Ben how'd ya get so fly?

My nephew drew this beautiful picture of Ben. My sister and I requested the moustache but the giant eyebrows and Fred Flinestone feet, oh he picked that up all by himself. Lovely.

Wowzaas I can't believe it is the 4th already. The cynics of my family will say that the 4th is the halfway point of summer but in reality summer has just begun, come on people. We have a nice slew of fireworks brought in by Dad from SoDak, with the highlight piece being a large firework called Salvation with a crucifix and John 3:16 printed on the side. Hmm I didn't know there were Chinese Christians? In any case good find Dad, controversy is good, then we forget how many bottles of mustard we had, who parked where and what drank all the beer.

We caught the Tom Petty - Pearl Jam concert on Tuesday night in St. Paul. Tom was pretty rocking, I mean he still wears the same duds from 30 years ago (purple shirt with vest?) but he also rocks and sings like he is 30 years younger. It was great entertainment with the crazies in front of us dancing and carrying on we had plenty to look at. In general the people watching rivaled that of the airport..........

But doesn't hold a candle to the folks at the DMV. Wow I have never seen such a hodge podge of people as I ran into at the Columbia Heights DMV. Some of the oddest ones were employees to boot. Gov't offices = scary, don't go unless you HAVE to.

Oh Grandma, Grandma's and Ghana

One nice little piece of advice for ya, don't get old because this is what happens. My grandma got her knee replaced and she is doing well, is in good spirits and even seems to enjoy sporting the scar and showing everyone but gosh-d that looks like it smarted. To a fast recovery Grandma June, may you soon be cruising around in your Town Car delivering socks and other necessities to your loved ones.

Oh boy Grandma's Marathon was a doozey this year. I got into the half but couldn't attend and now realize that was a pretty good deal for me. Apparently it was the most humid conditions ever at race time and me and humidity are not friends. The person who did use my bib ran a 1:38 which I found pretty impressive, plus I beat Ben, I mean the person that ran in my place beat the person that ran in Ben's. Sweet!

Ghana beats U.S., what? Why I care I am not sure but I did listen on the radio this morning and it sounded pretty bad. And I think this is only the second win for an African team on European soil. Jeez just another reason for the world to look down us.

VOTE JOE!

Oh Joe, how you be so awesome? Local Twin Joe Mauer is everything a baseball star should be, humble and handsome, loyal and minnesota nice. After his scary first season knee injury, Joe has been nothing but exciting, too bad his teammates can't seem to follow suit. Hmm too busy grumbling about your salary to worry about your game, hey Lohse how were the minors?

The Twins have launched a campaign to help him become an All Star, check it out and VOTE here. I voted 25 times, yes it was a pain but worth it if this St. Paul slugger gets the spot he has earned on the American League All Star Team. (for non baseball folks, vote J. Mauer, right hand column under American League catcher)

YAO Zaas

Yao Ming is about 7 feet 5, I saw him play against the T-Wolves last winter and wow he is tall, runs like a clod, can't jump and blocks like a grizzly bear.

What a sight it would be to see this Yao play basketball, Yao Defen, also Chinese but not related to Ming, is 7 foot 7! Sadly she probably cannot walk, it appears in the photo she is having trouble just sitting.

Does anyone else see her resemblance to a Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade Balloon?

Looking for a deal?

I use craig's list quite a bit and have actually found some pretty good deals. For example here is one I want to share FREE 3 boxes of cereal (adult) . I am not going to bite on this so if you are interested you go, my treat. Or how about this? What a nice offer.

-Well I survived Iowa, not without a broken treadmill and a hairy sandwich but hey I made it. Ben picked me up from the airport Thursday night and we had dinner at the 5-8 Club, which was where we went on our first date. I thought it would be cutesy to wear the same shirt, you know recreate the first date ala The Parent Trap. Well it got a little freaky as Ben had the same idea and also wore the same shirt and in a packed club we ended up in the same booth with the same waitress as a year and a half ago. I probably didn't help things by ordering the same meal with the same beer but Ben mixed it up, got the Juicy Lucy and we survived the deja vu, even had some fun.

-We have been hauling a 16 gallon root beer keg around for the last 3-4 days. It lived in my bathtub for a night and then moved to a giant garbage tub and now it is plopped down right in my kitchen. Man those things are heavy but I guess worth it as we got it for Ben's Dad's 60th birthday party. Saturday was cold, definitely more of a coffee day then a root beer day, but fun. Ben commented it was like a graduation party but for an older gentleman, which is totally what it was, same cake, pictures,and congratulations.

-Wow, how come this is the first time I ever heard of this?

Go Hawkeyes

No wait I hate the Hawkeyes, all because of that one game at Joe Sensor's, stupid crazy fans. But anyways I am in Iowa and it sucks, the Baymonts Suites, they aren't sweet, they smell like crappy hotel and my Kia Rio makes a weird whooshing sound if I go over 55 and seriously reeks inside. Uffda, at least there are a couple of decent restaurants and I can always go check out the University of Iowa. Wait, why would I do that? Anyways I am here until Thursday evening, please keep me in your thoughts.

Hope you all like radishes and kohlrabi and beans, peas, squash, tomatoes and corn, because we planted a garden and it is bigger than we can eat. Here is Ben trying to disc up the garden, yep he is stuck, but he gets himself unstuck, not without looking a little concerned though.(correction, he was not stuck, only had the disc set too deep, sorry Ben!
Yah-Hoo Lance has been proven innocent, I never doubted it. Now when is that sweet movie coming out about him?

Now for bad news, my little sister who has been AWOL since March has been found. She and her 3 siblings are in foster care, and here I was mad that she never got back to me. I know it isn't her fault she is super rude and only wants to go out to eat when we get together. Poor kid, her whole world is turned upside down.