Rooftop View of South Vegas

After hitting the jackpot, I escaped to the roof of the parking garage and enjoyed the view.

Feelin' Lucky?

Oh yeah.

Getting in on the Action

Cuppy is in the habit of zeroing in on Zach and I in the yard and getting in on the action.

When she's not rubbing against our legs, she tries to jump up in our lap or crawl up on my shoulder.

Failing that, if she can't get my attention, she will try to hug my leg until I reach down and rub her head. She's not shy, I have to be very careful not to step on her.

Only a cocked back arm with a ball in it, by Zach, is enough to make her run away.

Fun With Fungus

Zach found a really cool stick in the yard that was covered with this reddish brown gel like fungi. He kept picking them off and trying to stick them in his mouth.

It's really not that much of a stretch. After all, we eat mushrooms, and this isn't that much different. They were a pretty color and did look a little like candy.

He never did eat any, but he may have gotten a little taste.

Zached Out

The walk around the Vista Trail wiped out Zach. He fell asleep with his milk and Ritz crackers in his hand.

Old Rusty Whatever

I found this rusty old piece of hardware on the Lake Vista Trail. The area used to have a quarry in it.

When I first looked at this, I immediately thought of an electronic detonator, like we used to use to ignite charges when I was in the Army, doing demolitions.

It's way too rusty, there's no way to know for sure what it really is.

Washed Out

On the Lake Vista Trail around the upper part of Lake Blue Springs, the water obviously got very high. It must have been out of control.

There was a 150 yard long stretch of trail that had been scoured by the water, pushing most of the gravel off the trail and into a pile in the woods by the trail. there was an old barbed wire fence that acted like a sieve for the floating debris, catching material almost 3 foot deep.

This is an old quarry's entrance road that was refurbished into a really nice jogging and biking trail. When the trail was new, 2 or 3 years ago, it had a very nice pea gravel surface, but it has steadily washed out in various places. They paved all the long hills that connect the trail to the various parking areas, but the regular flat trail itself is subject to a lot of erosion. It's too bad, because already a lot of people use the trails, but you don't want parks departments to be shy of making trail systems because of the upkeep.

All Spider Webby

Zach and I went for an early morning walk around the Lake Vista trail and saw tons of dewy spider webs, which I love.

A Great Day at Jacomo

Here are some more pictures from our evening outing to the Jacomo fishing path across from the dam.

We saw boats going by, planes flying over, flowers and butterflies, and got to throw rocks in the lake.

You just can't beat that.

Family Portrait

Zach's Day Care is asking for family portraits for each kid, and we realized that we didn't have any picture of all of us. So here's our response, taken near the buffalo pen at Fleming Park. As you can see, Zach likes the long blades of grass and he's totally stylin' with his plaid pants.

Get that Monkey off your back

Sorry for the blurry quality of this photo. I was shooting blind over my shoulder while driving. Good thing they did not have a sober parenting checkpoint while I was doing that.

Zach has decided that his Monkey Neck Pillow is a wonderful thing.

Come Sail Away

Zach and I went out to Jacomo where they have a paved fishing and walking path next to the lake across from the dam.

We walked around in the late evening sun and threw rocks in the lake. We got to see some planes flying in formation, practicing for their Labor Day flyover.

We had a good time, as evidenced by the fact that Zach complained when it was time to go. All good things must come to an end.

Little Headbanger

It may appear that Zach is mad in this picture, but that was not the case. I was switching through radio stations to find something that he liked, and some really dark heavy rock came on. He was doing a little headbanging motion and put this hilarious scowl on his face.

It was the perfect expression for that particular song, too.

As soon as the music was switched, his faced popped back into happy little boy mode.

More Sidewalk Chalk Art

These masterpieces lasted only one day, as a 3" rain came the later that day and into the night and wiped them out.

Chalk Walk

Zach is discoving chalk art, though the skillful examples of his artistic mother.

Steamy Summer

This summer, the constant rain and very high temperatures would make something like fog form many days. It wasn't exactly fog, it was more like steam. Fog forms in cool low places and if you drive down the road, it disappears where the breeze sweeps it away or on higher ground. This stuff seems to fill the air in a very thin consistency, but up for quite some height. Sometimes, you're not even sure you're seeing it. And it's not cool, like fog, but steamy, like a sweat lodge. This is not supposed to be Alabama.

Puddle Dance

Zach got out of the car when we got home and homed in on the big puddle in the middle of the driveway. It was cloudy, overcast and dismal, having just rained.

This did not deter Zach from having an excellent time Puddle Stomping.

Many people have experienced small children and their fascination with puddles. However, this day, I believe Zach was channelling some Indian Spirit or something, because he didn't just stomp on the puddles, he did a complex little dance in the puddle.

I think he was thanking the rain gods for the moisture. He kept doing this little stepping dance through the puddle. He hasn't met a puddle he hasn't liked yet.

I have video, but it's rotated sideways because the boneheaded camera operator forgot that you should not turn the camera on its side when you shoot video.

I will try to get the video rotated and repost this.

Almost Invisible

Zach and I squeezed in a walk on a rainy afternoon after work, between rainstorms. We walked for about an hour, and it started raining when we were about 30 feet away from the car.

I kept hearing noises in the woods, but couldn't figure out what was going on until I spotted this pair. They stood so still and were so hard to see that I was pointing them out to Zach and he could not see them. Normally, he spots things before me.

Zacher's Crackers

Zach likes crackers. Sometimes, when I'm walking on a trail with him in the backpack, I pass crackers back to him to munch on. Here's a blind shot over my shoulder to see how he's doing back there. I like the evidence of cracker delight on his face.

Gastrointestinal Delights

Possibly the most excellent restaurant name I have ever seen.

I wonder what they use as a rating scheme instead of stars? Little cloud symbols?

Peek-a-boo

Zach was bored on the long drive back from Des Moines until Mommy got in the back seat with him and played a nice long game of peek-a-boo.

He's an expert.

Hat Trick

Zach got a nice engineer's hat from Grandma & Grandpa. He still hasn't figured out how to wear a hat yet.

Being cute, though, he's got that down pat.

Coronary Anyone?

Deep fat frying reaches the level of an art form at the Iowa State Fair.

Notice the little drawings of the yellow treats on a stick on the side of the stand? Why do they have little grey lines above them? Is that the stench coming out of them?

Go Tell Aunt Rhody

I always wondered what the Old Grey Goose was referring to.

As you can see, a "grey" goose is really kind of tan colored.

I want one.

Rooster Overload

I took Zach into the Chicken building and he got to look at all the various types of Roosters. He liked the sounds they were making and watching the roosters face off through the bars of their cages.