Weekend Camping

Lauren and I were up in Des Moines this weekend for a camping trip and to visit friends. Every year for the last couple of years, the Tai Chi group/book club I belonged to has held a solstice celebration ... a campout where we reflect, let go of past issues, and enjoy feasting and friendship. I hadn't camped out for awhile, but things went quite smoothly, the weather cooperated, and we all had a great time.

I also got to stop by my old church and catch up with everyone ... it was good to see everyone there.

Way Cool Blog

There are blogs, and then there are blogs ... while surfing over the weekend, I ran across the coolest weblog/informative/life improvement site (especially if you're a geek, as both myself and my fiancee can lay claim to the title).

The site is called Lifehacker ... it's a tasty mix of techie information, personal improvement widgets, and out and out tips and nice to knows.

http://www.lifehacker.com/

It's Just Too Darn HOT Here

Literally. The temperature in Maryville this afternoon is up to 99 degrees. We're hoping that it rains and cools down this evening and weekend ... and just that. We'd hoped to go camping this weekend (a trial run out at Mozingo Lake, a few miles out of town, to test out the camping gear), but between the weather (heat going to a chance of storms later on), and the bass fishing championship out there, which has probably taken up most of the RV and tent camping slots, the lake is probably too darn busy. Oh well. There'll be other weekends.

Apart from some brief trips outside to do maintenance on the watercourse (cleaning a pre-filter), cutting some fresh dill from the garden for a lunch dish, and some garden watering, we're staying indoors and vegging today under the a/c.

House History

A couple of days ago, a couple of visitors dropped by in the morning. As it turns out, one of the visitors, an older gentleman, was visiting relatives here in Maryville, and stopped by to see his old house and take pictures ... he had lived here back in the early 1950s. What followed was an interesting discussion about the house's history, which at the time he lived here, was apparently quite smaller. Until he built on a few pieces, the northern third of the current living room was an open porch and both the storm cellar/back deck/porch and second bedroom/office and bathroom didn't exist. When we asked him what they did for a bathroom, he pointed to a grove of trees next to the garage and said, "We had an outhouse back there." (It's long gone and filled in, but it probably explains why the trees grew pretty well in the back yard!)

It became quite clear that we owed this gentleman a lot (in particular, the comforts of indoor plumbing).