Camping: Day Three

We all slept much better last night, despite having our heads downhill. Or maybe because of it. I got up when the birds started singing, and dragged everyone else out of the tent with me. We had breakfast, cleaned up, and broke camp. Chris was sad to see it all come down, and sad to take our reservation card off of the marker post. He was a little out of sorts with us for a while because he realized that we were nearing the end of our trip.

We took a “W” shaped route to get home.

Our first stop was Pomona Natural Bridge. There was no facility, so I had to hike off to pee in the woods. We hiked the short trail, then ate lunch in the parking lot. Yes, I washed my hands with an antibacterial Wet One first.


Then we drove to Bald Knob Cross.


The view from up there is great! You can see all the way into Missouri from here!


We stopped in Alto Pass for some ice cream. We wanted to go to the Root Beer Saloon, but it was closed, so we wound up right next door.

Our last stop was Devil’s Backbone Park in Grand Tower. Grand Tower has a very interesting folk history. We did not feel like making the hike across the ridge, so we settled for playing in the park and looking at the Mississippi River.




(backblogged)

Camping: Day Two

We got up at the crack of dawn, or at least the crack of the neighbor’s 8 noisy kids. I cooked bacon, scrambled eggs, and toast on the trusty old camp stove:


We drove to the Cache River State Natural Area:


We saw a lot of wildlife:






Then we headed to Ferne Clyffe State Park for a little while.

We hiked back to this 100’ Waterfall:


We had another great day. Chris loved all of the snakes, lizards, and turtles. We also saw several deer and a Bald Eagle on the nest near the Cache River Wetlands Center.

Dennis put our heads downhill in the tent, but we fell right asleep anyway.

(backblogged)

Camping: Day One

We left the house right at 7:30 this morning. My little car was stuffed to the gills:



We arrived at Giant City State Park a few hours later, only to find the campground FULL. We just happened to luck into a campsite by begging at the Visitor’s Center.

We went to set up camp, only to find one of our fellow campers had hogged up two picnic tables, leaving us with none. A Park Ranger unloaded his belongings from the extra table, and she and Dennis hauled it back into our campsite. We continued to set up camp, and awhile later, the table hogger came back to the area. He stalked around the sites for a few minutes, then started cursing. He threatened physical violence, refused to listen to reason, and caused a huge scene in front of not only Chris, but the entire campground. Dennis tried to leave the area to get the Park Ranger to step into the conflict, and the guy tried to jump in front of my car. Then he got into his truck and took off down the road after Dennis. Long story short, he was also very hot headed with the Park Rangers when they confronted him, and he managed to get himself kicked out of the campground. This is the first such conflict I’ve ever experienced in a campground. Especially in the tent camping areas. What a tool!

We didn’t let it ruin our day, even though we were very tense because of it. We hiked on the Giant City Nature Trail:


Played along the shoreline of Little Grassy Lake:


Caught itsy-bitsy froglets:


Finished getting our campsite set up:


And cooked over the campfire:


Chris loved the campfire. He also loved making S’mores. He had no trouble showering himself in the shower house, and we headed to bed by 10:00.

(backblogged)

Getting Out of Dodge

We are leaving for Southern Illinois on a camping trip tomorrow morning. I will backblog with pictures when we get back. We're staying at Giant City State Park.

Pet Surgery

Shelby had her tumor removed today. She's got quite a hole in her belly. She looks skinny now. That's saying a lot since she's always been such a fatty. She is exhausted. She's been asleep since we brought her home.

Here's to a speedy recovery!

Dennis says...

He told me that "Petroglyph-a-rific" is the silliest title he's ever heard.

Petroglyph-a-rific!

We took our weekend trip to Washington State Park down by Desoto today. We'd driven by on our way south quite a few times, but we'd never stopped before.

Like many places in this part of the country, it is pratically overrun with fence lizards. Chirs and I really like to try catching the little buggers.


He actually had this big one on his shirt for a minute, before she decided Chris was definately not a tree and bailed out fast.


There are supposed to be Eastern Collared Lizards at this park, but we didn't see any. I don't know that I've ever seen one, even though they are supposed to range into extreme Southern Illinois as well. We saw a "skink" up on top of the bluffs that wasn't a Five-lined Skink - it was a Six-Lined Racerunner. It looks absolutely identical to the ID picture in my Audubon Society Field Guide, which is saying a lot, since I always seem to find the sub-species that isn't even mentioned. They're not kidding when they say these little guys are fast!

We also saw a small snake in a pool along the Big River that we're fairly certain was a Midland Watersnake, based on internet research. It had alternating ruddy and mustard colors, and it was very vivid because it was so small (under a foot.) Dennis had the camera at the time, and I assume he didn't take a picture because he's a weenie who is afraid of snakes. It looked an awful lot like this one, even though we don't have our own picture of it.


Awww, aren't we just so gross! *love*


Of course, the big draw of Washington State Park is the Mississippian petroglyphs. This is a "family," I think. At least that is what we are calling it. There are three figures holding hands, a "Dennis" on the left, a little Chris with a pointy head in the middle, and a "Mommy" on the right.

A suspected sniper is on the loose!

The news copy tells this better than I think I can.

Jefferson Co. Police Search For Suspected Sniper Shooting At Drivers And Police
created: 5/15/2005 10:42:34 PM
(KSDK) -- A suspected sniper is on the loose and authorities in Jefferson County have a warning for residents.

The shootings happened on Highway 30 near Betty Hill Road in Byrnes Mill. Two different drivers thought they were shot at around 12:45 a.m.

Jefferson County Sheriff Glenn Boyer said at a news conference, "One of them saw what she believed to be a muzzle fire and observed sparks flying off the road."

Investigators believe the shooter or shooters were perched on a heavily wooded bluff overlooking Highway 30. Sheriff Boyer said, "He's not afraid of police and that gives me great concern."

Officers who responded were shot at during a two-hour period. Officers estimate as many as 25 shots were fired.

Sheriff Boyer said, "Any time a person is engaged in sniping a citizen on a roadway, waits for the responding officer and engages that officer and waited for assisting officers and engaged those officers, I think is a dangerous individual."

Highway 30 in that area was shut down for five hours while officers searched by ground and air. Sheriff Boyer says investigators are still looking for the bullets and shell casings from the firearm, "They were guessing it was some type of medium to heavy weapon; anywhere from a 9mm up to a heavy hunting rifle is what could have been used."

Nobody was hurt. No vehicles were struck. That's why investigators speculate the shooter intentionally missed. Byrnes Mill Police Chief Ed Locke said, "When that third volley came toward police officers, I actually heard the concrete fragments hit the hood of my car."

Sheriff Boyer is asking residents to be cautious and to report anything suspicious, "If you see somebody climbing the bluffs at 2:00 a.m., that's not normal, contact us."

A task force will be formed to work on solving this case. It will consist of a number of different police agencies and possibly the FBI.

In the meantime, investigators are asking the two drivers who were shot at to call the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office so investigators can get more information.


This is scary! They shut down the Highway, the police were "pinned down" under the bluff for a few hours, local residents were scared to death, the local school cancelled outdoor activities - several law enforcement agencies even assembled a "Sniper Response Team."


The resolution:

Police: Jefferson County Sniper Was A Group Of Drunk Teens Shooting At Tree
created: 5/18/2005 5:33:20 PM
KSDk-There is no Jefferson County Sniper. That's the word late Wednesday afternoon from investigators.

The incident happend late Saturday night. Motorists on Highway 30 near Byrnes Mill reported shots being fired from a bluff over the highway. Police responded, and more shots were fired. No one was hit. Police believed there might have been a sniper.

Wednesday, investigators announced 19-year-old Donald Christie had been charged in the shootings. Police say he was at a party with several other teens, that they were drinking, and that they were firing shots at a tree that was on a bluff above the highway.

Sick Baby

Dennis's ratty is sick. She's got some kind of bronchitis, and she has a breast tumor. She's got some antibiotics for her lungs, and she is going to have surgery on Tuesday. I am splitting the antibiotic with Belle, because she's got the same wheezing as Shelby.

The office visit today with medicine was $21. The surgery is supposed to be $40. Yes, it is a lot to spend on a $3.00 pet, but it isn't as high as we had feared.

No Stab! Grocery Shopping.

We are going to shop at the Sappington Farmers' Market for the next little while. We managed to get out at our usual price level, found everything we needed (including kale), saw some extra cool things, and Dennis even talked to a *gasp* friendly employee!

They did not have BBQ pork prepackaged (bad for you anyway), but I am going to go get some tomorrow at Johnny's Market, so it is OK.

Hooray, I feel better.

(I like Johnny's because they have the cool flip-top carts and it smells like my Grandma. I had a very strong memory of shopping at the Litchfield IGA with my Grandma Linda when I was little. I also think their bakery is going to kick ass if we get there while the department is still open. Baked goods!!!)

I Couldn't Have Said it Better Myself

Last night we could not accomplish our grocery shopping at our usual Shop N Save. Nothing was in stock at 9:00 on a Sunday night. This has been a pattern at this store recently, but last night was definately the worst. I threw a fit and left a cart full of groceries in the back of the store after a stockboy told us that the Grape Nuts we were looking for were, "on sale all week, you can come back another day and get them" when we asked if he could help us find some. Today I am researching independent grocers and green grocers. I love this website fuckcorporategroceries.net.

We were just at the Sappington Farmers' Market last week, and now we are going to go out exploring some more of our local resources. I'm tired of getting the Wal-Mart treatment from the grocery store.

Missouri Loves Company

Would it be too strange for a Missouri resident to wear this?

"High Five, Illinois!"

Sunday Sunday Sunday!

We spent most of the day at Gateway watching the Mustangs at the World Ford Challenge. It was a fun event as always. The biggest story of the day was the temperature. It was COLD! We were wearing jackets and long pants, and we weren't even racing. I wore capris, and I spent most of the day wishing for those 8 extra inches of fabric. I also managed to sunburn my ankles. Ouch!

Unbelievably, this was our first trip to the track this year. Chris seems to enjoy it more this year, finally. He didn't complain about being bored once, and actually asked to go back to the grandstand to watch racing. Dennis loves poking his head around all of the cool turbo cars. The Mustang guys really have their heads on straight with the technology. They've got them on inlet restrictions this year, so lots of crews have switched over from the huge thumper turbos to twin setups. This makes the engine bays look very wicked. It is kinda hard to decide which is cooler, one giant turbo in the center of the grille, or two on the sides with all of the associated snaking pipes.

We saw an 8 second truck that launched as hard as anything I've ever seen, a very cool front engine dragster, an 11 second cargo van, and a 7 second pass in Wild Street, where the cars must make a 30 mile cruise before making their three qualifying passes. Remind me to stay far away from that silver Mustang!

Farmers' Market

We went up to the Soulard Farmers' Market this morning.





Chris was highly entertained trying to imitate these artsy-fartsy bike racks :)


We bought a fresh pineapple for $1.50. They want almost $6.00 for them in the grocery stores. It is very sweet. Chris doesn't like it because it doesn't taste like the pineapple he's used to. Glad I didn't spring for the $6.00 ones he always begged for.

School Picnic

I went out to Chris's 3rd Grade AR Picnic today.

He didn't seem too interested in me being there. He played with his friends, and didn't want a whole lot to do with me. Frankly, I got a little bored. None of the other parents ate anything, so I was also starving. I went home early. I didn't see the next two hours of picnic picking up any for me. He said he wasn't upset, and I went out of my way to assure him that he was supposed to play with his friends. He said it was fine, but he is being a little obstinate this evening. Letting go / holding on is tricky!

Three Years

It is time to start reading old emails again. Today is the one year anniversary of the first post of the whole affair; the three year anniversary since Dennis and I started talking to each other.

We don't keep track of the real first time we met, which was sometime in the fall of 2001. I only had a passing thought of the meeting that prompted the emails to begin - which was May 4th, 2002. We date things by the first message Dennis sent me. I'm making an official post today because this is where the record keeping starts. We don't have a date for when our relationship actually started. It is split between today and August 7, 2002, when we moved in together.

To tell the truth, I didn't put two and two together when I got that first message from Dennis. I didn't know exactly who was asking, I didn't realize he was even a local. I just figured he was someone who had either seen a picture of my car with license plate, or he had tried to contact me via AIM and seen my screen name there. It wasn't the first random private message I'd received on Neons.org, but it did wind up being the only one that lead to the love of my life.

Amazing how random life can be, isn't it?

And that stands for pool!

I took Chris and Dennis up to Litchfield to see my Mom, and to watch my sister in her High School's production of The Music Man. They tore down the auditorium where we used to put on plays, so they have to have them at the community college's tiny one now. It isn't anywhere near as good this way. They're also using mics now. Blah. What ever happened to enunciation and projection?

I saw lots of people I did not wish to speak with. I haven't been back to any High School functions since I graduated. I didn't see any of the people I really hated, but I didn't see anyone worth nodding at either. I am extremely depressed to know that some babies I remember holding and was responsible enough to babysit are juniors and seniors in High School now. Eeeek! I am pretty sure I do not want to go to my 10 year reunion, if they even have one. It was a little bit stressful hoping nobody recognized me.

We stopped and got Mom some fuscia Ivy Geraniums from Rural King. They're really pretty! We also picked up a rhodedendron for Cathy that we're taking down there in a little while.

Is it Spring?

The National Weather Service issued Frost Advisories again late in the day yesterday, so my flowers spent three nights in the apartment. FINALLY everything is back outside and it is supposed to be warm all week. Surely this is Spring at last.

This is where they belong :)




As soon as I find the zip-ties I know I just bought, I'm putting up the hummingbird feeder too.

It is not supposed to be this cold

We had frost advisories again last night. I've had my flowers out since right around the 15th of April. I've had to bring them in three times. It is supposed to be cold again tonight, so I'm just leaving them in.

It is nice having the apartment filled with flowers :)


...but wait, there's more! There are the two baskets that hang over the porch rail.


This pink petunia was begging to have it's picture taken.


I'll have to upload some new pictures when they finally get to go back outside.

Cupcakes

Chris and I made cupcakes for Paul's birthday. We took them out to him at work today. I didn't have enough colored sugars, so I had to hand dye some. We wound up with five colors! It is an odd feeling to bake something for your ex-husband. At least something non-toxic...

Sadly, I think these turned out a little bit prettier than Dennis's Birthday Cake. (It was tasty though!)


Here's a closer picture of the sugar. I was a little proud of it :)



After that trip, Chris and I went to Powder Valley Conservation Nature Center. The center itself is really awesome! There is a nice bird garden that reminds me a lot of Turkey Run in Indiana. The hiking is citified - all of the trails are paved. We took the longest one, and were almost eaten alive by wild inch worms! There was a fishing demonstration with the Mobile Aquarium. We saw several goldfish get gulped down, a turtle tear off a crayfish claw, and finally a crayfish swallowed whole. I think Chris liked it. :)

Proof!

Love by ruby mae
Your name
Your partner
You two are	In love
Your meeting was by	Chance
They are your	Hero
You are their	Shining star
Your love will	Stay alive

Yeah, so it is a lame Quiz. But it is proof that we were meant to be, right? meepmeep

Now I must sing, "You're a shinig star, no matter who you are."

Me, Excited?

Yeah, so today I found something to be excited about.

The entire new Nine Inch Nails album is up on MySpace. Now I am not one of those aging Goths, but I do enjoy my Trent. I got excited when we were in New Orleans, standing in front of his house, and I saw that he had those solid brass turtle lawn sprinklers. Admitting this makes me feel like a stalker!

I do not enjoy listening to streaming audio on our dial-up connection. I wish I could download it in my spare time. Haha! That's a great reason to get back to work - free high speed access to the net.

Up to Date

Everything back to Wednesday, March 23, 2005 (Southpark pictures) was updated today. I didn't take any pictures of anything that happened in the past month. I spent two weeks under the weather.

Neglecting my Blog

I have not been Blogging. I've been (am) really depressed. I don't want to say how depressed, but suffice it to say that I've got absolutely nothing positive to Blog about whatsoever. I didn't see much point in turning this into a huge seething pit of misery.

I'm going to go back and fill in a few things though. Hooray!

Shrooming

I went up to Litchfield this morning to mushroom hunt with my parents. We ate some lunch, then took all three dogs out to the lake. After not too long looking, we found a really big cache of morels. I also found a box turtle who may have been mushroom hunting too. S/he was closed up tightly when I found her/him. I bet the dogs scared her/him.

We found a few more after that, then I ran out of gas. My lungs were burning after we walked up the hill to the parking lot. Ouch. The cold I had kicked my butt.

I got home and sauteed some mushrooms for Dennis. He says they're "good", but he's "not crazy about them." I think they need to grow on him.

Angry Fishing

Dennis took us out to Busch Wildlife today to fish. Everything made me extremely angry, and I refused to enjoy myself until after we'd eaten lunch and only had about 20 minutes left to fish. Blah.

We still have not caught a damn thing. We are not good at fishing!

Sick

I've been sick. I had a fever starting on Saturday afternoon and lasting right through Monday evening. I still don't feel good.

Fishing

I took Chris fishing yesterday at Suson Park. We didn't catch a darn thing. I started to feel kinda gross in the afternoon, so I brought us home to rest. Dennis spent the whole day at a NRA pistol course. I feel like crap, but we are going out to Suson Park again in a few minutes to take Dennis fishing.

We're so cute

You can make your own South Park characters at Planerarium. This is old news, of course.

This is me:


Dennis, in his Huebel "uniform":



And of course Chris with his new "hair-do":

That's a little Better

Wow, I lost my job Monday, sent out some resumes Tuesday, and got a call back on Wednesday. I could have an interview by the end of the week.

I'm so nervous. Apparently my judgement is just terrible when it comes to picking situations for myself. Eeeep!

Blame it on March

March has always been a bad month for me.

I don't know why I haven't yet realized that this crappy month really isn't a whole lot different from any other March. Nothing good happens in March. I have very bad March karma.

At least I didn't spend most of the month worrying about it being March. It's almost over now. There's only about a million more bad things that could happen.

I shall now retreat to my secret underground lair. (I wish I had one of these!)

Argh, Hindsight

I knew my job sucked, I always knew I did not fit well there, and I knew Peggy was is and always will be a complete unpleasable biatch.

I said so in June.

I said it again in July.

I bitched about being unhappy in August.

I just mentioned the random bitchiness two weeks ago.

When Dennis came home and I told him I was laid off, I got even more upset. I feel like such a loser. I've never been let go before. It wasn't even for anything I'd done wrong. I can see firing an airline pilot who wrecks planes. She said, "Your work is good," as she was doing it.

Maybe 27 years is high time to feel this bad.

#F@(L!%*V$!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I just got canned. I should have seen this coming. I know I did, if I think about it. I didn't do anything "wrong," but I still feel like shit. This could have come at a worse time, but not by much.

Avoid Working at This Place









Booohiss

Easter Eggs & Elk

We dyed our Easter Eggs today, since Chris will be in Indiana for Easter this year.



Then we went for a quick road trip down I-44. Dennis almost made us run out of gas *teehee. Then we went to Robertsville State Park. There isn't a whole lot there, unless you have a boat, in which case there is access to the Meramec River.



Then we came back up to St. Louis County and Lone Elk Park.

We saw Elk:



Bison:



Whitetail Deer:



Crazy Cream Soda Drinking Children:



(Leave him alone, he's "growing his hair out.) :)


I'm struggling with allergy medicine again this spring. It knocks me on my butt until I get used to taking it, but I can't really go without it anymore either. I was really out of it for most of the day.

Yum

Oh yeah, I forgot to write anything about Dennis's birthday cake! I made it last night. It's a two layer chocolate cake, the filling is chocolate cream cheese icing with chunks of chopped up real chocolate in it, and iced with chocolate cream cheese icing. We went ahead and cut it this evening. It turned out really, really tasty. I'm really proud of it :) This is the first year I've made his b-day cake too.






It isn't the most beautiful thing in the world, but it tastes soooooo gooooood. I didn't have enough icing this time around, because my math was off for 9" round pans.

St. Patrick's

I didn't do much for St. Patrick's Day this year. I'm not even making corned beef & cabbage until tonight. I did wear my green wool jacket while I was running all over creation though.

I was on a mission to get Dennis's birthday presents today. He wanted some Nikon 8 x 40 binoculars and a Cold Steel Master Hunter knife. I got the binocs here in south county, but I had to make a run out to Grand Prairie Knives in Troy, Illinois for the knife. Then I had to run from there over to St. Charles to pick Chris up from school.

I managed to fit in grocery shopping at the Schuncks out there and kept all of the cold stuff cold in our cooler too. Yea... :)

Chris came back to our apartment for a while, we ate and hung out most of the evening. I couldn't handle the suspense, and I let Dennis open his presents open early. He really liked them :)

Then we all went up to Paul's apartment to wait for Jenn to get off of work. Paul is out of town for the weekend. We were up late last night *yawn*

Super Smokers

Today is my Dad's 50th birthday. We met my parents, my sister, and Mike Morgan at Super Smokers for lunch. It was really good, as usual.

We got him a "Vintage Since 1955" T-shirt, some gag-gift Old Pills, and some multi-colored whole pepper corns. I think he liked it.

No time for Blogging

I'm much too busy playing GT4. Help, I am addicted!

It's all Relative

Apparently Dennis is related to the Kaskaskia Island Dozas. His Great-grandfather, Almont, came from either on the island or from St. Mary's. DJ thinks that Almont's father is listed incorrectly in someone else's version of the family tree, so there could be something going on with the parentage there. We've found Almont's wife Gertrude's side of the family online. Dennis's uncle Mike looked into the geneology at some point, and had discovered a link to Sgt. York. There is a Lincoln (yeah, that one) link back on the island. There were relatives on the island / at the Fort for the Revolutionary War. The family is definately French.

It's neat that what Dennis found depressing at first sight has turned out to be so interesting. DJ has an old break action shotgun of Almont's, and an old black pot that belonged to Gertrude. It would be neat for Dennis to connect all of the dots. I hope he keeps talking to his parents about all of this stuff.

His uncle Mike has moved up to Joplin, and we're supposed to see that side of the family again around Easter. Maybe we'll find out more then.

Dozaville

We've seen a little blip on the DeLorme Gazetteer called "Dozaville" a few times. It always caught my eye because his last name is Doza. It's by Ste. Genevieve, and we're on that page fairly often. It's actually in Illinois, on Kaskaskia Island. We ran down through Waterloo, where we stopped off at Rural King. Then we headed down to Chester. We went down the back road right along the river from Fort Kaskaskia to Menard. Eeep, prison! It's a really awesome looking thing place though.

We had some trouble finding it once we got on the island, but there it was. It's, um, small. Dennis said it depressed him. It isn't much to look at, I agree, but I don't think he understands what it means to live on an island that floods like that.

A little more research makes it seem that a trip to the cemetery we saw would not be a bad idea. It seems that the Doza family goes back on the island into the 1700s. I'd be interested in finding out a whole lot more.

The Worst Employee Ever

I must be the worst employee ever. I had to take Wednesday off for Dennis's Grandma's funeral. No problem, I came in on my normal Thrusday day off. And was I ever in trouble!!! I could feel the seething anger, so I slinked and didn't speak.

Then I had to say at the last minute that I had to be late Friday morning because I had something to do at Chris's school. Of course I didn't get in until right before 9:00. There were three things that needed to be rushed, and she called at about 9:05 really pissed.

Blah. Like she's ever even in on Fridays. Yeah.

Don't care.

:)

Funeral, Dennis's Family, Shooting Hurts

Dennis was sorta nervous about going to his Grandma's funeral. His family doesn't always get along, and they don't see each other often. He hadn't seen his Grandma for a while either.

Nobody acted horribly while I was around. I have a big family, so it actually put me in a pretty good mood when everyone congregated at DJ & Cathy's house afterwards.

We had some time off in the afternoon, so we went shooting. I shot a stupid .223 and hurt my shoulder because I wasn't holding it right. I figured out that the benches at Henges hit me right in the boob, and there is no good way for me to get comfy sitting at them. I need to bring a phonebook to sit on next time.

:(

Dennis's Grandma died.

RALLY RALLY RALLY

We spent the whole day chasing rally cars and getting Dennis's car good and muddy at the 100 Acre Wood Rally in southern Missouri.



This is Lion's Park in Potosi, which is one of our favorite places to watch the cars because you can see them go all the way around the little gravel road in the park. It's neat. The Lion's had cooked up some awesome chili and hamburgers too.

It was fun, the weather was so nice, and the event was much more on time. There were also a lot more "authority figures" which sucked...

...and nothing bad happened at all...

We took Chris to Henges shooting range today. At first there was a guy next to us with a .45 that was so loud, it made Chris cry. Then some guys next to us were shooting a Garand, so Chris wanted to start shooting our .22 rifle. He did, and he did well, and he liked it.

Dennis was really uptight about it all along, but it wound up being OK once we gave Chris a chance.

EEEE-diot Holidays

Valentine's Suck-o-Matic. Not in the good way :(

I made dinner, Penne w/ Vodka cream sauce, yummy salad, yummy chocolate dessert, real whipped cream. It was good! We had P'Sghetti's good bread to go with it.

Then I got a headache and went to bed.

Dennis was sad. I was crabby and sleepy.

He did laundry.

Blah.

Blah.

Boring.

I got him a "sappy" card. He says it is the first non-funny, non-animal card I've ever gotten for him. It says something like, "If I had it to do over, I'd find you sooner so I could love you longer." (Hey, there is humor there, "Me love you long time." He just didn't get it...) He got me a card that was pukee as well, some cupcakes, and a car wash card. Yeah, Valentine's Day is a top priority around here!

Well, I am going to make it up to him today ;)

Happy Appletime

I made it to Chris's Valentine's Day party at his school! I just had to tell him "Happy Appletime" in person. I guess Paul's phone is disconnected?

Anyway, I'm in a hurry, why the hell am I online? I am supposed to be cooking dinner.

There is no squirrel

Well, it was an absolutely gorgeous day, and the weather was fine for a nice hike in the woods. Right? Sure, but if you happen to be squirrel hunting, and see NO squirrels in the woods, it sucks! Seriously, I had a great time again. But the squirrels are all in the neighborhood, not out in the boonies. *grr* We did have a nice long conversation with a yellow bellied flicker though. It sounded a lot like a grey squirrel, so we stalked it. Nope, just a bird. LOL!

I shot Dennis's .22 at a "Bubba Cola" can as consolation.

It WAS a beautiful day.

Weepy

I'm having one of those wonderous days that women sometimes have, when everything in the world is worthy of tears. I worked hard not to cry while making dinner. It's just hormones. So, of course, I finished Madame Bovary today, and now I'm watching Slavery and the Making of America on PBS tonight. *bawl*


*sniffle*

Huuuuuuuuuuuuuh.

Dennis keeps breathing gross, deep "huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuh" breaths on me. Around me. In the apartment.

He's trying to make noise with a turkey call.

Lord, will it ever end?

Sweepstakes Win

I won a Third Prize from Walgreens. First Prize was $10,000 for Chris's college fund. I got a $100 Walgreens Gift Card.

This is what $100 will get you at Walgreens:


Almay Eye Makeup Remover - $4.69
Maybelline Wet Shine Lip Gloss - $5.99
Loreal Colour Juice Lip Gloss - $7.49
Almay Bright Eyes Mascara - $7.49
Almay Eye Liner - $6.99
Hallmark Greeting Cards (6) - $5.94
Swab Plus Dental Whitening System - $14.99 (lost $3.00)
Reach Fluoride Floss - $2.99
Oral B Toothbrush (2) - $5.58
OB Tampons (2) - $13.98
Olay Daily Facials Refill - $5.99
Listerine - $6.99

There was a SAVE $3.00 NOW thing on the front of the tooth whitener, but I forgot about it. I also wanted to get a 6 pack of Caress soap, but forgetting the coupon put me over $100, so I put it back. I wish I would have remembered it. It was pretty fun, and I like my lip gloss. That was the one thing I kept thinking about while I waited for my gift card to get here.

Laissez les bons temps rouler!

I've been watching Mardi Gras on Nola.com's webcams. Every year this makes me itchy to get back to New Orleans. I'm also considering trying to drag Dennis down to the Fat Tuesday Parade tonight.

It seems foreign that the parade is going down Washington Avenue instead of through Soulard, but it is exciting that it seems to be catching on, I guess? Except that it becomes less fun and "secret," and more like everything else that gets popular in St. Louis. By that I mean white bread, strictly enforced, overcrowded, overhyped, and bound to make you feel inferior somehow. The biggest concern becomes where to park instead of how much fun it is going to be. When we first started going to Soulard Mardi Gras, Tuesday was the "big" day, and we couldn't convince anyone else from school to come with us. I still don't really understand doing Fat TUESDAY on Saturday, but whatever. I'm also not a huge fan of Washington Avenue anymore. It caught on in that damn exclusivist way too. It used to be a thrill just to go there, but now it's just another place to encounter velvet ropes.

I need to stop complaining and just listen to the weather forecast. Maybe it will be fun to go tonight if it really does snow!

Squirrel Hunting

I have officially gone hunting!

Dennis and I went out in the woods behind his parent's house today. I had a 20 gauge, and he had his new .22 rifle. (And his silly Bi-Fur-Pod, which I refuse to call anything but "shooting sticks.") It started raining when we were still at the car getting the rifle out of its case. Squirrels apparently sleep in their nests during showers. We tromped around, I shot twice at a Bud Light can so I could see what the gun was like, I learned how to load and unload and work the action on it with cold, wet hands. We sat for about 45 minutes on one hill crest that was ringed with oaks and about four squirrel nests. Dennis saw something poke its head out of one of the nests, but that was about it. I had a good time anyway. We just got finished breaking the guns down and cleaning them all out.

Mardi Gras Parade

UGH!

This year Soulard Mardi Gras was a total bust. Dennis is working on his Dad's truck today, so it was just Chris and myself. We got down there in pleanty of time. We parked across the highway just a little south of Gus's Pretzels. It was a long walk across 55 on Arsenal, through the brewery, and then up Broadway. We stopped right at the end of the parade route, and set ourselves up on a nice spot of fence. There was a good 10' hole when we got there.

Some people began to gather around us. Then right at 11:00, the Harley's came through. A woman and two girls came to stand by us, and the girls managed to scoot my polite son all the way down the fence to a group of drunk young women. I tried to convince Chris to be a little "mean" but he just didn't get the whole spot-staking concept yet. Oddly, one of the little girls recognized me from hunter's education last weekend. How strange is that?

We waited and waited and waited, still in a fairly big hole, about an hour and fifteen minutes for the parade to finally come. Then a huge push of people swarmed around us. A tall guy behind me kept hitting me in the head. Adults were reaching around and even over Chris. The floats were mostly out of beads, or just weren't throwing them. I caught a few, but I was mostly jostled and I was really worried about Chris. I've taken him to Mardi Gras about six times, and I've NEVER been in such a rude bunch of people. I've never seen the crowd so angry, and I've never felt so grated. It's always been so much fun, and we've always had good luck with finding a little clump of families, who let the kids up to the front and block the more rowdy people like a herd of elephants.

I think it is because the extremely nice weather brought out near record crowds, and we were on the market side of Broadway. We're usually always on the river side. This is also the first year we waited down at the far end, instead of up nearer the market, or by the big curve. I'll go again, but I'll stay on the river side, and hopefully I'll get a chance to bring Dennis down with me to help me corral Chris in a little pocket of safety.

So we left early, bought some Gus's pretzels on the way out, and we're still waiting for Dennis to come home. He said he'd be here about two hours ago...

Hunter Education

I spent my weekend (9 - 4 both days) in hunter education classes. It was a lot of sitting, but now I can hunt in Missouri, and out of state if I wish to. I got a cool hunter orange patch to sew on my jacket (?) and everything!

I also decided that I am going to buy a shotgun. It will be the first gun I've ever owned all by myself. I am sorting through Dennis's reams of gun information, trying to see what I'd like. I am leaning towards a 20 gauge. Hooray :)

Light in August

It took me two whole weeks, plus a few hours, to read this book. It was good, I was just slow, and I kept disengaging from it for some reason. I am still not sure if I am a huge Faulkner fan or not. Something about the slow, hot, dusty South makes me almost bored with him. I remember how exciting the elements were in Ethan Frome. Faulkner's days are so hot and bored.

I started immediately on The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara, which is turning out to be incredible, and I am positive that I will have it finished before it's due at the library Friday.

NO Wine Blogging Wednesday

My Wine Blogging Wednesday wine was a total bust! Dammit!

I got a bottle of "HRM Rex-Goliath 47 Pound Rooster Free Range? Central Coast Merlot" from World Market. We didn't open it until Monday night. It was totally corked. Yuck, it tasted just like rubbing alcohol. No amount of cooling / heating / sitting around was going to help this dead duck.

I poured the big cock down the drain. I really wanted to be one of the cool kids this month too. Too bummed for words.

Whoa, a date?

We went to see Larry the Cable Guy. We were absolutely dead center, in the front row. My neck still hurts from looking so far up it was almost backwards at Larry. It was miserably cold last night, with a horrible wind whipping around downtown. Yuck!

We got stuck in the parking garage. Thanks, asshats, learn how to drive! (Yes, that means you, every dipshit in Missouri who didn't take driver's ed...)

But after that we went to Bartolino's South and ate dinner. We waited, the bar was overflowing, so we were basically stuck in the coat room. I didn't mind, because I was fondling some old woman's drop-dead gorgeous mink the whole time. Just before we were seated, someone came and was helped into her full-length Dior fox. Hubba hubba, what a coat! I really, really like fur on other people :)

We dressed up, but of course not in full-length Dior foxes. It was fun, and now that I think about it, it was actually our most officially "dateish" date. Yeah, I've know Dennis for 2 1/2 years, and we're finally dating. Hehe! Yeah, and the food was delish too!

I'm so not Emo

Thanks, Beth.

I am 16% Emo.

Okay... so I'm not emo at all.. I am probably not even goth, because goths are just messed up emo kids... I am probably a metal head... or into boy bands...

Take the
Emo Test
@ FualiDotCom

I'm so not into boy bands, so I must be a metal head. Well, they make a test for that too :)

I am 68% Metal Head.

I rock just as hard as the rest of the thrash set, except when no ones looking I like to get down with a little "More than a Feeling."

Take the
Metal Head Test
@ FualiDotCom

That's true, but being female has to skew the results a little bit. Except chaning my answer to, "Do you want to go to a Def Leppard concert just to see Rick Allen's stump?" to yes pushes me up to 71%. Def Leppard is NOT that kind of metal. They're a boy band of their era. The guys who wore wrestling pants and thought they looked good rocked to Def Leppard. The real metal heads wore tight jeans. I remember. Oh lord, or if you were lucky, leather pants.