Tommy Guns, Gangster Molls and More...

Machine Gun Kelly had a wife. E-I-E-I-O
And with his wife there came a gun. E-I-E-I-O
With a rat-a-tat here
and a rat-a-tat there
Here a tat, there a tat, everywhere a tat-a-tat
Machine Gun Kelly had a wife E-I-E-I-O



Huh? Ok, so the Tam and I went on the St. Paul gangster bus tour with Cathy and Andrea on Saturday afternoon. First of all, yes I am coming to grips with the fact that a bus tour would actually light me up. I age before my own eyes. They often call them cotton tours because when the miked up leader gazes down the seat filled rows, all they see are fields of white cotton tops. Yesterday was no exception. I think we were the youngest foursome on the two hour adventure.

You probably didn't know this but during prohibition, St. Paul was THE hot spot for gangsters due to the O'Connor layover law. This law, started by the St. Paul police chief, sumptin sumptin O'Connor, stated if you were a wanted criminal you could come to St. Paul any time with no hassels, but there were three rules that had to be followed. One, you could not commit any crimes while you were there (speakeasy partying not included). B. You had to sign in and out with the police so they would know who's where. And three, you had to make a donation to the policeman's retirement fund. Anyone following those rules could hang out in St. Paul with no fear of arrest. And hang out they did. It was a pretty cool tour and our leader, her photo is included, did a fabulous job. Her real name is Dawn Brody and she was leading as Catherine "Kitty" Kelly, Machine Gun Kelly's wife. Turns out she purchased her first Tommy gun from the Sears and Robuck mail order catalog. Once prohibition ended they all went into bank robbing and kidnapping and those tommy guns worked great. Anyway, we had a great time, saw parts of St. Paul's history and had a great fun time.

BEARS WIN! BEARS WIN! OMG. We looked good today. I had the game taped because Jake had fall ball at 10 and 2 today (who thinks up these schedules, I ask?) I'm beginning to think taping is not so bad after all. Fast Forwards rock. I'm just in time for the Emmy's, broadcasting in the background as I blog. Blog. It really is an onomatopoeia isn't it? Blog. Written vomit. But who will hold my fingers?

Here is yet one more example of a Minnesota moment. So the Twins are still in the AL Central hunt, so the games are getting more intense and anxious to watch, etc. Well, Friday night we packed a cooler and headed over to Bruce and New Nancy's to hang out. [Insert bad segue here] If you couldn't tell this was the weekend the kids went to their dad's until today. [Back to topic at hand] We didn't know what the evening would look like, we just knew we were going to get together. So we get over there and they have chairs set up on the deck. Oh and let me tell you this is a nice deck. It's an upper level deck that overlooks the ten heavily wooded acres they dwell on. If you are quiet you can hear the brook babbling in the background. Kind of like if you sat near my table in a bar. Babbling away... So Bruce had already hooked up a nice sized TV out on the deck, complete with cable hook up so we could all watch the game while hanging out. It was great. It got dark out and the weather was perfect light jacket weather, not too windy, not stagnant or mosquito infested. What a blast. I mean, we only have so many weekends left before the snow flies and up here it can get bad, so when it is nice out you want to be outside no matter what. Even some of the restaurants and bars up here will do whatever it takes to claim themselves as having outdoor seating. They'll knock out a wall with a sledge hammer, throw a card table out there and viola, outdoor seating. Many come complete with a view of the non-moving rusty semi trailer, usually parked next door to a place like Mike's Fish, or the local retention plant. You get the picture.

I guess that's about it for this week. We've been hanging out and having fun learning Facebook. I'm back in algebra, pretty much daily now. Sarah's in 8th grade "enriched" algebra so that means lots of homework. Enriched. So what, I found the yellow cake Uranium or something? Ugh. Or should I say I mean Ugh = Y + NYAH / BOO. It's actually been kind of fun. Sarah starts Confirmation classes on Wednesday so there's a whole new flashback of trauma for me to look forward to.

Take care everyone! I love you all!
-DIane