Anniversary Weekend.

That's right,  23 short years ago yesterday....   Cheryl and I got hitched.... By the ankle... with a huge heavy ball attached.    Since then, we both have been fighting to keep our heads above water.  But, unlike the proverb of two birds being tied together and even hough they have 4 wings, they are unable to fly...  We've  discovered that with 4 legs kicking wildly, and 4 arms splashing frantically,  and a basic "dog paddle" style...  we can swim!    ( barely)

So, hopefully that analagy will give you a clue on how much fun and sadness  Cheryl and I have had to endure...  over the last 23 years. ... Nah, it wasn't all that bad.    Just the first 14 years... or so.   It takes time to figure things out... or discover things that need to be changed.

Ok,  it is meant as a joke.   I re-read it and it could be taken the wrong way.   ( I guess...)  But here we are.. 23 years later.    Still hitched and loving every minute of it.  (Mostly)

So what do you do on your 23 anniversary?    Pretty much what we always do.   Ride bike,   run,   Tee's if you are in Muscatine.   The one thing we did do that was a little differant was have S'mores.   S'mores after a Hot Summer dayares pretty good.  And it keep the "spice" in our lives...  (Mostly)

Yesterday was perhaps the Hottest day of the year.  ( we shall see, there is still a lot of summer left.) And we rode 21 miles.   We might have done 23 if we were not melting under he sun.  I swear there was not a cloud in the sky! 

You know it is bad when the Vultures are waiting my the bike trail...  in mass!   Waiting for lunch to roll on by. 

The barges were heading up river and although the blog does not offer a "smell app..."   I will tell you that Muscatine had the overwhelming smell of Fresh Baked Bread...  Yummy!

We ate at Tee's and finished up our miles before heading back.  We had to wait for the evening for the S'mores, because the sun was relentless.   Several of the Neighborhood cats came by to play and visit Hiro.

Hiro was enchanted with  one of the bushes near the fence.  Upon closer inspection, I noticed a young Robin hanging on for dear life and announcing to all three cats where he was.   His mom was above scolding the lot of us. 

 I ended up picking him up and moving him to the roof of the neighbors garage.   He could fly..but he was rather weak and clumbsy.  The cats would have had a hay day had he fallen to the ground.

So...  two days of bike riding,  running ( oh!  The temps have dropped to 80's now... though it is still very humid.)  and S'mores.    I shoudl note that Cheryl completed 7 miles today... running... In the heat and humidity.   Normally, that is not a big deal,  but with the heat being what it has been,  7 miles have been impossible for most of this month.

So that is all for now.   Work tomorrow.  Looks like the Project may end midweek.   (Fingers Crossed) I'm ready to get back to being a bumm and having more free time.   I spent several hours this afternoon working on the tomatoes.   I can occupy my time just fine without a job getting in the way.   Besides,  Cheryl has a Race coming up, and any employment gets in the way of the training that is required....  ( you see where we prioritize things...)   Hope everyone is staying cool and  happy.    Enjoy the rest of your Weekend and thanks for stopping in.

The Iowa Summer Heat Wave.

It has been very hot this last week here in Iowa.   The heat index is around 104 ( or more!)  today.   And it certainly feels like it.   Well,  for us,   we have been inside most of the day...working. 

Sometimes we wonder if we would rather work in the AC or run/bike in the insane heat.   Trust me,  it is a difficult decision.   For Cheryl and myself,  work is a form of imprisonment...  Even though we work for Pearson...  Perhaps one of the best "jobs" we have had.   ( Yeah, I said it... so what?)  The current project is a little challenging.. But the people on the project are cool and the leader is awesome.  They even gave us Rootbeer Floats this afternoon.  ( possibly to thank us for staying the entire day on a Friday... in the insane heat!) 

But the heat has effected us and encouraged us to not bike this evening.   Instead,  I will show off the pictures of the Mushrooms we found last weekend  near Pella.

Dead Ash Trees. 

I'm not sure I mentioned this, but there were a number of Ash trees that had been killed by the Emerald Ash Borer.   Pretty little monster...  Emerald green and very destructive. 

Well,  the Trees were sprouting up Golden Oyster Mushrooms!   It was unfortunate that we could not gather any.   Forst, it was very hot.   Second,  it was far from home and they might not have made it home in the extreme heat.   And lastly,   the Project was going to begin Monday and our Pizza plans were going to be put on hold until the project is over.

Besides,  many of the clusters were rather old.   I think I could have found a few that were still fresh, but, why bother?   Instead, I took some pictures of them and tried to spread the mycillium around to other trees that had not yet been populated.

Golden Oyster Clusters!

King Bolete. ( penny bun) 

I bring this up because we checked out the trail in Coralville after work today, trying to find a Bolete or two.   ( We found a couple!   Small orange ones.)   I doubt we will find any of the Penny Bun boletes until late August.  (acording to my blog...) but one can still hope.

Boletus miniato-pallescens

Hope everyone is staying cool in the middle of this heat wave.   Things are supposed to cool down next week... so they say.   But this weekend will be hot.   And Cheryl and I plan on biking in Muscatine.  Wish us luck! 

The Balloon 10 K At Lake Red Rock.

No Balloons this year...

No morning Launch.... Too Windy?

Only the Balloons were not there.   They canceled at the last minute because of wind... apparently,   And that was the Whole reason we went to that place!   Oh,  And to run a 10 K.   But really it was to see the Balloons and eat cake on the Beach.  Or so that is what sold Cheryl on it.  Why else would she possibly want to run in  85 degree heat?

Someone misspelled
business on Google Maps.

Arrive early. 

We woke up incredibly early this morning so as to beat the heat.  But the race officials delayed the race about 10 minutes.    10 minutes may not seem long, but it was enough time for the clouds to disperse and begin the heating process.   But I'm getting a little ahead of the story.

Picking up Cheryl's Bib and Shirt.

Eat Hotcakes!

We arrived at around 6 A.M. and picked up Cheryl's packet and shirt.  We had some time to kill, but the race was having a pancake fundraiser.  And Runners ate for free!   Cheryl got in line and grabbed some hotcakes and sausage for me...  while she nibbled a bit on the ends.

Shaky, clumbsy, and twitchy are the
cooks..

The Lion's Club volunteered to do the flipping.   Three old guys in blue shirts.   Talk about the three stooges!   Putting three old guys together is like watching clowns without the makeup.  I know they were volunteers, so the standards are very low, but seriously!   Who can't flip pancakes?   I figured everyone learned how to do this task proficiently after working the breakfast at McDonald's.... But perhaps my assumptions do not apply to Rural Iowa. 

They even had a device to help
them, Yet they still overlapped
the flipped ones...

Volunteers!  And worth every Penny.

These guys were seriously challenged by hotcake flipping.   Grown men!  With A grill and spatula... Unable to figure out the wrist twist involved to flip hotcakes.  They all shook so bad the hotcakes often fell off the spatula before reaching the plates.   I did like the three cake dispenser though.   It mostly kept the hotcakes equally sized. 

Rainbow, promise of rain? 

Clouds, Promise of  Overcast skies?

And the Hotcakes and sausage was all good...  so even though it was frustrating to watch them cook the food, it sill managed to taste just fine.

The Race Starts...10 minutes late.

Nope,  Sunny and heating up

On to the race!   The course was an out and back, so I only caught Cheryl at the start and finish.   They ran with the 5K-ers.  Meaning,  most of the people were not foolish enough to run 6 miles in this heat!   And so the 10K-ers were going to run into the walkers eventually.

Cheryl looks good. 

Waves to me. 

Has to run on Grass and gravel. 

Follow the trail.

Cheryl managed to finish 4 place female.   and win the Master's medal after all that complaining.   Her plan was simply to run the race casually, and watch the balloons while eating cake. 

Coming in for the finish. 

Chasing a rabbit man. 

Cheryl aims for the finish. 

He sure was fast... 

Funny how things did not turn out that way.  But she DID win an award!  And $50 bucks on a gift card for a shoe place.  There were no finisher's medals at this race, AND she ran against the cross country team that sponsored it,  ( high school athletes)   So winning the medal made up for all that competition a lack of bling.

Master 1st place award.

For the Balloon race with no
Balloons...

With the Balloons missing,  the cake absent, and the heat bothering us terribly,  we decided to head to Pella and see if we could score some food and beverages on our own.   Turns out,  Pella was having an Auto Show! 

And $50 Bucks!  Yeah Cheryl!

Car Show in Pella.

I love Auto shows.   I took many pictures of lots of old cars.  Too many to show off on the blog, but the two cars that most captured my attention was the AMC Spirit,  and the Oldsmobile Delta 88.  Here's why:

My first Car.   Ah, the Memories. 

AMC Spirt...  Looks like my old
Gremlin 

The AMC spirit looks just like the AMC Gremlin... my first car.   It had a straight 6 cylinder engine and lots of pep!  Funny how nostalgia creeps up on you. I could not find the owner of the car to chat with.   It begs the question:  Why restore an AMC Spirit/Gremlin at all?  Not a very sexy vehicle... not a muscle car or rarity.  Did he have some long ago attachment to the vehicle as I did?   I may never know... but that car seemed a little strange in a place filled with GTOs, Mustangs, Corvettes, and Novas...

My Dad's Favorite car. 

His was 4 door and Brown.  With a Diesel engine

The Delta 88 was my Dad's favorite car.   He LOVED that car.   Ever see a grown man brought to tears because Mom made him get rid of it?   It stays with you.   Dad took the Delta 88 ( 4 door, copper brown, with a diesel engine.) all over the US when he was an electrician.  Boston, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania...etc. It was his sole companion for many lonely miles, I'm sure.   It blew 3 engines and 2 transmissions over its lifetime.   And I think he was happy as a clam to get over 250,000 miles on it.  ( If he had only known about Subarus at the time....)
Mom made him give the car up rather than get a minor repair fixed.  Dad took it personal, but probably saw the writing was on the wall for the car's lifespan;  so he conceded.

Restored Police Car.

Seeing a Delta 88 at the show was a cool thing.   Someone else in the world though that was a cool car as well.   Cool enough to keep it running and resorting it to it's former glory.  I'm sure if my Dad had the money and the time, he would have liked to do something like that  in his retirement.   Then again,  maybe he was happy to finally get a new car.   One he did not love or care about too much. 

1964 Volkswagen Bug Restored.

Chevy Impala.  How things have
changed.  ( SO much space in the trunk)

One final note,   A 1964 Volkswagen Beetle.   Pimped out and detailed with flames and purple/blue paint.   Mike,  my brother-in-law, is trying to restore a beetle he acquired from a friend.   He lacks the time at the moment, ( don't we all...)   but from hearing his plans,  this is the image he paints when he describes what he has in mind.   Perhaps it will inspire him to put the plans on the front burner.

BBQ Cook-off in Oskaloosa.

The Smells were intoxicating. 

Then on to Oskaloosa... where they were having a BBQ festival!   All these festivals on the same day!   We skipped the BBQ samples, but the smells were intoxicating.

Cheryl thinks about running through. 

Tempted by cool water

Cheryl thought about running through the water fountain to cool off, but we decided to head out for Ice cream instead.   The heat was pretty bad by this time, so getting home into some AC seemed like a better plan.   I feel for the people cooking on a day like this.   They had some serious Hardware for the BBQ contest.  It would have been cool to see how things went, if the weather had been nicer.

Turkey Vulture Hanging 10 on the
Heat vents near the Dam. 

So now we are home and showered up.   At least the Apartment is cool and we can enjoy the rest of the day in comfort.   Hitting three events,  even though one fell through and the other two were unplanned, takes a lot of energy out of you.  I doubt we will be going out for a bike ride this evening.   But Cheryl mentioned S'mores later tonight...  We shall see what she has planned.

Thanks for stopping in.