She looked so Valley Fair in the midnight air

Another week, another update. Firstly I hope all is totally awesome and well at the Hakes family gathering in Dallas Center, Iowa, and the 2nd annual Judy Hakes golf open. What a great day for golf, yesterday. Please support Huntington's research!

We could not make it this year as yesterday we were here having a family birthday party for Miss Sarah who just turned 14. Holy guacamole, Bat Man, 14. School starts in one week and one day. Where did the summer go? It didn't go to h-e-double hockey sticks that's for sure. I had a sweat shirt on all day yesterday and still got chilly and had to come in from the deck. We wanted to start a bon fire but it was just too windy, boo. Tammy's nephew Josh hung out with us and we got to watch "Freeway" with him. If you've never seen this early Reese Witherspoon vehicle, and you aren't opposed to lots of violence and language then I highly recommend it. A cult classic, even better than Bubba-Ho-Tep, but that's a B movie for another day.

Friday was Sarah's day to take two friends to Valley Fair amusement park. They did all the scary rides while Tam and I did go on the Corkscrew roller coaster, the Monster (in my day they called it the Octopus. I guess someone must think an octopus is not as scary a name as a generic monster? Whatevah...) People watching at Valley Fair is more interesting than at the airport, who knew? And I'm still waiting for the NBA shorts thing to go passe for the boys. Have they any idea how ridiculous they look? Seriously. Maybe they should call them American kilts. Plus all the nylon wearing non-jocks hang out in the Midway, playing too cool for the room. You can feel the creepy factor.

But the scariest ride of all that day was coming home. Why? We came the closest I have ever been to hitting a deer. Right after we dropped off Caitlyn, just before it was dark dark, Tam started down the road, so we are doing about 25 or 30 mph and it jumped right out in front of us, streaking across the street. She slammed the brakes to the floor, Sarah's bottle of water ended up flying from the back seat into the foot area of the driver's seat. We were all strapped in, which is good, and I had literally just crawled into the back seat from the wayyyy back, since there was room with Caitlyn getting out. Sarah screamed, Mariah threw her hands over her head and ducked, and I was waiting for the impact wondering if the Jeep would spin completely around. And we missed it. GO JEEP! I'm so brand loyal. We totally stopped on a dime and missed it by less than an inch. It was so close Tammy had to think if she felt a thunk or not. Way scarier than any dumb coaster or Power Tower ride. LOL

Today is another gorgeous one and now I'm just hanging out waiting for the Twins game. Football starts for real in two weeks. I can't wait! BEARS ALL THE WAY THIS YEAR. I called it. The Vikes are excited that they have Brett Favre now. Yeah, ok. Good luck with that. In Wisconsin they keep saying they'll never forget #4 and thanks for all the memories, Brent. Crack me up.

Guess that's about it from Sodium Manor this week. Take care everybody. Love you all!!!

Spider smells! News at 11.

Greetings and salutations, my friends and friendlys. And to my fellow conspiracy theorists, yes, I too think Humpty Dumpty was pushed, and I think Glinda knew about that twirling house heading toward her sister. Crop circles, do NOT get me started...

Another week has passed and life is still good. Although I'm not sure it's so good if you are Clint (yes I named him), the small spider living in the corner of my bathroom, by the shower stall. I mean, if you are low enough on the food chain that you intentionally take up residence in my basement bathroom (albeit my Pink Panther theme is cute), you are on your own. I mean, I can clear a room faster than an INS agent in a meat packing plant. Well, depending on what I ate that day that is. I originally allowed Clint to stay because he was small, kept to himself and to date has made no sudden movements prompting my usual, KILL IT! shriek. He's also within my line of sight as I naturally sit on my throne, or else I'd probably just forget about him. So that got me to thinking one morning after a night of tacos and jalepenos. Can spiders smell? Because if they can, woo doggie, Clint's gotta be hurting, because I know I was. Anyway, I went on line and Ranger Rick tells me they can. That they use the small hairs on theirs legs and also the bottoms of their feet to smell prey and mates. That explains his rigid stance then, as he attempted to keep all eight of his nose feet glued to the floor that morning. Poor guy, hopefully he has a cold. It is damp down here sometimes. So I wonder now if spiders can catch swine flu? Arachnidis?

We had a great week and weekend. Friday night we met Good Nancy (Tammy's sister) and her boyfriend, Pete, up at McDuff's for some live music and good times. We were dancing fools. The two man band called Bill and Tom play 60s and 70s music and like audience participation, so on Tony Orlando's "Knock Three Times" I was handed a cow bell and drum stick, and Tammy held two small conduit-like pipes. The cow bell sound was for the three knocks and hers were for twice on the pipes if the answer is no. You get the picture. It was a ball. We shut the place down and Nancy and Pete spent the night. Of course Tipsy escaped onto the deck at one point so we just left her outside. She eventually came home. I don't want to know what spiders she visited during her wild, Bindi the Jungle Girl Adventure.

Yesterday we started at Famous Dave's (becasue I had a coupon for ribs) and worked our way over to the Canyon Grill where I ran into one of my customers and his wife. So that was kind of fun. We tried to go to the new Broadway Pizza that just opened in Coon Rapids, but is was wayyyyy too bright in there and packed with loud people playing afternoon bar bingo. Seriously, isn't there a law or something that states you cannot play bingo while the sun is still out unless you have blue hair and its at your church?

Sarah's back home today and Jake's due back at 5. Her 14th birthday is TH so we'll be off on Friday as we take her, Jake, and two of her friends to Valley Fair amusement park all day Friday. Saturday, Tammy's family will be over for a birthday party. Tacos are on the menu so I hope Clint's ready for Sunday morning, after adding coffee and eggs.

I hope you all are awesome and loving living on the big blue marble. I know I do. Until next time...
Love,
Diane

New Venue!! Welcome one, welcome all.

Hey everybody! Welcome to my newly refurbished What the Heck?? blog. It has been renamed Cannon shots and fodder, and will be updated regularly and topics added etc. I won't even go into what I think about those little glass dolphins hanging from rear view mirrors right now, but soon there will be no stopping me, right MJ? Actually its not the dolphins. It's the drivers who like them, and yes I'm talking to you too, Jetta owners!

This thing is in it's infancy, and like a baby we'll all have to deal with some spit up and drool periodically until I grow into my very own sippey cup. Filled with Miller Lite of course. Urp. Is it football season yet? GO BEARS! Rumor has it Favre may still be a Viking but seriously, who cares? Myth Busters turned it down as too boring. If you say the word Minnesota really fast it comes out Mediocre. I'm just sayin'.

Anyway, more to come soon and I LOVE IT! Thanks MJ and Caroline and Xena and Dogmom and Sufi. Thank you all.