New Month, New Music

Just getting ready for the upcoming football season.

Older Than Dirt

My not that much younger sister sent me this email yesterday about objects and events from a long, long time ago when the earth was still cooling. It was interesting to see the things from my youth that I still remember and were a part of my childhood.

1. 45 rpm spindles. We didn't have a record player so I have no idea what this are.

2. green stamps. Yes, I remember these being in the junk drawer. I believe there was a catalog that you could choose things to "buy" with your stamps.





3. metal ice cube trays with levers. Yes, we had these.





4. Beanie and Cecil. Who?

5. roller-skate keys. We lived on a dirt road, need I say more?

6. cork pop guns. Nope. We weren't allowed to have guns, even play guns. We were forced to use sticks.

7. Marlin Perkins. Again, who?

8. drive-in movies. Score! The first movie I went to was a drive-in theater.





9. drive-in restaurants. Not a part of our lives. We never ate out.

10. car hops. see number nine.

11. studebakers. I wasn't aware of the names of cars. The only car I rememeber from when I was young was a pink station wagon with buttons.

12. Topo Gigio. Who doesn't remember him? He was on the Ed Sullivan Show which we watched every week. Thankfully, it was on CBS or I wouldn't know that one.





13. washtub wringers. We had one of these bad boys in the basement. Loved watching the clothes go through the wringer.





14. the Fuller Brush Man. Nope. Heard of them, don't think they ever stopped by our house.

15. Sky King. I need help here.

16. reel-to-reel tape recorders. I have heard of them, but we never had one. Come on, get real, we didn't have a record player. We did have an eight track player, though.

17. tinkertoys. didn't have them.

18. erector sets. ditto.

19. lincoln logs. We had these and spent hours building things with them.





20. 15 cent McDonald hamburgers. We never ate out. I think the first time I ate at McDonalds I was 10 or so. We led a sheltered life what can I say?

21. 5 cent packs of baseball cards. There may have been a few around. They weren't something we really collected like D did. Now he has baseball cards.

22. penny candy. Now where were we going to buy stuff like this?

23. 25 cent a gallon gasoline. I had no idea what gas cost when I was young.

24. JIffy Pop popcorn. I know we made popcorn on the stove in a pan. We may have had these occasionally.



25. 5 cent stamps. What things cost were of no concern of mine.

26. gum wrapper chains. Score! I made these by the yard. And the best part is they smelled so good.





27. Chatty Cathy dolls. My not that much younger sister had one of these dolls and I had Thumbelina. My doll was better.





28. 5 cent cokes. We didn't have pop around the house until I was older and we didn't live where we could buy Coke off the shelf. Man, we were so deprived growing up.

29. Speedy Alka-Seltzer. I have heard of him.

30. Falstaff Beer. I have never heard of this brand. Strohs would have been the beer of choice in Michigan.

31. Burma Shave signs. Don't remember them.

32. Brownie camera. We had one of these. It was blue if I remember correctly.





33. flash bulbs. We had these too. They were in the linen closet.





34. tv test patterns. Don't remember them. Of course, we only got one channel and it didn't always come in that clear to begin with.

35. Old Yeller. It wasn't on the right channel. Never watched it.

36. Chef-Boy-Ar-dee. We didn't eat this growing up. No fast food and no box mixes. Wow.

37. fire escape tubes. I don't think I have ever seen one.

38. Timmy and Lassie. It was on CBS and I believe we watched this occasionally.

39. aluminum christmas trees. Ours was always real. The better to strip the needles off of it, right, brother?!


Well, how did you do? Can you claim to be older than dirt?

Fore!

This is what I found in our yard the other day.





That in itself isn't so unusual, but look at how close to the house this ball had landed!





And no I didn't use a telephoto lens. The more amazing thing is this what the ball had to go through in order to get to our yard. Amazing.





I think someone needs golf lessons.

This Weedend Was a Homerun!

What did we do on Saturday that was so exciting? We met some friends here...





for dinner. Yes, we drove all the way to Todedo to eat at Tony Packos. For you non-MASH fans, Tony Packos was mentioned frequently by Klinger one of the charachters on the show. He was from Toledo and this was his favorite place to eat. There are two Tony Packos in Toledo. This isn't the original one. The original has signed hot dog buns lining the walls. All kinds of famous people have signed the buns and it is a lot of fun to wander around the restaurant looking at the autographs. We went to this particular one because it is located across from this....





After dinner we were headed to Fifth Third Field to watch the Mud Hens play the Pawtucket Red Sox. Did you know that Fifth Third has been voted the best ballpark in the minor leagues? I didn't think so but it has. The weather was perfect and the Mud Hens won. Then it was a loooong three hour drive back to Butler.

I know it seems like a long way to go for dinner and a ball game but it was sure nice to see some old friends from our Monroe days.

Jo had an equally exciting day. She went to the spa and came back this morning looking and feeling refreshed. It was a homerun weekend for all three of us!

Smiles For Miles

Yes, this is what had me smiling that day. For D it was planes for me it was ice cream.





The Freep had written an article about Moomers a couple months back and I had saved it knowing I would be up there this summer. Moomers is an off-shoot of a dairy farm that is outside of Traverse City. In fact, the ice cream store is next to the dairy farm. You can watch the cows eat their green grass while you eat their ice cream.





Moomers had been voted by Good Morning America as the best ice cream in the country. Well, I couldn't take their word for it, I had to see and taste for myself. the flavor that had won was called Cherries Moobilee. I didn't need to look over the other flavors, I knew what I was ordering. The Freep also said that they frequently ran out of this flavor so just in case they were out this day I did have a back-up flavor. The person in front of me ordered Cherries Moobilee. Good sign, they must still have that flavor in stock. Uh oh, the girl behind the counter just asked one of the other workers if there was enough left for another cone. Please say yes. The stars must have been aligned just right because I had the last cone of the day of that particular flavor.





Can I just say it was some of the best ice cream I have ever had. Good Morning America viewers knew what they were talking about. I have to give it five out of five waffle cones.





Just to confirm that fact, look at the line as we left the parking lot that day.





We even saw some fruit stands later in the week that were advertising that they carried Moomers ice cream. Will be definately looking for that ice cream the next time I am back Up North.

The fun never stops for D and I. We have something fun planned for tomorrow. We will be eating at a place that some of you may have heard of but I am willing to bet you have never eaten at. I take that back, Sarah may have eaten here. We will also be attending an event that I am almost certain you have never been to either. Again, everyone but Sarah. Now that I think about it my not that much younger brother may have been to both places. One for sure.

Tune in Sunday to see whatever that could be!

Into The Wide Blue Yonder

What is a yonder anyway? While you ponder that question let me tell you what we did on our last day in Leland. It was Friday and we had one full day to ourselves and we planned on making the most of it. D found out that the Blue Angels were performing in an airshow in Traverse City Saturday and Sunday. That was a bummer because he really wanted to see them in flight. But fortunately they do a practice show the day before and what do you know it was the day before. Score one for D!

We sat right across Grand Traverse Bay and the road from this sign.





Because of an accident last year there is now keep the airspace clear where the planes are going to be flying. All the boats had been moved and no one was allowed on the beach but because the Coast Guard had no jurisdiction across the street, they couldn't make us move. We sat right under the spot where the planes were exiting. Let me just say one word, "LOUD".

The first performer was this helicopter.





They started a fire, they put it out. They dropped some people in the water, they pulled them out. It was fun to watch but not as exciting as what was to come.





I don't know planes so I have no idea what kind of planes these are but they were fun to watch. A good preview for what was to come.





















Then things got a little bit louder.





And the another type of plane. I am sure Cory would know what these are.





And then the stars of the show.





The Blue Angels.









Just let me say they were incredibly loud and fast. One came up from behind us and scared us to death. Didn't expect that.









We just saw them practice, I can't imagine what the real show must be like. If you ever get a chance to see them I highly recommnend that you do just that.

Now the air show was number one of D's list of things to do that day and he was smiling ear to ear. But, people,that wasn't mine. The highlight of my day was now coming. It involved driving a few miles out of Traverse City but it was well worth the trouble. Tune in tomorrow to see what had me smiling.

Beer Can Chicken

Well, this was our weekend to try beer can chicken. The stars of the show.





And also these little beauties.





Hey, how did she get in here? But, since she is let's just agree she is a beauty. And now on to the supporting cast of Sunday night's dinner.





I brought these all the way back from Michigan. It won't be long and our local farm stand should have potatoes for purchase. Can't wait.

We put the chicken in the grill and tried to keep the temperature at 350. I say try because it started out at 400 and took as a while to get it down to where it should have been. In the middle of grilling this Rob stopped by to look at our leaking pipe and we were a little distracted. Let's just say it cooked A LOT faster than expected. But, despite that this was out finished product.





We used the potatoes in Pioneer Woman's Crash Potato recipe. We had also bought some corn from a farm stand and added that to our dinner that night.





I think we have to give this meal 4 out of 5 forks. The grill got away from us and the chicken was a tad overcooked. All in all it was still good and we will definately be giving it another try.

You Better Have A Kleenex Handy For This

They flew to Nairobi then took a small plane to the camp in
Kora, where Adamson came out to meet them.

"Christian arrived last night, " he said simply. "He's here with
his lionesses and his cubs. He's outside the camp on his favourite
rock. He's waiting for you."

Adamson and his wife Joy often talked about the mysterious,
apparently telepathic communication skills of lions - particularly
between lions and men.

Both believed that lions were possessed of a sixth sense and
George was convinced that a scientific explanation would one day be
found.

And here, it seemed, was the proof.

"Christian stared at us in a very intense way," says Rendall. "I
knew his expressions and I could see he was interested. We called
him and he stood up and started to walk towards us very slowly.

"Then, as if he had become convinced it was us, he ran towards
us, threw himself on to us, knocked us over, knocked George over
and hugged us, like he used to, with his paws on our shoulders.

"Everyone was crying. We were crying, George was crying, even
the lion was nearly crying."

"The lionesses were far from pleased. There was a lot of
growling and spitting," continues Rendall.

"'George said: 'This isn't safe - we'd better go.' So we each
put a hand on Christian's back and he walked with us back to
camp."

The reunion party went on all night and into the morning.
Leaving his exhausted companions to go to their beds, Christian
returned to his pride.

"We watched him go back to the two lionesses, who were not at
all happy with this man, smelling of nicotine, whisky and humans,"
says Rendall.

"He just walloped the two of them with his paw, then
collapsed."

And that was the last anyone ever saw of him.

You can read more at http://uselessdesires.blogspot.com/2008/07/christian-lion-who-lived-in-my-london.html

If You Guessed That This....

is used to dry this...





fishing nets. You would be right!





We were in historic Fishtown.





Fishtown is an area of Leland where the commerical fishing was conducted one hundred years ago. Now the area is busy with shops and galleries. Charter fishing boats still leave from these docks and the only ferry to the Manitou Islands departs from these docks. It was a very interesting part of Leland that we enjoyed exploring.









Here is D enjoying Fishtown.













Every time we rode our bikes to town, about 8 miles, we would lean our bikes against this tree while we wandered around. It was huge. I can't even guess how old it must have been.





All in all we really enjoyed the time we spent in Fishtown and Leland.