Post-Wreck

By 2:00, we were at Larcoms, extricating our luggage from the remains of the trunk, and being very thankful that we and the other driver/passenger were fine. Our seatbelts did their job and kept us healthy (I only had front airbags, and they didn't deploy), and the other driver's airbags kept them safe. We ended up with some muscle strains and bruses, and we'll probably go have a doc check us out to be sure we're okay.

Shortly thereafter, we hooked up with the rest of our family (they had been coming back to KC from Pittsburg, and they were about a half-hour out of KC at the time of the accident), and later, after filing the claim with our carrier (both I and the other driver had been on State Farm), and discovering that airport car rental locations (at least for Enterprise) don't do insurance replacement rentals, we went down to the Plaza in KC to see the lights.





















Fortunately, on Sunday, following breakfast with Teresa and Cindy, we made it to an open Enterprise location, rented an SUV (which State Farm will pay for most of), loaded our things, and made it home to Maryville in good time.

In one sense, I'm very grateful, and thank God, because it could have been worse. We could have been directly broadsided, and we could have needed extricating with power tools. There could have been serious injuries on either side, but there weren't. Now all that's left is for State Farm to process the claim and then use that money to pay off the car loan: I notified the loan company this morning, and oy, THAT was a fun experience. The CSR went quiet after I told her that the car would likely be totalled out, and when she asked if I needed anything else, I said wryly with a short laugh: "Yeah, I might need some help with financing for a new car once I pay the rest of the loan off."

So we'll see about buying another car ... it's going to be a bit dicey since I'm still unemployed, but I'm hoping that God will, as always, take care of us in this instance. We really could use a break financially.

I'm going to miss my Honda, too. I only had it for three years, but it did what it was supposed to at the end: keep us safe.

More Things to Be Thankful For: Dodge Ram 1, Honda Accord 0

We spent this weekend in Kansas City to meet up with family and friends, and during the weekend, we discovered how thankful (and fortunate) Lauren and I are.

We'd spent yesterday afternoon at City Market in KC for lunch and browse shopping. We'd hoped to get on the road by 1:00, to make it over to the Larcoms (Teresa and Cindy), where we were going to meet my family and they could meet Lauren.

At about 1:30, we had stopped at the intersection of 59th and Ward Parkway, about to cross Ward Parkway. We had a green light, and we had just pulled out into the intersection when we were partially broadsided (driver's side) by another out of town driver who went through the intersection with his pickup, hitting our left side and rear.

The resulting impact spun the car around so that we ended up against the opposite corner curb, with the left quarter panel and most of the trunk crumpled in and fiberglass and shattered auto glass flying. Shaken and a little sore from seatbelt strain, we climbed out of the car. I had to exit out of the passenger side because the impact had buckled the quarter panel into the driver's side door.

It was one of those cases where the wreck itself was pretty unavoidable; we didn't see the vehicle coming because our line of sight was blocked off by the vehicle in the right lane ... although I do recall trying to crank the wheel at the last moment to avoid the worst of the accident, which in retrospect might have saved us from a worse fate.

After making sure that Lauren was okay, I reached back inside, shutting the engine off. I started to collect items that had fallen to the floorboard, realizing belatedly that the claims adjuster would probably factor in the car's age, the shredded quarter panel and trunk, the broken rear windshield and glass, the buckled left axle (the left rear wheel was pushed in), and the (probable) frame warping, and total the car. Then I looked over at the other driver's pickup: some left fender and bumper damage, and popped airbags ... about $1,000 in body work, and a few hundred more for refilling and resetting the airbags, and he'll be back on the road again.

Fortunately, KCMO police and fire (and two tow trucks) responded immediately, and short of sweeping up the broken auto glass and parts, all that was left was exchanging drivers info and plate and insurance information. The officer (who did an incredible job of keeping things orderly), made sure everyone was okay, and, after talking with the witnesses to the wreck as well as both parties, we found out what had happened:

The other driver was from out of town, and he had gotten distracted because shortly past the intersection the road narrowed down to one lane because of road work. We think that he got tunnel vision about the merge, and for all we know, may have dodged into the left lane to try to get around the cars ahead before the lanes merged. (We base that assumption on the skid marks, which ran to 3-4 car lengths going into the intersection). He also might have panicked, suddenly realizing that a)he was at an intersection, b) didn't see the red light (or maybe he saw it but he was too late to stop at that point), and c) that there was a car in the intersection.

The officer cited him for failure to yield. He finally admitted that it was his fault to the officer, but only after two witnesses first told her that he had run the light. He'll likely have a court date down in KC in the future, and his insurance rates will likely climb.

Lauren and I agreed that it was very stupid driving on his part.

Gobble, Gobble, Gobble

"One of the best meals I've ever eaten" - Woodgie, commenting on Thanksgiving lunch/dinner, after sampling the roast turkey. That turned out very nice and juicy following the overnight brining, the spice rub, and the roasting on high heat, followed by further roasting at a lower temp with cheesecloth soaked with sage mead atop it to protect the skin the remainder of the way ... thank you, Alton Brown and an unnamed Food Network competition chef ... your input both made this a turkey to remember. It was a lot of effort, but it worked out very, very well.

The remainder of the dinner (ham, stuffing, etc.) was just as good, and after a morning of cooking and parade watching and playing with the kitties, we're settled in for our Thanksgiving nap.

Happy Thanksgiving! to all of our family and friends.

The First Leon

The first Leon my family did face
was when Dad took some letters and moved them from place
When my mother found out, she exclaimed, "Dear John,
can you tell me why 'Noel' now proclaims 'Leon'?"
Leon, Leon, Leon, Leon
It's all the fault of a father named John.

From there, "sending the Leon" has become a family tradition in Woodgie's family ... it's taken different forms and come from different locations ... one year it was the form of block candles from Leon to Woodgie's mom. Last year, Woodgie's niece, Robyn, was the recipient of the Leon, with toy building blocks spelling Leon that were sent from - where else? - Leon, Iowa.

And that begins the tale of the family holiday season ... we don't know yet who will be the next recipient to carry on the Leon tradition, but we've got a couple of weeks to figure that one out.

We had been planning to turn on the Christmas lights and decorations after Thanksgiving ... however, after all of the next door neighbors turned their lights on this evening, we decided that we would do the same:

Angel Tree:




















This is our "bird feeder" tree, which Lauren bought last summer at the closing sale at a thrift store which went out of business. When we were pulling out Christmas decorations, I discovered two packs of icicle lights from my stores. I didn't want to do icicle lights on the house, because that's been so overdone, so in a moment of inspired creativity, I looped the lights onto the bird tree ... imagine my surprise when we turned the lights on, as we were left with an abstract Christmas angel.




















Front Porch: We're still working on the trim for this one, but it's your basic, dual-wreath setup.















When we were decorating the living room, two of our kitties (Opie and Stinky) decided to take possession of the garland.















Here's the garland after we reclaimed it from the kitties.




















Here's our outdoor tree in all its glory.

Things to Be Thankful For

It's going to be an interesting week coming up, with Thanksgiving on Thursday with one of Woodgie's friends coming up from KC, and then perhaps on Saturday, a chance to see half of my family, who are coming to Missouri to visit friends in KC.

With that for a theme ... here's our list of "things to be thankful for":

1. It looks like the gallbladder tests came out fine, and Woodgie is feeling much, much better than she was a week and a half ago, just in time for feasting on Thursday.
2. I have a screening phone interview for a position with a company in KC on Wednesday. No details yet, but I hope to have better news after this week.
3. After Sunday, we have 95 percent of both the Christmas shopping and Christmas decorating done as of this week ... the decorating will be 100 percent done this evening after finding some sticky hooks for the last piece of garland, and the Christmas shopping will be done after one or two more purchases, hopefully this next weekend.
4. Friday is the one year anniversary of the start of our relationship ... even though we "met" officially back in Spring of '05, we count Thanksgiving as the "official" date (yes, this year it falls on Black Friday ... don't read anything into that, please).
5. Family and friends - I haven't seen my family since New Years, 2004, due to conflicting holiday schedules, but I'll see part of them this weekend, and also thanks for the "extended family" at our church, as well as those friends at my former churches back in Des Moines, and for Lauren's friends (now our friends), too.

Secret Santa

This morning, Woodgie sent me a link to a story in the KC paper. I must admit, being unemployed and going into the holidays has left me feeling a little blue, but reading this story left me feeling a bit more thankful for what I do have ... and grateful that there are still people like him still around:

Secret Santa Revealed

The Thanksgiving Menu

After watching last night's Food Network extravaganza on Thanksgiving (Emeril Live, Good Eats, and a Thanksgiving meal competition), our menu plans for Turkey Day have been finalized:

1. Roast turkey breast (of course) - only we're pulling out all the stops - brine soaking it the evening before, followed by a traditional spice rub and then roasting ... one of the competitors last night did a nice technique we're going to adapt: covering the meat with a wine soaked cheesecloth to keep the meat moist as it roasts. We're going to try that, using either a sage-honey mead (if we can find any in Woodgie's remaining homemade stock, that is), or a cranberry wine that her dad made last year.
2. Ham - we almost didn't include this on the menu. Woodgie has some nasty allergies to nitrates and normally, she can't eat ham because of the curing. Fortunately, a packing company out of Iowa named Beelers has started producing a very nice set of uncured products (sausage, weiners, bacon, brats), and now they've finally put out an uncured ham chub at a decent price. We'll probably do a typical glaze - brown sugar (probably a Splenda blend), cloves, prepared mustard, and perhaps a little honey.
3. Cranberry relish - Woodgie has a nice recipe for this we're going to try.
4. Multi-grain stuffing, with pecans, golden raisins, and apple juice - I started making this about six years ago when the recipe first appeared on the Butterball website, and it has a very nutty texture that holds up very well to gravy ... it helps that it's the only stuffing that Woodgie likes, as she normally doesn't like stuffing.
5. Mixed greens salad, with almonds and dried cranberries, topped with a balsamic vinagrette.
6. Green beans with almonds, mushrooms, and a small handful of Beeler's uncured bacon, for taste.
7. Roasted and seasoned red potatoes - after weighing everything, we decided that we'd forego the mashed potatoes this year in favor of roasted/seasoned ... while they are a usual staple of the Thanksgiving table, mashed potatoes are a bit hard on the calorie count.
8. Turkey gravy (our one concession to pre-packaged), using a brand called Simply Organic. We sampled some at the local Hy-Vee, and it was very, very good, as well as being low-fat.

Finally for dessert, we'll be trying out a sweet potato flan recipe that we first sampled at Friday Night Cafe several weeks ago.

After we'd hashed out the menu, Woodgie did point out that we were making a large amount of food, but I noted that we could count on having leftovers, also a Thanksgiving tradition.

Something New For the Blog

For the techie minded among our readers, I'm including something new for the blog. Below the "I Power Blogger" logo, I've included the capability to add this blog to your RSS (syndicated) feed-reader, and included add links for My Yahoo and also a generic RSS 2.0 feed.

What this means for non-techies is this: if you wanted a quick way to see if there were new postings, you can use an RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed reader such as the one in My Yahoo or Google (or any RSS reader application) to set up a feed for the blog.

After you subscribe (by clicking on the RSS or My Yahoo icons), the next time there is a new entry, you'll see a link to it in your feed reader, courtesy of the Feedburner service.

Quite nifty, eh? The kitty chorus (Kitty, Opie, and Stinky), all give it six paws up ;-).

Where No Man Has Gone Before ...

Today was quite interesting ... after church, Cheshirewoodgie wanted to go down to the bridal fair at the community center ... I suspected that I'd be the only guy there. As it turns out, I was one of three ... however, the other two had booths for services (DJ'ing and tuxes). I was the only one there who was a potential customer.

It was rather funny ... based on a comment in the Indiebride boards, Woodgie noted that this would be an excursion to see the local "marital-industrial complex". Come to think of it, since
the community center and local National Guard armory share the same space in town, it was a convergence of both the "marital-industrial complex" and "military-industrial complex" as well.

First impressions for guys:

1. Bridal fairs do serve lots of samples ... wedding cake, wedding cupcakes, and chocolate, especially. This is a good thing; it helps to keep you going when you realize how much you could, in theory, spend on your wedding.
2. Wedding photographers, as a constant, are expensive ... when you realize that the prizes they are offering are discounts to make their wedding photo packages more affordable, you realize how expensive they are to hire.
3. In some ways, it's rather like a home show, only different.
4. Even though you liked the scent of the Mary Kay after-shave lotion, don't admit this until you are out of earshot of the consultant.

Mid-Week

Another day here at Chez Richard and Lauren, where we're both recovering from staying up to 1:00 to watch election results ... tomorrow will be a rest and recuperation day; Cheshirewoodgie goes to the docs tomorrow for medical tests (gallbladder function), and some dental work after that, so tomorrow will be a day of caretaking, since the test in question involves no eating prior to the test and leaves her a little woozy afterward.

Earlier this year, we'd thought about going down to Arrowhead Stadium to tailgate and watch our respective schools (Pitt State and Northwest) play, but we held off ... as much as I'm a Pitt alumni, I thought they had a slim chance against the Bearcats last weekend, which turned to none after listening to the first five minutes of the game ... it hurts to hear your alma mater get pasted on the field.

Cheshirewoodgie says there's an easy cure for that ... just become a Bearcat fan ;-).

We did have some good news ... in an earlier post, I'd mentioned that we were going through the required pastoral pre-marriage counseling and getting ready to petition the diocese bishop for approval to be married in the church. Thankfully, we got word that the bishop had approved us ... yay! Now we can start more detail planning (or at least, start on those items we had to hold on until we knew for certain that we were approved for). Like sitting down with the organist and organizing musicians. And working up a service order. And selecting readings. And writing vows. That sort of thing ....

Gearing Up for the Holidays

How hard is it to buy a Christmas tree? Given we have 3 cats, one of which has a rapidly-developing vertical jump, we had to ask ourselves that question earlier in the week ... especially since the youngest, Stinkerbelle, has a well-documented tendency to go after ornaments, tinsel, or Christmas lights. Never having had pets, I've never had to worry about keeping the bright shiny things away from the kitties, but this year, we had to strategize tree placement and decorating. It looks like we'll be doing a small tree in the living room (placed high enough so Stinky can see the tree but not destroy it), and a slightly larger tree in the bedroom, with a door/porch wreath, an outdoor (wire frame) tree, and also some lighting on the bird feeder tree (also a wire frame tree). We also hope (if Brookstone can ship them before Thanksgiving) to also have some decorative candles (electric and cat-safe, of course), for the windows.

Celebrating Homecoming ... By Staying at Home

This weekend at Chez Lauren and Richard was pretty quiet ... Friday was Walkout Day, a pre-Homecoming tradition at Northwest where the school closes down the day before Homecoming weekend. I was a little tired from the day before; the weather cleared off enough mid-week to let me take care of some to-do list items: weed whacking around the house, edging and mulching the rose garden, edging and re-mulching the rock garden, and edging and mulching the garden strip at the front of the house, but she wanted to do something productive on the day off, so Lauren and I spent most of Friday rehabbing the bedroom closet.

"Rehabbing" meant taking out the existing hangar bar, sorting winter/summer clothes to send downstairs, selecting older clothes to put out on Freecycle, and putting in a new double hangar bar with shelving on either side. After nine hours straight, we had a much better organized closet. We're saving reorganizing the office/storage closet of chaos for another week.

Homecoming itself we took a pass on, because we weren't able to get tickets to the game. Just as well ... it was wet, cold, and miserable, so instead, we spent the weekend at a slower place: some cooking of comfort food (Lauren's patented chicken noodle soup) on Saturday evening, followed by a crafts project for Lauren (repairing a keepsake box made by her parents).

On Sunday, we walked to church despite the cold weather (and ultimately, halfway into the walk and again after church, through light snowflakes). This evening was our next to last "pre-letter" meeting with our minister before he submits the letter to the diocese bishop asking for permission to marry Lauren and myself, and now, I'm in the living room, updating the blog with Opie on my lap while Lauren grades student assignments.

One Ring to Rule Them All ....

One more step toward marriage: Lauren and I chose our rings this week ... after sorting through a few designs, we settled on this one.













We wanted something stylish, but not too extravagant, and settled on a titanium design (very light and hypoallergenic), that nicely complemented the Claddagh rings we chose for our engagement.

When it came to choosing an inscription, we were making the usual Lord of the Rings jokes about the "One Ring to rule them all ...", and it took a bit of thought to come up with an appropriate engraving other than that. Since the two of us are both fans of mystic poet Jalal-Uddin Rumi, we arrived at this:

"Lovers don't finally meet somewhere. They're in each other all along."

Of course, we'll probably continue to joke that in order to read the inscription properly, you'll have to throw the rings into a fire ....

Fine Dining in Maryville???

This week's been kinda slow ... for me that is, not for Lauren. It's mid-term season for her. Me, it's been quiet, apart from the usual fun with job hunting (still looking), wrestling with bureaucracy (towards filing for unemployment ... not what I wanted to be doing at this point in my life but the right job hasn't shown up yet). In the meantime (and this is by no means filler ... okay, some of it is), after a trip to Des Moines to pick up the last load of items I'd left pre-move with a friend, I thought I'd reflect upon the change in dining opportunities.

When I first moved to Maryville, I was used to a variety of good, ethnic restaurants in Des Moines ... ADong downtown for Vietnamese, with its 137 menu options, succulent springrolls, and never-fail bowls of steaming, fragrant pho, for Thai-leaning Chinese Cafe Su (home of the best, biggest crab rangoon anywhere and the only place to find dim sum in Des Moines), Cookry for traditional African (the groundnut stew is a must, as well as the jerk chicken, and if you're there on a Saturday, you must try the fufu), Thai Flavors on 14th or Cool Basil for excellent Pad Thai, and the Des Moines Art Center restaurant on weekends and First Fridays for the monthly-changing "surprise me" and excellent desserts, among other restaurants I haven't named yet. When I moved to Maryville, I was wondering if I was downgrading that area of my life. Although there aren't as many restaurants here as in Des Moines, there are a couple of notable places (and some I haven't tried yet), ranging from upscale ethnic, to BBQ, to authentic truck-stop cafe, so it's been pretty good so far.

I should point out that apparently, the best non-commercial ethnic offering in town is sponsored by the college's FACS department (yes, I know, this is a shameless plug for something my fiancee's department sponsors ...). Starting this Friday, my fiancee's department hosts a series of ethnic meals on Friday evenings called Friday Night Cafe. While I have yet to experience it, she assures me that I won't be disappointed, and we do have tickets. (Okay, end of shameless plug.)

Otherwise, for commercial ethnic, we have several different choices. For Greek, Italian, and otherwise fine dining, there's A&G next to downtown. It's nicely appointed, with outdoor patio and bar, and it's most notable for Friday night Greek nights, as well as some nicely done entrees. In particular, the rack of lamb is exquisite, but a little steep at $22.00 per person, which is why it's best done for special occasions or split between 2 people. For Greek, they serve a full range of Greek specialties (gyros, souvlakia, mousska, spanikopita, souvalaki, roasted chicken, accompanied by pita, salad, and rice pilaf, etc.). On average, prices range from $5-10 dollars for lunch menu items, to $17-22 for dinner entrees.

http://www.a-g-bar-grill.com/

The salads include some unusual ones, including a pecan crusted, blue cheese chicken, as well as the usual Cobb and chef varieties. The entrees range from upscale bar-grill items through nice entrees, with restaurant burgers, chops, steaks, sandwiches, pasta entrees, and a wonderful lunch menu (lighter pasta entrees, some of the chop and steak options from dinner, twice-baked potatoes, a Greek sampler plate if you're eating there other than Friday night, and wraps). The lower-priced lunch menu includes soup and salad combos, a reasonably priced quesadilla with dipping sauces, and even liver and onions (yeah, I know, it's sick, but I like liver and onions).

They also do a spa menu with some lighter pastas and salads, including a honey-balsamic glazed salmon and spinach combination, and most of the entrees are accompanied by A&G's home-baked bread and honey-butter ... one loaf of that, and you're almost full already.

Their desserts are also well-done, including a tiramisu that's slightly more frozen/chiled than the average, a wonderfully done bread pudding (Lauren's favorite), which for a little extra can be served flaming (soaked with Barcardi 151 rum), and a newly introduced frozen lemon custard/cake that also does well. However, my favorite dessert there is a baked apple pastry (baked apple wrapped with pastry, dusted with cinnamon, and served with ice cream and whipped cream).

For Chinese, we have a few options here ... The Mandarin (American Chinese, nothing fancy, and Happy Garden, which again is fast-food Chinese). The other alternative for Chinese here, strangely enough, is the local Hy-Vee supermarket. Surprisingly, they do put out a good product ... again, nothing fancy, but not bad, either.

The other ethnic alternative is Mexican: La Bonita and a new place which will replace the former Julios (which was closed due to alleged undocumented illegal alien staffing problems).

The remainder of Maryville's restaurants can be broken down into the following categories:

1)Sports Bars and Grills

For the most part, this is taken up by JWs, the revamped former Bobcat Grill on campus, and Carsons, a newly opened sports grill downtown.

In the Student Union at the college, JW's is basically a sports bar with free trivia machines and games, but without the alcohol (since Northwest is a dry campus). They serve a pretty decent (and decently priced) range of burgers, entrees, soups, and salads. Lauren puts a vote in for the buffalo chicken salad, while I've found that they do a mean BBQ beef sandwich on Texas toast. We both agree that their best offering is a homemade kettle-fried potato chip that is worth indulging in once in awhile (otherwise, it would be detrimental to our health). JWs is mainly used by students and faculty, but anyone can eat there.

The other, recently opened sports bar is Carsons ... we haven't eaten there yet, but once we do, we'll let you know how it was.

2)The aforementioned BBQs ... Bubbas BBQ and Fixins, Pink Floyd (catering, but they sometimes do parking lot sales) and Hey Vern (also parking lot sales). Lauren has mentioned Bubbas before. It's owned by a local American Royal competitor who has won several times there ... if you want large portions, incredibly large pulled meat BBQ sandwiches with an incredible dry-rub (that should not be profaned with sauce, according to Bubba), and award-winning bacon/cheddar/onion smashed potatoes, Bubbas is where to go (although it's now only open on Wednesday-Sunday, probably due to BBQ competition season). Pink Floyd and Hey Vern, I haven't had yet, so I'll have to reserve an opinion on them for later, too.

3)Fast food and family food chains - Subway, Pizza Hut, KFC, Sonic, Applebees, McDonalds, Hardees. Been there, done that before. Enough said about them.

4)Truck-stop cafes - Gray's. Outside of town on Highway 71, Gray's is your typical truck-stop cafe ... inexpensive burgers, breakfasts, weeknight specials, and daily desserts. Not bad.

5)Coffeeshops - right now, we only have two, Main Street Coffee, a small coffeeshop located next to the fitness center on Main, and a small one embedded in a local used antique/bookstore. We used to have a third, but it went out of business. We have heard rumors that a Starbucks may be coming into town (part of that 22,000 new stores they have planned), but so far, that's just a rumor. A St. Joe based coffeeshop may also expand here, but that's also a rumor as well.

I should point out that most of our eating out usually takes place at the local Hy-Vee salad bar, inexpensive and good for our diets, or else we grill out or stay in and cook ... speaking of which, I need to dig out that lamb curry recipe I promised to make Lauren this weekend ....

At the Faire

This weekend found Lauren and I at the Kansas City Renaissance Festival. Lauren's been a regular Faire-goer since her grad school days, and I've been to the Faire a couple of times before, but never "in garb" (i.e. costumed). That changed this weekend. Surprisingly, we found enough accessories to take the basic "peasantware" Lauren found for me off eBay and turn it into a fair approximation of a merchant's costume.

Lauren also wanted to go see her one of her favorite Ren Faire music groups, a "fusion" bagpipe group (seriously!) named Tartanic. Tartanic mixes non-traditional piping with Middle Eastern and Irish drums, sometimes taking indecent liberties with traditional 'pipes music, and tossing in a little live comedy, all to prove - as their lead bodhran player asserts - that "bagpipes aren't just for funerals anymore".

http://www.kcrenfest.com

http://www.tartanic.com

Tartanic at the KC Ren Faire





















































On the way home Sunday, we stopped at Lauren's favorite Indian restaurant, Swagat, for lunch. Words can't do justice to this North KC restaurant, which features frankly the best Indian buffet that both of us have ever had, from over 12 choices of fresh tandoor-baked breads, to curries, vindaloos, tandoor-chicken, and desserts, including carrot halva.

http://www.visitswagat.com/

This Weekend

Pretty quiet weekend here in Maryville. Lauren's birthday was Monday, so Monday night, I took her over to the college to see the Air Force's Band of the Midwest at the auditorium. Not a bad show at all.

No game day this weekend ... the Bearcats are away at Kirksville, and instead, the state's homeland security division is doing a terror/disaster drill on the campus (translation: stay away from the exercise zone this weekend).

Lauren's parents are down for their traditional post-birthday visit. We're probably heading over to St. Joe for a little antiquing and shopping.

Game Day

Northwest's Mascot - Bobby Bearcat

This weekend found us once again at the football stadium for the second game of Northwest's season. It was a bit soggy, with light showers up to game time soaking everyone, but we braved the pre-game tailgate anyway. Umbrellas are prohibited in the stadium proper, and although Lauren had brought a rain slicker along, it was an orange-red color far too close to the colors of the opposing football team (Univ. of Nebraska-Omaha) for comfort, so we purchased a couple of disposable clear plastic rain slickers ... granted, they made us feel like we were covered in Saran Wrap, but they kept us mostly dry during the day.

The game featured the "duel of the bands", as UNO brought along their marching band, too. After a close start (10-0 at the half), Northwest pulled away to shut UNO out 31-0.

Pre-Game Pep Rally - Band

































Pre-Game Band Show














Introduction of the Bearcats

Questions and Answers

Just a quick update and Q and A post:
1. Am I employed yet? Not yet. It's mildly frustrating. Still checking the job listings as much as possible, and I'm still hoping I can find something that would let me telecommute or work an alternative work schedule. Gas prices are still way too high to even consider a regular commute somewhere. I'm ready to work again. I really am.
2. Is the house being painted this week? Yes it is; we're not doing a full painting, but a sand down and touch-up paint of a few places that needed work. We should be done by Friday evening, so we can take that off the to-do list. And the place does look much nicer.
3. Am I tired because of (2)? Yes, I am. Very. Fortunately, the list of "to-dos" involving the house has shrunk considerably. The only major items left on the home improvement list will unfortunately have to wait until I find a job and/or we're graced with a lottery win. Both would be nice.
4. Do we have plans this weekend? For the moment, it will likely be tailgating on Saturday, followed by the local Northwest Mo State football game, and a possible RenFaire trip down to the KC Ren Faire. We should have pictures to share after this weekend. The former has me slightly conflicted, as I'm now rooting for a college that is a conference football rival to my alma mater (Pittsburg State). It should get really interesting around the 1st week of November, when the two play down at Arrowhead Stadium.
5. Is Lauren's birthday coming up? Yes it is ... her birthday is Sept. 11th (easy to remember, unfortunately); we'll have to stretch out celebrating it over two days, since Monday is her "loaded" class day, including her evening class. I've already hidden her birthday gift.

We're Staying at Home This Week ....

Because we've been on the road for the almost the last two weeks ... after a few days' recovery from the last road trip; Thursday found us on the road again to Lenexa for a distance learning conference that Lauren was presenting at. Following an overnight stay, we headed down to SE Kansas to show Lauren where I grew up and went to college.

Through the weekend, I showed Lauren around Pittsburg and Girard, stopping off for lunch at the Mall Deli and later for dinner, letting her try SE Kansas chicken! For those of you who don't know about it, there are two "dueling" long-time chicken restaurants down in SE Kansas that make chicken unlike any other restaurant I know of: Chicken Annie's and Chicken Mary's.

http://www.ckt.net/zagspage/cag/

http://ktwu.washburn.edu/journeys/scripts/2002/1507c.html

Before we went down, Lauren was a little skeptical of how good the chicken was, so we ran a taste test of Annie's chicken on Friday evening before doing the county fair, and with family friends Carl and Millie Larcom, headed for Chicken Mary's on Saturday night ... after comparing the two, Lauren decided that Mary's was better (which makes me the lone family holdout for Annie's ... sigh).

Friday evening was spent at the fair;, where Lauren got in her quota of ducky, wabbit, and horse petting ;-), and we also got to experience another tradition: homemade county fair ice cream. I also saw a couple of former high school classmates and caught up on how they were doing.

On Saturday, we journeyed over to Joplin, MO for lunch to see a very nice bistro and Victorian/Italian styled garden shop called Sandstone Gardens:

Exterior
















http://www.sandstonegardens.com/main.htm

Interior of the Garden Shop















From there, it was a quick jaunt to Carthage to see Precious Moments ... we wanted to stop off at Marion Days in Carthage itself, but decided not to ... way crowded.
















Early Sunday afternoon found Lauren and I taking a short train ride ... the local SEK Railroad Association had brought down a steam locomotive and several (thankfully air conditioned) passenger rail cars, to run a short trip out into the country and back. Lauren's a bit of a train buff, having grown up next to the Rock Island line, and also having ridden the train to and from Chicago, so she really enjoyed the trip (even though the air conditioning cut out half-way through). Not having ridden trains very much, I was a little concerned by the pronounced rocking of the cars, but Lauren assured me that a)this was normal, and b)it wasn't bad compared to other rides she'd been on.

After lunch at Pittsburg's newest Thai restaurant, Typhoon (which we can both recommend), we stopped by the Knoll's (Linda and J.T.), for introductions and catching up, and then headed home, getting back to Maryville just before an oncoming round of thunderstorms delivered some much needed rain.

Road Tripping

Mark Twain Lighthouse - Hannibal, MO

Home again, home again ... we're back home in Maryville after a week's worth of traveling, having left last Friday on a road odyssey/vacation that took us through Mt. Vernon, IA, to Marseilles, IL to visit Lauren's parents and family, to Urbana-Champaign, IL, to visit Lauren's friends whom she hadn't seen in several years, to Hannibal, MO, boyhood home of Mark Twain (and now tourist attraction du jour ... everything in the town either had Mark Twain's name attached to it or was related to the Tom Sawyer/Huck Finn mythos in some way ... we guessed that Clemens would probably be rolling in his grave if he knew what his name was now attached to).

Along the way, our journey took us to several bed and breakfasts, including Blythe Cottage Inn in Mt. Vernon (a nicely appointed basement and cottage house), and Lulabelle's in Hannibal (now a very well run B&B and restaurant-bar next to the river. It plays off the noteriety of the building's former use as an, ahem, brothel, in earlier days).

We also found a selection of coffeehouses in various locales ... Fuel and Brewcasso in Mt. Vernon, as well as another in downtown Champaign (sorry, we forget the name), and Java Jive in Hannibal (where we found out that even Mark Twain frequents the place for coffee ... one of the local faux Clemens was there in the morning). As Lauren observed, "looks like even the local characters stop here."

Brewcasso Exterior and Fish Boil


































Mt. Vernon found us stopping at Brewcasso last Friday night for a different reason: their take on the "Door County Fish Boil". The summer hosts at the coffeeshop had been throwing several special reservation-only dinner nights; the previous Friday's meal had been an Ethiopian one, but the one we attended was a Door County, Wisconsin tradition from the days of Norwegian fishermen where whitefish and potatoes were cooked over an open fire (in particular, the fish were boiled to remove the "fishy" taste from the fillets). The hosts, a nice couple from Wisconsin with 10 kids (5 adopted Ethiopian), had decorated the dining area with Packers memorabilia and were playing football-themed music.

Brewcasso Interiors




















http://www.brewcasso.com




















While we watched the preparations and chatted over appetizers (Wisconsin cheeses and summer sausage, accompanied by a chilled raspberry soup), the hosts performed the ritual of boiling the fish and potatoes (apparently, the important part of the boil is the boilover, which removes the starch and also helps put the fire out). Needless to say, the meal was excellent, accompanied by several varieties of fresh bread, and topped off by fruit pie a la mode from a local church bake sale (trust me, it's Iowan fruit pie ... having lived there for six years, I've found there's none better).

The Boilover




















After a light breakfast at the B&B, the following morning found us stopping by Fuel, another equally eclectic coffeeshop in town, for tea. (If you do make it there, be sure you arrive there early after opening for their berry scones ... hot out of the oven and crumbly.) We had to get back on the road shortly thereafter, but not before we sampled prune and poppy-seed kolaches at the local farmer's market.

Lunch found us at the "original" Iowa Machine Shed restaurant in Davenport, where Lauren was quite amazed by the decor (I think it was the hayrack/tractor rides they give in the parking lot that really impressed her).

With that, it was on the road to Marseilles and a stop at Lauren's parents for a few days of visiting her family, including meeting her Aunt Peggy and her sister Lisa's family, some walking "down near the river" during Marseilles Fun Days, a trail walk and sightseeing at Buffalo State Park (complete with buffalo), followed on Tuesday by breakfast and some sightseeing at Starved Rock State Park (named for the historical massacre of a band of Illini Indians by a band of Potawatami where the Illini were chased to a bluff, surrounded, and "starved") ... I'm given to understand that in more recent days, the park has its share of accidents (falls), often caused by stupidity, where people fail to realize that the law of gravity applies there as elsewhere in the world ;-).

Below: the Great Hall of the Starved Rock Lodge















The Buffalo at Buffalo State Park















On the way back from Starved Rock, we did some wine tasting, and Lauren also introduced me to Polancic's tenderloins ... she has often commented that the tenderloins done in her area make the best tenderloin sandwiches out there, so of course, we stopped for lunch so she could prove this to me. After that stop, she was proven right.

On Wednesday, we set out for Urbana-Champaign, arriving at about 10:30 that morning for a slightly rainy walk downtown and some shopping... among the finds were (for me), a 1st ed. copy of the Star Trek Concordance, and for Lauren, a Christmas gift. Later on, a find for the parents was a Senseo pod coffeemaker at the local Habitat for Humanity store.

The afternoon brought lunch with Mariellen, one of Lauren's Quaker friends, and a small tour of the UIUC campus, which I "almost" attended back in 1996 (and in one more case of "almost but not quite", I would have missed Lauren by about 3 years, as she had departed in 1993 for upstate New York). One stop was Espresso Royale in Urbana ...as Lauren noted, the back room space was reportedly once a bar that was George Lucas' inspiration for the cantina in Star Wars.

The evening brought dinner at the "best Thai restaurant in the Urbana-Champaign area" with friends from Lauren's former "Saturday Night" group (from left, Ken Sarno; the group's informal mentor, U of I professor emeritus Les Savage; Chris Mayer and Mike Barkley; followed by Lauren and myself), followed by a stayover at Ken's "new" house out in the country 25 mi. south of Urbana (which provoked a small amount of house envy ... especially when Ken showed us the new addition which will eventually house the hot tub).

Lauren's Friends at Dinner











Thursday afternoon and this morning brought us to Hannibal, where besides the aforementioned Lulabelle's (staying in the "Gypsy Rose" room), we occupied ourselves at the local stops, scavanging for scrapbooking supplies for the wedding guestbook/scrapbook, dropping in for ice cream at Becky Thatcher's, earning survival certificates for climbing the 244 steps up to the Mark Twain Memorial Lighthouse on top of Cardiff Hill (and making it back down again), as well as stopping at Jam Session, the local pipe and bowed instrument shop, where we both tried a bowed psaltry and Lauren added a new tin whistle to her collection.

At Java Jive, we lamented with some of the local customers a recent city council decision to remove the trees from the downtown area because they thought that the tourists would be offended by the bird poop. The crews with the chain saws were out even as we watched.