In Search of Americana

I'm finally getting around to posting the first account of our recent trip (into the past). As we were heading off to visit the cradle of our great nation we were sidelined (or foal lined) by the first of many historical cradles. This one being the birthplace of the Cincinnati Red Stockings, the first professional baseball team. The Reds, as they are now called, began their existence in 1869 followed the next year 1870 by a team from Chicago which would become the beloved losers, Da Cubs! There are a lot of similarities between the two clubs AND, a lot of differences. First, they both have had their "dynasty" years. The Reds more recently than the Cubs. And, they both had a dismal showing in the 2009 season. The Reds play in a relatively new ballyard (2003), the Cubs in a venerable museum, Wrigley Field, since 1916. The Reds averaged 21,579 fans a game, the Cubs 39,610 in spite of the fact that at the Great American Ballpark you can get a comfortable, $19 reserved seat in the bleachers which is toweled off by an usher while at the "venerable" Ivy-covered Wrigley an usher waves his hand in the general direction of Peoria while you push and shove to claim a general admission seat on a hard bench for a mere $40. (No wonder they have such poor attendance) Just to make us feel at home, the Reds did manage to blow a lead and lose the game in the final innings.
Just imagine, only one day into our vacation and already we're steeped in American History.

Jumping ahead a little, we did manage to push and shove our way onto a hard $40 bench to watch the Cubs lose their final game of the season last Sunday.

Baseball fan, history buff Jo tries to get
directions to our seats from historical figure.

The crowd at The Great American Ballpark
enjoying their $19 comfortable reserved seats.

The pushing, shoving, hard bench sitting fans at Wrigley.

Next installment - Back to Nature!

WHERE WE WERE AND WHAT WE DID!!!

(Details to follow)

Off to see the Wizard

As soon as the "kid" gets home from work we'll be loading up the final cargo containers of supplies for the trip over to that East Coast. I've beefed up the suspension and pumped up the tires to accommodate the excess weight. We'll be gone a little over a week but we have enough clothing, food and photo equipment to last the Osmond family through the winter. I hope to write down some of the weirder thoughts that run through my sick mind as I cruise the highways. And, I'm going to try posting a pictorial accounting of the more interesting sights encountered along the way. With the help of my new computing machine I may learn how to link a photo album to my blog. As far as seeing the Wizard goes, we do plan on touring DC, which I'm told, is the new OZ. When you stop and think about it there is a guy there that has a striking resemblance to a flying monkey. (must be the ears) Sorry, no irreverence meant. Well I've got to run. Gotta finish attaching the "WIDE LOAD" sign to the Honda. See y'all in a couple of weeks.

"So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, adieu
adieu, adieu, to yieu and yieu and yieu"

Old Dog - New Tricks?

Hey! I've got a reason for the big delay in posting a new Blog. I got a new computing machine and it's a lot smarter than me (or is it I?). The good news is that it's a LOT faster, and has a LOT more features. The bad news is that it doesn't have some of the OLD features that I grew to rely on. Features like PhotoShop. My OLD version is so OLD (how old is it?). It's so OLD that if you try to install it on the new machine, the machine spits it out, puckers up the monitor and makes derogatory comments about my momma! I feel handicapped not being able to fool around with pics for my Blog. I'm going to try and get by with what I've got until I can come up with the $47,000,000 for a PhotoShop upgrade. Some of the software on the new electronic box is really cool. In fact I am already getting started with my "learn to play the guitar and piano" lessons. Unfortunately I don't have a piano or a guitar. But, if I can get by without PhotoShop, how hard can it be?
Other big family advancements are, the Arkansas branch of the Blumes (Harrison, "Harry" and Jr, "Veronica") has entered the cyber age. So a new line of communication has opened up between the scattered family. And, in spite of his mother's fears, Harrison has started playing football. With the games, practices and the computer, "Harry" should be a pretty busy guy. Up in the northernmost reaches of the clan, Sally and Uncas (Summer and Reid) have added a feature to the Sally and Uncas" Blog. It's Baby Nimz (Nimzlet) count down. Sally started back to school this week so her short retirement has come to an abrupt end. Over here in Southwest Wis we're preparing for yet another adventure. Come Thursday, we're off to Williamburg, Virginia.
This will be a driving, touring, visiting and eating week or ten days of complete disregard for schedules and deadlines. Although, I'm sure, we take photos by the thousands, I promise that I'll only bore you with a few hundred of them. And, if I can work out some kind of PhotoShop thing, some will be fairly entertaining.
If I don't have a chance to post before we go, see ya later!

"Football Harry",
the terror of Mountain Home. Arkansas.

Mom shows future mom the finer points of
"Al Fresco" infant dining.
"It's a lot easier to hose off a messy kid outdoors.

Progress report on my guitar lessons.
It looks easier in the pictures where a guy actually uses a guitar.

Birthday Baby

It's hard to believe that Saffie is already a year old. She sure has packed a lot of activity into her first year. She has her own blog, wandered the woods of Minnesota and the streets of Chicago, coexisted with two puppies, cousins, grandparents, aunts and uncles (and greatgrandmas), learned to eat, walk and talk unintelligibly and attended more Cub's games than her grandpa. On Saturday, Grandma and Grandpa Jones hosted Saffie's first birthday party. In true female fashion, she immediately took to one of the gifts, a shopping cart. As the pictures below indicate, cake eating is one of her strong points.

I didn't take long for Saffie to find out
what birthday cakes are all about . . .
FROSTING!

"OK, pass the cake already!"

"At last. My own Saffie size cake."

"Am I doing this right? After all this is my first time."

"By Jove I think I've got it!"

"Now that's what I call a Happy Birthday!"

Catchup

No, this isn't a blog about the horror of putting ketchup on hot dogs. After noticing on Sally's blog that I haven't posted in two weeks, I decided that it was time to "Catch Up" on the news of the past two weeks. Speaking of Hot Dogs, which are closely related to baseball, I have a large white flag with a large blue "W" on it for sale. It's hardly been used (this season) and would make a great gift (if turned upside down) for any Brett Favre fan over in Vikingland.
Meanwhile, let's take a stroll back two weeks. After fully recovering from my "Work" stint, I was ready to "partee" (as much as any 86 year old can "partee"). Sally (Summer) came down from "The Cities" for the weekend partly to attend cousin Gavin's Baptism and partly to personally announce the arrival of "Baby Nimz" next March. Yep, another Grandkid on the way. On the left is the first of, I'm certain, many, many photos of the newcomer. We aren't able to make it to Hawaii this year (or any year in the near future) so to retain the Aloha spirit we joined our friend Judy for a Luauish birthday party. Saw some old friends and met some new ones while celebrating in true Hawaiian style by eating as much pineapple upside down cake as I could manage. Judy entertained us with a rousing hula. For a complete about face, the next morning we headed down to Chicago for the Baptism of my newest Great Nephew, Gavin. The ceremony, in which three infants were being Christened, was interesting mainly because it involved one of the infants doing a complete Jacques Cousteau. Yep, full submersion. The kid survived and will possibly grow up a little more religious than most for fear of a second dunking. The vacation like atmosphere continued as Gavin's guests headed off to enjoy a Taco feast. To make things more authentically Mexican, my niece Amanda and her hubby Sam mingled through the crowd peddling time shares and trinkets. (I got a genuine Rolex for only twelve bucks) The rest of the week was, once again, spent recovering from my exposure to other humans and watching the Cubs continue their unwinning ways. Actually I don't remember much up til Saturday. (I guess waiting two weeks to post is too long a time for someone my age) Saturday morning Jo decided that we should clean out the garage. Guess what? There's really space for two cars in there. And, I found my golf clubs, some power tools and a frozen turkey meant for last year's Thanksgiving dinner. To make her think that our garage was really tidy, I took JoAnne across town to show her what a real "Junk Garage" looked like. (Pictures below) Saturday evening we attended the Lands' End employee summer party. The LE Jam featuring food, a lot of fun games and things for the kids and three bands great including The Bodines. The night was complete with a grand fireworks display. (and real good people watching) Sunday was a great day for a little drive in the country so we packed Jo's Mom into the car and took her for a couple hour drive to show her some of the wonderful scenery in our area. The best of all the events was the celebrating of JoAnne's ??st birthday yesterday. A burger and drinks with a couple of friends in "Historic" Mineral Point capped off a fun day. Here are a few pictures of places and things that I experienced during the past two weeks. In the future I'll try to post more regularly and more entertainingly.

This to make up for the lack of BS in this post.
I couldn' resist adding this picture
just to tease every dieter that reads this blog.

Little Gavin with Mom, Dad and the "Submerger".

Saffy plays Grabba Gramp.
Or is she just learning to read lips?

I forgot to mention that Saffie has
started walking during the past two weeks.
Here she is walking, not walking, walking.

The standard by which all messy garages should be measured.
I've seen it with the door completely open
and it's solid front to back, floor to ceiling.

I guess the garage is so full that
the stuff is spilling over to the porch.

Them Bodines Jammin' at LE

Now for a little scenery,
Hyde's Mill, circa 1850 just a few miles outside of Dodgeville.

Last but not least,
birthday girl JoAnne, circa 1949.

Heigh Ho, Heigh Ho . . .

In the course of my life I have come up with some really Great Ideas. Unfortunately most of them involved WORK. The first of these Great Ideas came in 1953 after high school graduation. I thought it would be a good idea to join the adult world, get a job and find fame and fortune. After over fifty years of WORK, (minus a few periods of goofing off) I had another good idea, retirement. This was truly a good idea because, I discovered, I was made for retirement. I was really good at it and probably did that better than anything I had tried previously. After a few years of retirement, not willing to leave well enough alone, I came up with a really Great Idea. Why not make a couple of extra bucks by working a few shifts at Lands' End during "peak" (Christmas Rush). I applied for a job doing gift boxing. How hard could that be? How exciting, it was like being a North Pole Elf. Imagine boxing a scarf for Aunt Edna down in Alabama, a bra and panty set for cousin Norman in San Francisco, matching hooded parkas for the twins in San Diego or a monogrammed towel set for Uncle Marvin in a minimum security institution somewhere in upstate New York. What joy I would bring to so many people around the world. But at what price? It only took one shift (about 67 hours long) to realize how hard it could be for someone so suited for retirement. I requested my sentence be reduced to an every other day situation. I served my term and received my paycheck which just about covered the cost of a couple of pies needed for recovery from the ordeal. I suggested to JoAnne that if I ever mentioned working "peak" again she should contact the nearest vet and have him perform a similar procedure as one used to turn a bull into a steer (or is it a capon?) I had managed to avoid Great Ideas for a couple of years until the next one emerged. Why not work at The Lands' End Warehouse Sale? In short, this experience was no better than the gift boxing one except it involved standing outside in a tent for eight hours on hot asphalt in 237 degree heat. Nuff said! Fast forward to Spring 2009. It was sign up time for The Warehouse Sale. Time for another Great Idea. I've been trying to save up for a new computing machine for a while so maybe working as a Greeter at The Sale wouldn't be too bad. I'd get to engage in endless People Watching and use all those clever little antidotes that I amuse myself with in my retirement while passing out shopping bags to a captive audience of bargain hunters from the world over. This will be great, I can wave, and smile, and hop from foot to foot waiting for a potty break, I can tease little kids, I can see old acquaintances and exfellow workers who were there to buy the stuff that they've been trying to sell for the past year. I passed on pricing information to discount crazed customers as well as giving (sometimes correct) travel directions to disoriented shoppers. Actually the 5 day experience wasn't real bad. My main co-greeters were pretty cool. One a retired schoolteacher with the kind of work ethics that prompted Gary Commer to bring Lands' End to Southwest Wisconsin. I guess the years of teaching forced her to develop a good sense of humor. She was tall, lean and stern looking (let's call her Tallie). On my other side stood a short, slightly rounded jolly soul, a little ditzy but a fun person (Shortie). She laughed a a lot of my lame jokes. Things started out pretty good. We could stand, we could sit, there were lots of people to greet and chat with, we even had a water cooler right next to us. Then the unexpected! Our main job was to pass out large white garbage bags to customers as they entered the pavilion full of bargains. We had boxes and boxes and boxes and boxes of nice new bags. But, when shoppers had shopped, paid up and exited the pavilion, they left their used bags with the cashiers who, in turn, bunched them up and brought the back to the greeters who were to recycle them by sorting out dirty and torn ones and repassing out the hole free ones to arriving customers. At last, the crappy part of the job had reared its rear. Tallie took it in stride, Shortie texted and twittered for outside encouragement and I tried to do more passing out and kibitzing than recycling. But the long run all three of us pitched in and got the job done. During the course of The Sale, special reductions would be announced. After the announcement that women's trousers were being reduced fifty percent, I spent a good part of an afternoon looking for women with their half off pants. I finally wised up after Tallie set me straight during a half off bra special. At one point I almost convinced Shortie that a woman in shorts had bought them at the "top half off special". All in all this may have been the best of my recent Great Ideas. Although I'm still not sure whether it may become an annual Great Idea.

Not having anywhere to keep my camera

I had to rely on my friend Google
to bring you a pic of The Sale.

Tallie, Shortie and Ron post sale.