at least once a month in the summer.

What a simple idea, put all the nozzles under the floor and make it drain away like a big grate without any holes for kids to break their heels in. Now these fountains are everywhere.

The only problem is that a fountain like that is great in a sunny, well landscaped location. There's something dark and institutional about the location of this fountain, and something strange about seeing children enjoying themselves in what is usually a serious environment.

I wonder if the kids can sense it?

Water Park Finished

The water park in Lee's Summit is now completed. There was a large group of little kids going through swimming lessons, so the gates were open and we just walked right in.

They have an "Action River" where you get on these big clear inner tubes and float around in a channel. They have two water slides, one is tiny, probably too small for me to go in. The other is huge. We saw a picture in the paper that showed someone riding a big air mattress-looking thing down the large slide, so maybe the other one is the for sliding down without protection.

There was also a tiny little olympic pool for tiny children to use. This little playground in a pool was the crowning detail. Andrea can't wait to go.

Baleful Harvest

I don't think I've ever seen grass grow this thick and high as this summer. The field down the street was harvesting it this week and I'll bet they got a big bale every 30'. It's a miracle!

Turkey Chicks

Finally! I got to see some Wild Turkey chicks. They are so shy, you don't get to see them very often. These guys are about the size of a Blue Jay, with plenty of room to grow.

Mohawk Ditches

This summer it rained a lot. When it never goes for a long time without raining, the ditches stay wet and soft.

When this happens, people mow their yards but avoid the wet parts like the ditches. I remember looking at it early in the spring and thinking it looked like a mohawk haircut.

By the end of the summer, it looks like a mohawk on steroids.

Immaculata Cathedral

I used to drive through St. Mary's Kansas on the way to K-State when I was in college. I always wondered what the story was about the cathedral.

Now, in the age of Google, I was able to find out that it was called the Immaculata Cathedral and was burned down in 1978. The Jesuits used to run the College in St. Mary, but they don't anymore. I wonder if they are thinking about rebuilding it. Even what is left is beautiful.

Spinning around pic

Steve likes to try the trick of moving his camera with a moving object and making the stationary background appear to move past the subject.

Here he is spinning as Nick runs in a circle around him.

Photo by Steve

Treehouse

Here's Kyle and Cole in the "treehouse" Steve built. It's really more of a woodland raised deck with a roof, but the kids like to play in it and probably think of it as more of a fort. We lit it up with Christmas lights during the last bonfire, and you can see they are still there. The base below the platform has a sand pile in it. I screened all the acorns, leaves, plastic Army soldiers out of the sand a while back, and keep it covered so little kitty nuggets don't spoil the fun of digging in the sand.

Photo by Steve

Fireworks Turn Night into Day

This is a picture that shows just how intense the finale of a fireworks display can be. Steve was shooting the Powell Gardens display with a camera on a tripod, and turned the camera on us during the final enormous bursts at the end of the show.

As you can see, the bursts were so bright and intense that it looks like daylight. It was quite an amazing and packed finale.

Photo by Steve

Boom II

We saw two fireworks displays in two nights.

The Powell Garden one was fantastic.

What made it great was that the shell were going off low, right over our heads, and ash and embers, and sometimes burning material was landing in the crowd all around us.

You can't beat the element of danger for a truly fantastic fireworks display.

Sunset Fountain

One of these days, I'll have to bring my swimsuit and indulge in the fountain. I wonder if everyone will thing that's weird. If only I could pass as a kid.

Contrail Silhouette Halo

One last sculpture pic before the sun sets and the fireworks display starts at Powell Gardens.

Scary Sculpture

I can't honestly say I knew what this sculpture was about, except that it was disturbing.

Kyle also was disturbed by the statue. We couldn't tell if it was cannibalism or a parasite, or some other even more disturbing form of intimacy. I think Kyle's face says it all.

Explosive Culties by the Clematis Chapel

I just like this picture, too. You've got the clematis in the forground, the Chapel in the background, and the special feature - the fireworks experts off to the side.

Black-eyed Susan Fountain Statue

Some of the statues in the Powell Gardens display were out in the Fountain Garden. They were very pretty reflecting off the pool in the center of the island.

The little point of land in the background is where the symphony sat and serenaded the audience.

Sometimes you just gotta stick a pointless beautiful pic in your blog.

Mystery Creature

This sculpture looks like it could be a snail, fish, woman, alligator, or a conch. I'm not sure what it is all about, but it's cool. There are many elements of this picutre that I like.

I like the reflection, the waterfall, the lilypads with the upturned edges, and the green & white grass, as well as the colors and the variety of vegetation. I'm going to make one in my back yard.

Hydrangea Chapel

The Annabelle Hydrangeas in front of the Chapel was like a diarama of winter. OK, not exactly.

Powell Gardens Chapunga Sculptures

We went got to Powell Gardens early enough to take the tour. They had the Chapunga Sculptures featured throughout the gardens. The sculptures make a nice touch throughout the gardens, but we didn't get a chance to stop and read about all the sculptures.

Trying to find out more about the garden, I went to powellgardens.org and discovered that there is a Powell Gardens blog. You can read more about the sculptures at http://powellgardens.blogspot.com/search/label/Chapungu.

The Fountain at Powell Gardens

This mother wanted her little baby to enjoy the fountain at Powell Gardens with the other kids, but she was too small to go in by herself. The mother was willing to help, but not to get wet, so they played an elaborate dance into and out of the fountain as it surged and waned. It was fun just watching them.

Waterdog

Steve got Ray, a yellow lab, recently.

They don't call them water dogs for nothing.

Battling Fireworks Displays

We go to this little hilltop to watch the fireworks displays most years. The advantage is that a huge private display goes off pretty close to us and Lee's Summit's big display goes off a little to the right.

This is a picture from taking my little camera, putting it in "fireworks" mode and trying to hold the camera very still. My brother's pics from a tripod mounted camera were much better.

New Moon over Rich Guy's house

This is the view from the hilltop that we watched the fireworks from. As we waited for the sun to set, this new moon was visible in the west.

I was explaining to Kyle the way you tell if the moon is getting fuller or disappearing. DOC is the trick. The moon makes the curve of the D, goes full, and then makes the curve of the C before disappearing during the New Moon phase each month. If the moon is overhead, you face south, then raise your head up to judge the curve.

Patriotic Power Parachute

I work with a woman whose boyfriend is getting his license to fly these things. I would have called it an ultralight, which is more like a hang glider with a motor. These are more like a parachute with a motor.

They know the guy that flies this one, apparently, he was interviewed by the local media on the 4th of July, but we were way to busy with fireworks, bonfires, and barbeque to mess with television.

Secret Recipe

We finally resurrected our Dad's barbeque sauce recipe this forth of July. He used to put them on ribs or brisket - we made ribs.

The secret was to char the ribs on the hot fire of a grill for flavor, then bake them in the oven for tenderness.

The biggest problem for us was putting the sauce back into ketchup bottles when we were done.

KSU Tornado

When a tornado hit the campus at Kansas State University, it ripped the roof off the SAE house across the street. It hit the engineering building that I spent much of my time in at school, and ripped part of the roof off.

My cousin was on the roof of Weber Arena the next day helping to clean up the mess. There were plenty of pictures of the disaster in the paper.

You don't expect to see someplace you've been, much less someplace you know get hit by a tornado.

We had been there less than 2 month before visiting, so the scenes of the campus were still fresh in our minds.

Why did the Woodchuck cross the road?

To get her babies to the other side

Photo by Andrea

It's a boy!

After the ultrasound, you must immediately call the grandparents.

Cherry Trees

The cherries were thick and ripe in Des Moines at the Rose house. They asked if we wanted to pick them to make a pie, but that would have also included pitting each cherry by hand. We didn't do it, so we learned that the lazy person gets no pie.

Wind Power

We went through two wind farms in northern Iowa. The farming was going around like normal at the base. There was plenty of wind and no lack of spinning turbines. Clean energy! I wonder if your close smell better coming out of the dryer when you use it?

Iowa Farms

You might think this is a beautiful Iowa Barn full of happy farm animals with cute names, but this is a rest stop full of smelly grumpy travellers. Notice the Casino sign in the background? Nothing natural about this place.

Burger King Birds

We were in the drive through of a Burger King and watched this mother bird teach her baby how to get food by picking french fries out of the trash. You would think that picking a french fry up off the ground couldn't be easier, but he baby just wanted to pick the french fry out of his mother's mouth. Maybe we just saw the first day of training, but I wondered how this baby bird could possibly survive out in the wild.

Doggie Driver

This nice dog may have fancied himself a good driver, but the car wasn't moving. So at best, he's a good parker.

Come Sail Away

On the way back from Northern Minnesota, we stopped in Wayzata on Lake Minnetonka. I wasn't sure if there was some kind of sailing competition, or if every day has a fleet of sailboats on Lake Minnetonka

Bear Encounter

Here Eric re-enacts his face to face encounter with a ferocious bear. While leaving the garage with a bucket of fish guts (I'm not making this up) he turned and faced a bear, from the same angle this picture was taken.

Of course, the bear's claws were probably more intimidating, and we're pretty sure Abby was not hanging out with him, but you get the picture.

After the Rain

I love the sense of quiet clean beauty that this picture shows. You can see the storm that washed off the docks still moving away.

Baby on Board

Just think, when he's 16, we can tell him about the first vacation he ever went on, in Minnesota. We'll have to make up the parts about what he was doing.

Ghost Lodge

We found the remnants of an old resort Lodge. There was a little harbor that still had the gas pump standing next to it. Back from the shore a short ways, there was a stone chimney, but no building anywhere in sight.

So many babies

I've never seen as many goslings and ducklings in my whole life as I saw in a few days on Leech Lake.

This parade consisted of multiple parents and a long string of little ones.

Pelican on the Wing

This picture is not as impressive-looking as it was difficult to take.

I had my digital camera cranked all the way to max zoom and managed to get this moving target in the center of the frame from a moving, rocking boat.

Baywatch: Gull Island

I wonder if the Gull equivalent of Pamela Anderson comes rushing out of this thing if someone starts choking on a fish?

Naptime with Vern

Getting up at 5 to go fishing and staying out until 10 every night makes for a strong need for napping.

Abby's little stuffed friend Vern appears to be a good nap companion to Eric.

Elect any American - Native or not

There were plenty of campaign signs up in the area we were in near Walker Minnesota. Many of them were obviously Native Americans, based on the names.

I couldn't decide who I would vote for, which is good because I don't get to vote there.

Paul Bunyan

The tiny town of Akeley Minnesota claims to be the birthplace of Paul Bunyan. So does Brainerd, Bemidji and a dozen other towns.

Andrea would not go sit in Paul's hand for a fun posed picture. She thinks he looks too much like a terrorist.