Battling the Sun with Chalk!

The last couple of days have been a scorcher!  It certainly felt like it hit the 90's, and I was out there in it... Getting crispy. Well, not completely.  I did armor up with SPF 100!  Did  it work?  Maybe,  At least I'm not a red Lobster tonight. 

So what brings me to endure such torture?   Art in the park, I guess.   This is why I highly recommend people NOT become artists.   I don't even know why I do it.  But I knew this was a possibility last year when I got started.  Iowa Death sun is always present in the Summer.  Temps over 100 will be common in July and possibly several times in June.   The Emerald Ash Borer has killed ALL of the Ash trees  in the park and they have all been cut down... Leaving very few spots with trees for shade.   So... Looks like I will be working on my tan this year. 

I could just quit, I guess.  But where is the Humor in that?  Not to mention I have a giant IKEA bag filled with chalk, a desk filled with chalk, and a 40 lbs kitty litter bucket filled with Plaster of Paris... For making even MORE chalk.   I have to move this stuff out somehow....

Yesterday's Mission was a Sailing vessel/ clipper ship in somewhat stormy seas.  At least that was the plan. Several times kids came up to me and asked what it was.  It was not in the beginning either.   It was near the end.  I had worked 5 hours on it and the kids could not figure out what it was.  The nice/bad thing about kids is that they are Brutally Honest...So you can believe everything they tell you. And they will tell you everything on their mind.  5 hours + Hot sun + kids honesty = irritability, dirty, scare face, and five shades of darker brown skin.   Thankfully,  they Eventually figured it out and told me it looked like a "Pirate Ship,"   which is good enough for me.   Thank you Disney!

Today I made a Giraffe.   Slightly easier, and thankfully, I had some shade  in the later parts of the day.  It only took three hours this time.  Good thing I did not tackle the legs or body!

IN the mean time,   Cheryl has been baking stuff.  She feels slightly freed up now that Soap will be taking the stage for Saturday's show.   She is planning on making soap on Friday.. with Me!   I love being included sometimes.    She says we shall set the entire day aside for me to learn the ropes of Soaps.  Hey!  That Rhymes!    I'm not sure if it will last all day, but we are talking about me here.  

That is about it.   A Normal day for Cheryl and Ethan.   I will have to fill in the blanks some day with the Oddball people of Wellman.  If you have ever watched the movie "Funny Farm" with Chevy Chase,  Or "Napoleon Dynamite," you will understand ahead of time what I would have to say.  Cheryl says we are in the Book called "Wellman, Iowa!"  And she is getting used to it now.   That probably means we have been "Institutionalized" here in Iowa.  Meaning: the strange and odd are seeming more and more normal to us now.   It was bound to happen.   We have been here over 10 years now.  

Thanks for stopping in!  And avoid Prolonged exposure to the Sun, Unless you have SPF 100 OR live anywhere other than Iowa in the Summer.