We're Not Missing ... Really We're Not

Hi all,

I know we're a bit behind on regular postings, but that's because there isn't that much going on with us right now. We're staying in from the heat, and our normal walking schedule has been curtailed a bit because of it, but we're doing our best to stay indoors and keep cool. It's not anywhere as bad as it was last summer (when we were staying indoors due to the extended 100 degree days), but it's still bad enough to discourage going outdoors for any length of time. We're hoping that it a)cools down, and b)finally manages to rain here. It seems like in the last couple of weeks that any rain we've promised by the forecasters either goes north of us up into Iowa, or south of us, between St. Joe and Kansas City. We are hoping that the forecasters are correct about the next few days.

It's just as well; Lauren's in academic mode, doing syllabi's, setting up schedules in Outlook, and getting ready for the coming semester, which starts in two weeks (we just did the annual "clean the office" ritual earlier this afternoon). At the moment, she's indulging in her love of all things coffee; our regular coffee grinder died last weekend, so Friday night at Sams, we picked up a Cuisinart Burr grinder they had on the clearance rack for $30.00. Now that we have something which can do fresh-ground coffee en mass, she's looking at what it takes to home roast coffee beans.

Meanwhile, everything is quiet in town; with the college between semesters, there isn't much activity apart from the few students who are arriving early to move and get settled in.

Things will pick up later on, with a couple of road trips to Kansas City for the Race for the Cure 4k run/walk (we're walking, obviously), and later in September, we're hoping to do a couple of trips down to the KC RenFaire: one to see our fellow church-goers Channing and Louise Horner participate in a Renaissance music quartet (they both play recorder), and the other, a meet-up with Micah (and hopefully his family, too).

It doesn't look like we're going to get up to Des Moines for the State Fair this year, but we hope to get up to there on some weekend this Fall to visit, do some shopping, and also indulge in some of our favorite restaurants (Adong and possibly Cookry over by the Drake area on the way out of town).