A picnic at the River

When I woke up on Sunday morning I wanted to do something fun. I usually feel that way on Sundays. When spent most of Saturday cleaning so we deserved something fun to do. I really wanted to drive over to the Mississippi since it was such a beautiful day. I didn't figure Kurt would be too interested though because he's told me he's not a picnic person.
I called my parents for some reason and discovered they were going to do exactly that! I invited us along so we got to picnic on the river!
Our picnics are different from when I was a kid. We stopped and got Subway rather than make sandwiches or haul along stuff to grill. We had our staple of cold pork and beans (yum!) as well as potato chips, macaroni and 3 bean salad and some grapes. We drove over to Guttenburg. We picnicked by the cannon (our usual spot). We didn't see any barges but there were plenty of pleasure craft to see. A bald eagle was soaring overhead as we ate.



After lunch we headed north to Pike's Peak, McGregor and Prairie du Chien. Pike's Peak never changes but it's always gorgeous. The river seemed low. There was lots of visible sand and water hyacinths. Dad pointed out that the sand may have washed in with all the flooding we had this year. Kurt and I walked over to the Bear effigy mound. It wasn't mowed like the surrounding grass so it was much easier to see.




Lastly we headed across the river to Cabela's. I can't stand that place. Looking at dead animals sniffing each other's butts is not my thing. Kurt got some wool socks for shoveling snow this winter (which is a horrible thought).



Oddly, we were in Wisconsin and did not pick up any cheese curds.



It always seems like it takes forever to get home from the river. Naps were had on the way home (by Kurt) and then at home (by me).



I'm very glad I happened to call at the right time!

Obsessions

My latest obsessions are:

• Post Secret - I saw one of these books a few years ago. Then I came across the website. It's now my favorite part of Sunday! And I have a secret - I just need to find the right postcard.

• Postcards have always been an obsession. I was just lamenting to Rikki how much I miss getting fun mail. Now I have that chance again! When you register with Post Crossings it gives you id's and addresses to send people postcards. When one you sent is received and recorded, then your address is generated so someone can send you one. I'm so excited!!

• Computer Solitaire. I've never played it before. Now I am obsessed. I won 4 of the first 5 games I played! Kurt was dismayed. Evidently my beginner's luck is o v e r.

The Iowa State Fair

Everyone I know went to the State Fair. I wanted to go too! I saw the bank was going on Wednesday for $33. It seemed like a bargain to me, but everyone was laughing that it would be me and a bunch of blue-hairs. Plus, the flyer didn't specifically say it included fair admission. ****sidebar*** I have this happen to me all the time – I have conversations with people that say “pacifically” in place of “specifically”. ****

I asked Kurt if he was interested in going. He really wasn't so I considered my options. My parents were going to go so I checked with them. Well they were going to DSM on Monday and stay until Wednesday. Since Kurt was going to on a business trip Tuesday and Wednesday that wasn't a viable option. I called the Wonder Twin. He was already there. Dang. I called Rikki. She, Amy and Amy's parents were going on Thursday. I could go by myself, but that didn't sound like much fun. When Kurt got home from work I said to him, “I really really really want to go to the State Fair”. He snapped at me, “Well then go!”

Drama!

Rikki ended up offering to go with me. She said she was fine with going twice. Since the kids are irresponsible and didn't take Francis out once when I had my root canal and was gone for 11 hours, I kenneled him.

Tuesday, Rikki and I went to the fair. It rained almost all the way there. We parked at a high school and took a shuttle in for $2 bucks. As we got off the bus, it quit raining. Some people that were sitting in front of us and eavesdropping on our inane conversation gave us an extra ticket! It only cost us $5 each to get in. Sweet! More money for food! We quickly went through the 4-H building and then went in search of turkey legs and a pork chop on a stick.

Marn called to see where we were. They had spent an hour on University attempting to get to the parking lot. I told her we were in front of the round horse barn getting our food. She said she was there, too! I looked around and she was probably 50 yards away. I was gnawing on my turkey leg and Rikki was chomping on her pork chop on a stick. Marn said, “how long have you to been here?” We said, “maybe 15 minutes.” We came to eat after all!

She, Ryan and Todd were having a funnel cake. Ryan was telling us a story and explaining how he smelled a witch in their bathroom the day before. He said something else hilarious. He was real chatty and then wanted out of the stroller so he could stomp in puddles. We went through the discovery garden with them. Marn is a master gardener and does her volunteer hours in one of the beds there. Ryan was running through the flower tunnels and stomping in more puddles. He gave me a hug and a kiss as he flew by on his way to another run through the tunnel. Rikki and I continued on our journey.

We saw the butter cow and the butter Shawn Johnson. I agree with Jen – thunder thighs! Plus, I think the butter Shawn Johnson may be taller than the real one!

I got a free boiled egg on a stick. We went through the Cultural Center and looked at the photography and art. There was some very cool stuff and some very weird stuff. Such as a taxidermied beaver coming out of a television. Huh? We had some root beer (not as good as I would have liked) and what is possibly my new favorite fair food. It was in bar form. It was a hunk of peppermint ice cream with and Oreo bottom and a fudge topping. It was FAN TAS TIC!! We consumed it so quick we didn't even get a decent picture. At $4.50 it was a bargain!

We had our handwriting analyzed for our personalities, watched outhouse races, had some free Iowa samples (cheese, beef sticks, popcorn and seasonings, chocolate), looked at the crazy people paying $25 to get flung into the sky via a slingshot/ejector seat, walked through the horse barn and then got our last fair food. Rikki got some cheese curds and I got a gater tater. Which is a potato cut into a continuous ribbon and fried. Then smothered with some cheese. We barely ate any of either one. We waddled back to the bus and headed north

Rikki is such a good friend to go twice in one week. I couldn't do it!

Headed to Paradise

Boracay is located off the island of Panay. In order to get there we had to fly from Manila to Kalibo in the Aklan province (where my family doctor is from) then take the bus to Caticlan. Then take a boat to the island and then a shuttle to the resort. It was an hour flight to Kalibo
We were staying at the Boracay Regency. It's one of the top two resorts on the island (the cheaper of the top two that is:). The flight was short. We went on Cebu Pacific Airlines. Kurt says it was on an Airbus. All I know is it was spacious, clean, and new looking. The flight attendants even had a little game show for us before we landed.

Landing in Kalibo was quite the experience. I could see rice paddies and river beds as we were coming in to land. It must have been low tide. I could see water buffalo and people working in the paddies. This is the kind of airport where they could be flight delays due to goats (or children) on the runway.

We had to walk off the plane onto the tarmac. We found the guy holding a sign with our name then we were immediately accosted by a porter who went off to find our luggage. A guy slapped a sticker on us. The sticker was to let the people know where it was we were to go. I felt pretty disoriented.




The bus ride to Caticlan was about 1.5 hours. We went through the fields and then up and down over two sets of mountains. Then we drove along the coast for while.
They made us get off the bus, get our luggage out of the hold, and then get back on the bus. All other passengers except for three got off the bus and stayed off. We were driven another quarter of a mile then told to get off the bus. More porters.

We were led down to the waterfront and escorted onto what I would call a dilapidated boat. It was a short ride over to Boracay. Then we were again accosted by porters and shoved into a van. It was hard to believe that we were in one of the world's top resort areas. After 5 or 10 minutes of dirt roads, chickens, goats and dirty children we turned off the main road onto another dirt road with a tree in the middle of it. Kurt looked at me incredulously, “tell me this isn't where we're staying!” I replied that I thought it was further ahead. I was feeling a little anxious at this point.

We pulled up to a nondescript entrance. Then we walked through the double doors into a beautiful lobby that open onto a gorgeous pool area.

We quickly got checked into a great room with a balcony overlooking another pool and with a view of the beach. The bed was soft. In order for the room to have electricity we had to put the key card in a little holder by the door. It had a chip in it that activated the power. Except for the fact that it meant the A/C went off when we left the room it was pretty cool.

We decided to walk around and find some food. Our package included the room, the transfers and breakfast and dinner, but no lunch. We walked out to the famous White Beach. It was gorgeous. The sand was soft and velvety. The water was aqua blue green and very clear. The beach was immaculate. People were sunbathing, para sailing, kite surfing. The was no pollution. Definitely paradise.

We ate at an outdoor place. Initially Kurt ordered Bangus, but then said “no” and ordered the shrimp. I ordered grilled squid. When it arrived we got all three. They must have thought what big fat piggy Americans we were. Good thing we got the bangus, I didn't like the squid. It had some horrible red sauce on it. Bangus is a fish. It was a flat fish. It tasted like steak. It was fantastic! I've been told it's a type of grouper.

After lunch we changed into our suits and hit the beach. I spent a lot of time in the water and poor Kurt tried to nap. He hadn't had a chance since we had to leave for the airport as soon as he got off work. Plus he had been fighting a cold/sinus infection for a few days.

We spent the rest of the day relaxing. Then we had dinner at the hotel's buffet. There were a lot of choices but neither of us ate much. A storm was blowing in during dinner. After we ate we went back to the room and called it an early night

Coconut Palace

Wednesday was spent trying to get the money delivered for Boracay. The travel agent had emailed Kurt asking if we were going to pay for the trip (when we thought we'd missed the deadline). I ended up Western Unioning it. It was an ordeal, of course. Filling out the paperwork, getting fingerprinted, trying to convince the Filipinos that I didn't need to sit just because I was American.

I finally managed to get the trip paid for. Kurt went to work. I shopped for souvenirs. It was next to impossible to find T-shirts or postcards. I did buy myself some Versace “Bright Crystal” perfume at a huge discount.

Thursday morning when Kurt got home from work we went for breakfast at the sardine place. No sardines were had this time! As we were eating Kurt decided he felt up to tackling a visit of something. We grabbed a taxi and headed to the Coconut Palace. We decided it wasn't worth going back to the room for the camera or the guidle book so we didn't have a specific address. Always a bad idea. The cabbie had no clue. I knew it was somewhere around the corner from where we boarded the ferry to Corregidor. We finally got there. It looked deserted. Then we spotted a little guard house with a little guard. He said they were open and sent us up the drive.

The Palace was built by Imelda Marcos for Pope John Paul's 1st visit to the Philippines in 1981. She wanted to impress him with the handicrafts of the country. She spent millions and millions of dollars. Needless to say the Pope was not impressed. He told her the money should have been spent on her people and then he went and stayed at the Papal Nunciature.

The Palace is constructed of natural materials like shells, coconut, and native hardwoods. Many of the rooms also featured textiles from various regions.

The Palace was very dark. There was us and a Chinese student who was backpacking on the tour. The guide only knew the scripted information and couldn't really answer any questions we asked her. One of the bedrooms was yellow and had a massive inlaid shell headboard for the bed. She was very proud of the fact that Brooke Shields had slept in it when she cut the ribbon at the grand opening. When I asked why Brooke, she had no idea what I meant. Was Brooke the secret crush of Ferdinand? Is she a huge star in Manila? I mean what's the deal? (Later discussions with family have determined that perhaps it was because of the Blue Lagoon movie – which they believe was filmed in the country. I have yet to confirm it. I may never know the answer to the Brooke Shields question).

The palace is built on the bay for the cooling breezes and the amazing sunsets. We noticed that Imelda and Ferdinand's bedrooms were at opposite ends of the building. Seven was Mr. Marcos' favorite number so the palace had seven of a many things. Another “Highlight” of the tour was a huge table of inlaid coconut shell. The dark is from old nuts, the light from newer nuts. The guide was very proud that it had been all inlaid by children – because of their small fingers. Kurt and I were thinking of forced child labor!

Despite the deserted area the palace was in we did manage to find a taxi back to the hotel. It was hot so we showered and Kurt went to sleep.

Then the next bit of drama occurred. The TA said he was going to send our tickets via courier, but that ended up not being possible. He asked of I could print them out. I know Kurt had said there was no printer at work. He wondered if he could fax the information. I had to wake Kurt up to ask him. Then I had to check to see if the hotel had fax access. No. I went back up to the room and sent another email. I went back downstairs to see if the hotel had a printer we could utilize. They did if we could save the information onto a memory stick. So I had to wake Kurt up to see if we had a memory stick. We did. I saved the files and took them back downstairs. I waited and waited. The girl came back and said the files were corrupted. Back upstairs I went and woke Kurt up again. Heather's getting frustrated! Kurt said to check to see if the hotel had an email where I could forward the information.

The clerk was getting frustrated, too. She gave me her personal email. It took another hour but we finally managed to get everything printed. Our trip to Boracay was actually a go!

We had dinner at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel's cafe. I had eaten there the night before. It was quiet and the food was great. Kurt had Russian Black Cod with gnocchi and I had Singapore fried noodles. We had a seat next to the window overlooking the street and the Araneta Center. The skies opened and it poured. It was quite a show with the thunder and the lightning. After dinner Kurt went to work and I went back to the hotel to pack. I packed for our trip to Boracay as well as for my trip home. We'd get back from the island late on Sunday night and I had to leave for the airport by 630 am on Monday. It was gonna be a busy few days.

SOOOO Annoyed!

I want to be watching the Olympics. Instead I am stuck in the dining room supervising the hormonal, lying teenagers. I can't even begin to describe the day I have had. Kurt is in Louisville (well he's on the way home now). He had to parent over the phone, which is always a treat. Especially when one of the kids isn't ours. (Praise God to whom all blessings flow).

The sheer stupidity of 13 and 15 year olds amazes me. Some serious smack needs to laid down around here. There's going to banishment at least until September.

Mandatory sterilization is looking better and better.

A Correction

Evidently, I've never been stung by a bee. My sister says it was her. I'm going to double check with my mother.

Not since I was a child

have I been stung by a bee. That ended today. A gigantic bumble bee got me on the thigh while I was transplanting my hydrangea at my grandpa's. Luckily, Rikki and I had a cold can of beer to use to reduce the swelling.

I remember when I was a little kid like 5 or 6, I got stung on the outside corner of my right eye. I remember sitting on the counter in our green kitchen in Knoxville with meat on my eye.

I can't think of any other time I've been stung.

Another Funny Kid

While we were in MN some of my sister-in-laws' family were there, too. There's always lots going on at their house. Her fifteen year old nephew was staying for a few days. He had been a pretty quiet and reserved kid since we had arrived.

We were watching the women's beach volleyball competition on the Olympics. My mother-in-law was commenting on how ugly and inappropriate their outfits were. They were quite skimpy. After much discussion from all sides the kid says, "I don't see a problem." Hilarious!

Funny Kid

We spent the weekend in Rochester at my brother and sister-in-laws' house. My other brother and sister-in-law and their kids were there from Texas as well as my mother and father-in-law.

Getting everyone together is always fun. There's movies, swimming, napping and endless discussing.

My nephew Ethan is 5 (I think). In my defense, he hasn't been my nephew that long! Anyway we took Francis with us. Ethan is possibly the loudest kid I have ever met. Francis was trying to play with him and looking up at him. Ethan goes, "Why is your dog smiling at me?" He also wanted to know if he was fully trained. I said yes thinking he meant potty trained. Later on Francis was barking and being naughty and Ethan wasn't obeying either. He looks at me accusingly, "I thought you said he was fully trained!" I replied, "Well, he's fully potty trained but sometimes he won't listen. Are you fully trained?" He got a sheepish smile and said, "not always."

It was a bad Day

Tuesday the 22nd was probably our least pleasant day in Manila. Kurt was tired and I think we both were hungry. There was lots of stress and crying.

We had breakfast at the hotel when Kurt got back from work. He had wild boar and I had tocino which is a national dish. It is pork belly that is very pink - like those chicken sticks you get at Chinese buffets. Both came with garlic rice and an egg.

I shopped at the Galaxy Mall and at Shopwise (which is the Wal-Mart of the Philippines). I tried unsuccessfully to buy stamps somewhere. Everyone had a different idea as to where that would be. After being incorrectly directed to 5 or 6 places I began to doubt that the Philippines had a national postal service.

I wanted to go to Boracay the following weekend. I thought Kurt had agreed with me. One of the girls at work had a friend/relative that was a travel agent and could get us a deal. We would need to go on Friday Saturday Sunday in order for me to make it back so I could fly home on Monday, but that would mean Kurt would need to take Friday off. He would actually be working until Saturday morning (which would be until Friday night Iowa time). Therein lay our problem. He works too hard. I thought they wouldn't begrudge him a day off since he'd worked more than a week straight with barely any sleep since the flood.

The next stress point came when we couldn't pay for the package with credit card. We'd have to do cash but the travel agency was 2 hours away! I withdrew 30,000 php and tried to Western Union the money, but I didn't have enough information to do that (after I walked back there in the heat, pollution, and traffic). By now it was after 3 pm and we were told the tickets wouldn't be held beyond that. Now I was trapped in the Philippines with no chance of going to one of the top beaches in the world and more money than I could spend with no way of redepositing it.
We called 911 (the number for Pizza Hut) and had dinner.




Hopefully Wednesday would be better

Manila American Cemetery

We got up early again so we could go to mass. Kurt (as a recovering Catholic) wanted to go to mass in one of the old churches in manila. There are many baroque ones from the time of Spanish conquest in the 1500's. We decided to go to San Beda which is a chapel within a college. Of course it was almost all the way downtown again. Traffic was god-awful. It took us over an hour to get there. The guide book said there was mass daily from 530 am to 8 am. There wasn’t. We sat for half an hour or so just taking it in. It was heavily frescoed. There were 24 life size (human life size) angel statues holding elaborate electric candelabra all around the top of the nave and the altar. Above each archway was a painted station of the cross. A lady was praying them. The Filipinos seem very devout. The chapel was in the baroque style. After leaving the chapel we had breakfast at McDonalds. We were super hungry and it was the only thing around. It was just like America except you leave your things on the table. There are people hired to clean it up.



Our next destination was the Manila American Memorial Cemetery (from WWII). The book said it opened at 630 am. LIE! It opens at 9 am. We had to hang around outside for a while to get in. Our main reason for visiting was to locate and photograph the grave of a man who worked for my family as a hired man in the 1940's. He was killed in New Guinea but by a tree branch accident instead of in battle. His only sister is in her 90's and still alive. My great aunt and uncle thought she’d really appreciate someone going to visit and photographing the grave. The cemetery is immaculate. It is mowed daily (by John Deere’s thank you very much!). I had located his grave on the net ahead of time. We stopped in the visitors center to find out where it was within the complex. They asked if we were family. I explained the situation. They gave me a packet of information that is only given to "bona fide next of kin" to give to his sister. It was neat including order forms for flowers and aerial photographs. A pregnant little filipia drove us to the site in a golf car. She took a couple of buckets with her to clean off the stone. The second bucket had graphite or something similar in it. She rubbed that into the letter on the stone so it would stand out. We took quite a few pictures then walked to the main memorial which consists of a tower and two semi circle structures radiating from it. The structures contain mosaic maps of the Pacific battles, seals of each state, and names of the dead and missing. All of the grass at the site was propagated from two hunks of sod from the USA. The cemetery is part of Fort Bonaficio. This is the prosperous part of Manila. Opposite the cemetery are glass hi-rises where the rich and expats live. Imelda Marcos lives in one of them. It was getting hot and we were getting tired so we flagged down another taxi. We decided to go to the biggest mall in Asia to look around and have lunch. We got dropped off at the wrong place. I’ve never ridden with such clueless cabbies.

We ended up having lunch at a Cajun place. One of their specials was an Iowa chop! That pretty much decided where we were eating. Kurt had that and I had a roasted lobster. He got the better meal. Afterward we headed back to the Regalia for sleep. It was a nap for me and a "night’s" sleep for Kurt since he had to go back to work that evening.

While Kurt was at work I was online and my laptop got hacked and I got the blue screen of death.

Farmers Market

at Manila Bay

Videoake

Dampa

Shrimp on the right, calamisa and peppers in the back, shrimp paste, mango, tomato and onion on the right.

This is a lapu-lapu fish. You can sort of see his teeth on the left. I think it's a type of grouper.

Manila clams with cheese and garlic. YUM!! The shells are black with a little iridescent green on the edges.

Yes, that is a fish head in my soup. And what i thought was a green bean. Turns out it was.....

an adult one of these chilis! The calamansi are like a really tart lime.

Intramuros

Manila Cathedral

St. Augustin - It's an UNESCO world heritage site

Notice the influence of two different cultures - also at St. Augustin

One of the doors on the church

In the calisa - getting the horse to quit moving and the beggers to quit begging was quite the feat

Corrigedor in Color

There a many ruins like this on the island. This is part of the barracks.

A few of the guns remain. The springs on this thing are huge! I think this had a 12 mile range.

Ironically, all of the installations on the island were built by the Japanese during/after the Spanish-American war which is when the US acquired the Philippines.

A view from the light house looking over the bay toward another of the 4 or 5 fortified islands.

Before we started melting.

Unbelieveably, I'm Back

I made it back from Manila (barely). I was the last person on the plane in Shanghai and I was the last person on the plane in Chicago.

I knew it was going to be a bad 24 hours when I checked in at Manila and they said "You only have 1 hr 10 min in Shanghai? It takes at least 2 -3 hours to get through there." They tried to get me to reschedule (no, I am going home! My doggie needs me! Plus I can't face another death defying taxi ride). They asked with whom I booked. When I said expedia they replied, "don't use them they are terrible." Hello! Done deal!

The people at Philippines airline were very nice. They priority seated me so I could disembark quickly (row 5C) and priority stickered my bags which have to be retrieved in China. Once I arrived in China, I picked up my bags, cleared customs and tried to figure out where I needed to go. Turns out it was out the exit then to Terminal 1. I was hauling a**. It was 90+ in the airport (which is modern, new and huge). I walked/ran for probably 20 min. They I had to go thru security. It was ridiculous. I mean I'm glad they are through, but come on. My carry-on went through the machine 4x. They took everything out and check all of it. Sent the empty bag through. Loaded the bag back up and sent it through again. Repeat. And repeat. I had to throw out my appropriately bagged and sized hand sanitizer. Turns out it was a barrette causing the problem. It was in with my granola bars. Then they found another barrette that was in somewhere else. I had no idea what was in there. I've been gone 13 days. I was just throwing and stuffing things into my bags. I still had to clear the machine, too. Then attempt to put my shoes back on. Grab my 3 bags, my passport pouch and my sweatshirt. Check my bags and make it to my gate. I got waived through the last two check-type points. I had to run down an escalator and a hallway as well as the longest jet bridge ever. They closed the door on the plane as soon as I entered.

I had a decent seat though. I was on the aisle and the 2 seats next to me were empty. I was watching Flawless some movie with Demi Moore and Michael Caine. It was good. Of course, the customs/landing video came on during the last 10 min of the movie so I don't know how it ended.

The plane was a 777 so we had our own video screens where we could select movies, audio, tv shows or play games. I watched Monk and the office for the first time ever. They are both pretty funny. I also played concentration and solitaire (which i don't know how to play evidently).

When we arrived in Chicago at 4:20 pm on Monday (I left Shanghai at 4:10 pm on Monday). I had to clear immigration. There were 10 rows of the snake through back and forth kind to traverse. I got through that at 5:10. Then I had to get my luggage and clear customs. I was still waiting for my bags at 5:30. I was waiting in the customs line at 5:40 which was the boarding time for my last flight. Once you get thru customs in terminal M you have to take a train to Terminal G (you get off the train at K). Then because you live in podunk you have to go all the way to the end of G for your gate. I was walking/sprinting gasping for breath with unbuckled shoes trying to make my plane. I could almost see Gate 21 when i heard the final boarding call. They were starting to close the gate door when they heard/saw me coming (fat chick panting and sweating, looking desperate). If I hadn't made that flight I would have burst into tears. I was hot, smelly, exhausted, starving, thirsty and needing to go potty. I can't believe they waited for me.

It was a short 38 min flight home. Iowa is so pretty with the green patchwork fields. I see the corn is starting to tassle. My mom was there to get me. My bags appeared. All is well.

I got home, did some laundry, took a shower and collapsed on my comfy pillowtop mattress. Kurt has the same flights I did. He comes home on Wednesday. He's sick though. He has a virus, a sinus infection, or general crud. He was able to get some Mucinex like stuff at one of the pharmacies and says he's feeling somewhat better. I hope he can make it home.

I need to pick up our mail, buy some food, and go liberate my puppy. I hope he doesn't hate me.

Corregidor Island

After only 4 hours sleep we got up to catch a taxi to the CCCP Complex to get the ferry to Corregidor Island. We totally got taken by the driver. He charged us 500 pesos each. It should have been more like 200 total (we later found out). I’d called the day before to reserve us spots on the ferry. Of course, they had no record of us.

The Philippines is all about bureaucracy. We had to fill out a form. Present i.d. Then wait. And wait. And wait. Kurt went to the window and asked a couple of times. We were told to wait until they called our names. Finally we heard “Kurt Ann H-----“. More paperwork followed then we got our stickers with our seat assignments. I’m so glad we got the 2 hours early. Ugh. We had great seats. We were on the lower deck in the front row so we had space to stretch out as well as a great view out the windows. Corregidor is 30 miles out in Manila Bay. The ferry was a catamaran so it was a very smooth ride. The AC in the boat worked very well. I was chilly. I had to put on my sweatshirt (I wasn’t sure if the ferry was open or enclosed). It was AWESOME!

On the way out there were natives fishing in canoes with little huts on them. Bataan Peninsula is very close to Corregidor. I had no idea it was so close. There were a total of 4 reinforced islands in the Bay during the war. Ironically, the Japanese built a lot of the reinforcements after the Spanish American war.

We toured the island by trolley. Our Filipino guide was an older gentleman. He was very well informed and has had the job for 14 years. The ruins of the barracks and other buildings are very impressive. There a shells of 3 story concrete structures. There was a giant staircase hanging almost vertical held in place by a single rod of rebar.

The biggest gun on the island had a range of 17 miles. The springs on these guns were huge! After the war the US reforested the island. It wasn’t as “jungle-y” as I expected. The guide assured us there were cobras and pythons in the brush. Many of the trees were labeled. There were mango, tamarind and other tropical fruits. I saw a bright yellow bird fly past. Kurt said he saw a blue one.

There is lighthouse on the topside of the island. The view from it was great. I was skeptical about climbing it (given my natural athletic ability and all) especially since two sets of the stairs were metal and steep enough that they had to be descending backward!

Lunch was included in our ticket price. It was a buffet at the Corregidor Inn. One can spend the night on the island if they wish. As the guide said every day the meal is different. One day is “pork and chicken next day is chicken and pork!”

We got a complimentary juice with our meal. It was a glass of “panadin” juice. It’s some kind of pine or pineapple juice. It was very light and refreshing. It was pink on the bottom and green on the top.

After lunch we were exhausted. We still had to visit the tail. Corregidor is tadpole shaped. The tail contains a recently discovered mass Japanese grave that is now the Japanese Peace Garden as well as the Filipino Heroes Memorial. No one was much interested in getting off the trolley at this point.

Before lunch we walked through the Malita Tunnel. The light and sound show was extra. I thought it was at night so we hadn’t purchased it. We decided to do it though. It consisted of narration, video, and tableaus in the side tunnels.

The only damage inside the tunnel was done when the US retook the island and poured in gasoline to try and force the Japanese out. The ensuing fires and explosions caused the damage. At one point a portion of the tunnel served as a hospital for over 1,000 wounded. Corregidor held out for 5 ½ months before surrendering. I can’t imagine living in the dark and damp for that long.

On the ride back to Manila almost everyone was asleep. As we approached the city, clouds were moving in. It was very pretty with the hi-rises set against the darkening sky. Once we landed we got a Starbucks (I think there are more here than at home) and walked along the quay. It is soooo smelly and polluted. Floating rubbish, shoes, plastic, bottles and all kinds of trash. I know the rivers in Manila have raw sewage in them so I’d assume the Bay does as well. People were squatting along the wall and fishing. I can’t imagine anything they caught was safe to eat. We got ripped off by the cabdriver that took us home as well, but we didn’t care. We were hot, hungry, and tired. We need to insist that they start the meter or we need to get into a different taxi. It’s just that even getting ripped off doesn’t cost us that much in American money. We ended up ordering Pizza Hut delivery for dinner. The number is 911-11-11. It was tiny but decent and cheap!

Saturday Night was made for....Singing?

We went to the pool in the afternoon. It's indoors but is open air. It is deep and very cool. I thought it was great! All of the sudden we could hear something. The sky opened up and it poured and poured! Rain was gushing off the rooftops. Lots of the roofs here are made of corregated tin so it was quite the racket. We got out of the pool and looked out through the grill work on the patio area. I could see a mother and little kid showering in the run off. They had soap and shampoo. It was very sad. So many here are so very very poor.

In the evening we went out with 18 work people. 17 Filipinos and 1 American who is here on a 2 yr assignment. The Company has a shuttle so we took that way across town (in a direction we hadn’t been) to a Dampa restaurant. For Dampa you select your meats and fish at an open air market (less icky that the other one it looked anyway) and then the restaurant prepares it for you.

We were supposed to meet at 7 pm. We finally got left around 830. We met some of the people at the restaurant/market. Once the sun goes down it’s not so bad here. It was in the 70’s with humidity about the same level. Wilfred, a guy from the other center, did all the ordering for everyone. We had a good selection of Pinoy food.

Adobo is a national way of cooking. We had pork & chicken adobo, a fish soup (with the carcass in it) flavored with vinegar, a plate with chopped mango, onion, tomato, and shrimp paste (I think that’s to mix with the rice), a BBQed/grilled Lampa fish, fried squid, green mussels with a tiny bit of cheese and garlic, grilled pork chunks, and grilled vegetables. We had plates and plate of food. There was barely enough room for everything. We had lots of leftovers. They sack the leftovers in plastic bags and just tie a knot to close it. Even the soup went into a bag.

Speaking of the soup. It was clearish broth with fish heads and long green beans in it. I commented about the green beans several times. No one really said anything. Perhaps no one was listening to me. I took a big bite and since it was hard to bit through I shoved the whole thing in. Tears came to my eyes. I must have hit a hot pepper flake. I was gasping for breath. Turns out it was a CHILI!! I’ve never had such fire in my mouth before. It was horrendous (but oddly yummy). Everyone had a good laugh at my expense. Everything was extremely tasty. We had a terrific time.

After dinner was over it was off to the second half of the evening. Asians LOVE karaoke. Here they have videoake. While singing strange videos play in the back ground. Videos of people dancing, doing aerobics, boating etc.

We went to Dance 21 club. It’s a 3 story videoake bar with private rooms. We did a 3 hour package for 10 people (so we got 2 pkgs). Each package included 24 San Miguel Light beer, ½ a roasted chicken, pizza, French fries, nachos, and Filipino mixed nuts. The mix seems to be peanuts and dried peas with garlic powder. I couldn’t imagine we could eat any more. But we did! Everything but one of the chickens was gone. Kurt and I brought it home and had it for breakfast on Sunday.

Kurt LOVES to karaoke. Filipinos really go for the sappy love songs. They had very little hard, really rocking songs in the books. Kurt did his usual – Livin’ La Vida Loca. He also did quite a few others. Like a Virgin was a big hit! They were taking lots and lots of pictures of “the Big Boss”. It was a surprisingly good time – I was not looking forward to it at all. The San Miguels were going down very easily. I really understood that when I stood up for the first time!
We got back to the hotel around 2:30 a.m. We needed to be in a taxi to go to Corregidor by 6 a.m. It was a very short night

Filipino Fun

I've found something funnier/cheesier than Mexican soap operas. I don't think you can beat Asian ones. One channel appears to be the all samurai soap opera channel. They are hilarious. From the first second you're on the channel you can tell. The sumo wrestling is pretty entertaining, too.

I don't know that our opposite schedules are going to work out real well here. Tonight I'm awake and Kurt's only half way through his shift. It's too late at night for me to go out. Plus I'm hungry. I bought some pudding packs and pretzel's at the grocery. Maybe I'll have some of those. The restaurant here closes at 11 pm so I've missed that by 2 hours.

Kurt won't have to work again until Monday night here. We're going to try and go to Corregidor on Sunday (I think). I don't know how long we are going out with the work people this morning. Maybe we'll go to Intramuros which is the old city. Most of it was bombed into oblivion during WWII.


The Manila American Military Cemetery opens at 6:30 am so that's something we can do one morning when Kurt gets off from work before he goes to sleep.

We want to try and go to Borcay to the beach next weekend. We'd have to fly there. I've seen 2 night pkg for $300, but with his schedule we can really only go for 1 night. If I had scheduled my flight home a day later it would have worked out better. I hate it when I don't plan things out correctly.

Saturday morning I walked down to the center and waited for Kurt to get off work. A lady named Alice asked where I was going. When I said "here" we got into a big conversation about where I was from, why I was there, what the company does, and what are the qualifications to work there. Then I had another person stop and ask me how much they pay. The Filipinos are very friendly.

I had a yummy breakfast, but I'm not so sure Kurt was as thrilled with his. I had a giant pile of bacon, a fried egg, and some sweet/sesame rolls. Kurt got the Fisherman's Platter. It had 5 or 6 grilled sardines (heads and tails included, of course), garlic rice, and a thing of chopped tomatoes and hard boiled eggs. Well, I think they were hard boiled. The yolk was very dark, like brownish. I wouldn't have eaten it.

After breakfast we walked through the Farmer's market so Kurt could see it. It was teaming with people getting there food for the day. This was around 745 am. I should have taken more pictures. There were guys with cleavers just whacking the hell out of giant pieces of meat. Kurt looked a little queasy. The smell is something else.

We grabbed a cab to the Manila old town, Intramuros. Manila is really a city of contrasts there is abject poverty and raw sewage in the river, but then there might be a multimillion dollar hi-rise going up. Of course it's being built by hand. We saw two guys breaking up concrete. One had a hammer hitting the piece of rebar the other one was holding with a pliers.

Intramuros is the old walled city from the time of the Spanish in the 1500's. It was heavily bombed during the Battle of Manila. Many things have been rebuilt such as the Manila Cathedral. As soon as we got out of the taxi we were besieged by beggars, people selling rosaries, hats, and everything else. We took a ride on a calesa which is a horse drawn cart. I felt really bad for the horse hauling our fat asses around in this heat. The driver gave us a tour and I translated (what i could hear and understand) for Kurt. We both nodded a lot.

We also toured the St Augustin church. It is filled with ecclesiastical relics and art. it was fascinating. There were beautiful statues/figurines of the various virgins and saints. They were carved out of ivory with incredible detail. Often they had human hair and eye lashes. There were also large carved altars that had been saved. The site is a UNESCO world heritage list. I can't imagine how those relics are surviving in the humidity. In Sala de la Capitulacion (where the Governor-General signed the terms of surrender to the US in 1898) there were beautiful objects of gold and silver decorated with semi precious stones. There were two pieces which are the thing that the Host goes in for the perpetual adoration that were gold with aquamarine, amethyst, emerald and diamonds. They were spectacular.

Kurt and I were dying of the heat and humidity so we skipped the second floor. On the way out we were able to stop in the main church. It was being prepared for a wedding. The sanctuary was gorgeous with huge chandeliers of crystal, blue stones, and pearls. The ceiling and walls were all frescoed. Some of it was carved, but the majority of it was trompe l'oeil painted to look like carvings. Unfortunately photography wasn't allowed and I was too hot to sneak one sans flash.

We sucked down some cokes from a roadside stand, fought off some more beggars, and got a cab back to the hotel.

We had a delicious lunch in front of the heavy duty air conditioning unit in the LAB restaurant at the hotel. Kurt had pad thai while I had cream dory fillets in oyster sauce with stir fried bok choy and basil crisps. It was one awesome fish! It's was very firm and creamy. It tasted lemony. I am happy to report that I even was a bit chilly at lunch! Thank you, Jesus!

Tonite at 7 we are going out with a group of 30 or so from work. We going to a market where we pick out our raw meat and then other things to go with it - it's dambass (sp) style. After dinner we're going to a video karaoke bar that has been reserved for us. should be interesting!

I've Arrived!

I arrived in Manila Thursday night around 1030 pm (930 am on Thurs IA time).

The flight was long long long. the food was bad bad bad. Tokyo was very unorganized and security was lax. From Tokyo to Manila i rode in the upstairs of the plane! that was kinda cool. Except my bag got jammed in the overheard compartment and i had to stand on the seat and have two little Asian guys hanging on the compartment to unjam it. There was no car for me at the airport so i took a cab. The hotel was about 45min from the airport. I showered, snacked, and collapsed. Kurt got here ok too. (on Tuesday).

Manila is hot and dirty, but pretty American. Kurt got home from work at 5 am. we went of for breakfast and then walked around the area. We're going out with his "team" Saturday morning. We're not sure what that means.

While Kurt slept, since he is staying on IA time. I went out for a few hours. I slathered on the sunscreen and headed to the farmer's market. Manila really reminds me of Mexico City. The heat. the pollution. the smells.

The farmer's market is open air, but covered. There was plucked poultry and raw meats hanging around. None of it is refrigerated, but I didn't see any flies. I haven't seen any bugs. Although I have seen 3 Filipino pee-pees as they just whip them out and pee where ever. I told Kurt and I think he thought I'd been skulking around in back alleys, but it was just here on the MAJOR road where we are staying. Back at the market, I hadn't had lunch so between the smells and the heat I thought I was going to lose it. I went back to the perimeter and continued my way around. Then I got to the seafood area. All kinds of clams, mussels, crabs and fish lying out. Again, not on any ice. Some of the fish may have been on ice. The other two corners of the market contained flowers and produce.

I took some pictures but I didn't bring the cable to transfer my pictures to the computer.

I also went to one of the many shopping center/galleria areas. Very American/modern. Lots of stores like Lacoste, Body shop, Guess, Levi etc. I went to Rustan's which is a grocery store and got some pretzels, chips, sodas, and bottled water.

It was hot; I was tired so I took a cab back to the hotel. It's probably only 4 or 5 blocks but my bags were heavy. It cost 40 pesos (just less than a dollar). I only had 500 peso notes (approx $11) and US 20's. I had a $5 though so I asked if that was ok. At first he wasn't sure, but then he realized what it was and got a huge, but brief smile, "yeah it will work".

i came back and napped with Kurt for a few hours. He got up around 6:15 pm. We had a few hours before he needed to go to work so we went for supper. Sunset is around 630 here. We ate at "the Seafood Place". We had a "boodle" which i think means a pile of food. They brought it to us on a giant table sized tray covered in banana leaves. It had a pile of white rice with a tray with chunks of fish (tilapia maybe) in coconut vinegar with a salad of onion, and red pepper. It was very good. Around the edges of the rice was a crab, grilled squid and octopus, a grilled fish, a baked chicken (adobo chicken), and we think fried fish head/skin. We didn't eat any of that. All of it was very tasty.

We came through a mall on the way back. I got a hanky (to wipe off the sweat more gracefully, and Kurt got 2 short sleeve Polo brand polo shirts to wear to work instead of long sleeve dress shirts. That was only around $22, too.

Kurt's back at work. I'm blogging and watching some weird (do they come any other way) Stanley Kubrick movie on TCM. I think it's getting around bedtime for this bozo. Oh, wait, that's Bonzo, right?

He's Arrived

Kurt left for Manila yesterday at 9:20 am. He arrived there today at 9:10 am. There's a 13 hour time difference. I put a Manila clock over on the left of the blog. I just enabled layouts so now I might actually be able to put cool things on here! I do not understand or know anything about html code. I can't even paste it in correctly!

Japan Airlines had a cool Internet tracker thing so I could "see" where his plane was on its journey. He flew through Tokyo.

I'm just chilling. I watered plants. I'm trying to pay bills (now that we want them to arrive, they don't). I need to do some laundry and general clean up stuff. I'm also hauling what scrap stuff I can lift upstairs to the new room.

This afternoon I'm going to get the car serviced. Then Mom and I are going to a wake for my friend, Rick. He passed away on Sunday. He was only 39. He leaves behind 3 young children and his wife. Though we've mainly communicated via Christmas cards the last few years, we had a lot of fun times together. I photographed their wedding. He, too, was killed by cancer. It's ridiculous the amount of money being spent on this oil war when we could be trying to cure cancer!

Only 189 days of Bush left.

A Brand New Look

We finally got the bedroom painted. All we have left to do is to change the outlets from beige to white.

I hate painting. I SWEAR I am NEVER painting again. EVER.

Here we have BEFORE:




and now we have AFTER:



We painted over the wall paper and we painted the woodwork white. Our color scheme is Blue Beyond and Twinkle. We are very happy! Now Kurt will have an office and I'll have a scrap/genealogy/study room!

Madison

Saturday night Kurt and I made quick and dirty trip to Madison. We didn't get left until after 10pm so it was well after 1 am when we got to the hotel. An IT guy from Green Bay was meeting us outside of Madison so Kurt could give him one of the servers they need to move out of the flood building. Meeting us cut the trip in half so that was great. My good friend, Korrena, moved to Madison a couple of years ago. It's hard to justify many trips up there with the price of gas (also with both of our packed schedules). Sunday afternoon we went out to their house. It's on a dead-end road in the country. They have have a great, shady yard with views of trees and open pasture. They see lots of wildlife like deer and wild turkeys. She and Jacob have 2 kids (and a third on the way). Sam is 5 and Alytha is 3. We decided to spend the afternoon hanging out at the zoo. Madison has a decent sized zoo which is completely free. They go there a lot. Enough that the kids know what order the animal enclosures are in.


I got some cotton candy. It was HUGE. Kurt said the guy making it and the guy next to him were having a contest to see who could make the biggest cone. My guy won. (The picture of it is out of order at the bottom).

Miss Alytha loving the sugar that her momma doesn't normally let her have.

Sticky and Sweet!

March of the Penguins

Two chimps - which one is out of it's cage?

The is the funny looking Tapir. That is a scientific description courtesy of Sam.

I bought the kids some goat food.

Korrena, me, and the winning cotton candy.

Done!

I finally got done weeding at my Mom's. She's been completely tied up trying to get my grandpa's estate settled. Between that, the monsoons, tornadoes, and humidity she hasn't been able to get to it.

She asked if there was anything I wanted.

"Huh?"

"Is there anything that you want that I can afford?" My face must have lit up because she then qualified the question, "anything within reason?"

So I've been weeding for a new gas grill. I really think I've been at it for 3 weeks or so. I think I've gone over there 4 or 5 times. Earlier this week was way too humid. I pulled lots and lots of grass as well as some noxious vine with leaves that looked like morning glories.

We are going to trade some of my yellow Asiatic lillies for some of her pink ones. I also marked some hot pink hollyhock to take seeds from this fall.

Next week is going to be a big week. Kurt is leaving for Manila on Monday and then I'm following him on Wednesday. Before we leave we need to get the room upstairs finished. The ceiling still needs touched up and the woodwork needs a 2nd coat of paint.

Why does it seem that going on a trip always leads to the need for new clothes?

It's A Dog's Life

At least around here it is. Kurt made this comment this morning as Francis was sleeping between us with all 4 in the air. He likes to be comfy. Our new pillow top mattress under the new ceiling fan is just fine.

He is spoiled. Worse than Lewis ever was. However, Francis is cuddle dog/lap dog where Lewis was not. Francis has doggie steps so he can get up on the bed. He got a new rope toy today as well as a car harness. He's gonna hate the harness, but it's just not safe with him sitting on my lap while I drive the monster truck.

Mom and I had lunch at the Chinese buffet today. It was good. The cashew chicken was especially good. Then I went to town for groceries. I had a tiny, tiny list. There was no meat on the list. I bought 2 things that weren't on the list - propel for 2.87 and Ben and Jerry's for $3. The bill was still $100.86. I only had 3 tote bags of stuff and 1 cheap lamp in a box. It's ridiculous. The food we have around here is going to change. They can eat apples instead of applesauce and peanut butter instead of sandwich meat and cheese. I've figured out what we are having for supper for the next 2 weeks. I won't have to cook lunch since I'm the only one here. That should help keep costs down, too.

I declined to buy a gorgeous purple butterfly bush. It was on sale for $9.98. If I bought a tote of .95 I could get 30% off of everything could fit in the tote. I may have to go back.

Happy Birthday America!

We had a helluva a fireworks show here. My poor doggie is traumatized. The fireworks are shot off just a block away. When we got back in the house Kurt noticed one of our photographs had been knocked off the wall! The concussions were something else. Mom, Dad, and the Aunt came up to view with us.

We watched the parade this morning. It went on forever. (I hate parades). In years past Grandpa has always come to watch. So it was a little sad without him.

We went to the park and listened to the Community Band and then the Eastern Iowa Brass Band. They were really really good.

We painted all the woodwork this afternoon, then had supper and watched "A Capital Fourth".

Not too exciting around here.

Hostas!

I ordered some hostas online. I am addicted to hostas! They are on the Fed-Ex truck on their way to me as we speak (read)(write). I got them from direct source hostas. They are great because it's one shipping price no matter how much you order. I got Blue Umbrella, Great Expectations, and Pilgrim.

I invested my inheritance this morning. At least I can't spend it now. Whew!

I'm going to weed at my mom's house today. And finish mulching at Grandpa's. I got the woodwork washed in the room we are painting. The ceiling looks like crap and needs another coat. Plus there are some serious touch up (missed) spots on the walls. I'll do that when I get home.

I took a paid for practice test for the NHA last night. I passed two sections (and failed three). Yikes! Needs to be more studying, too.

It wasn't as bad as I thought

i freaking HATE to paint. When my friends paint I fetch their beers. Kurt and I started painting what was formerly Nick's room. The kids are gone til Aug 3 so now is the time to get things done! The room has hideous flowered and water stained wall paper. Plus the previous owner painted all the woodwork in the house a blah dingey beige.

We are painting the walls "blue beyond", the ceiling bright white, and the woodwork is going to be some bright white color of which i forget the name. It might be "snowflake." After the painting debacle of the boudoir of last year we bought better paint. I must say that Sherwin Williams paint is far superior to the cheapo walmart stuff. Kurt pointed out that everything everyone else makes if far superior to walmart products, but we live where we do so we shop at walmart a majority of time.

We got the walls all done as well as the ceiling. It only took us about 3-4 hours. It would have taken me weeks and weeks and weeks. We need to paint the woodwork, baseboard heaters, and windows (which is gonna stink) and touch up where Kurt got paint on the ceiling.

We need our handyman to show up, too. He needs to install the ceiling fan in that room and fix the ceiling in Nick's new room so we can get that room set up.

Fait Accompli!

It's 5:05 pm and we have gotten a lot done! We went to the Farmer's Market where we bought mini lemon poppyseed muffins for a buck, and some garlic jack goat cheese (YUM!!).

This morning after playing with the puppy I went up and started shoveling out Nick's room. The kids are gone til Aug 3. I've gotten it mostly cleaned up. I have all their bedding washed. As soon as I vacuum and flip the mattresses we can remake the beds.

Then we went to my grandpa's farm to plant some trees and perennials. We put in 2 Colorado spruce, a pink lilac, and a hydrangea. I also planted 8 - 10 different hostas for my aunt. We mulched til we ran out of it.

The pooper was having a great time tearing around off the leash. Well, we had his harness on with a leash attached so if we heard traffic coming on the road we could grab him. Only 2 vehicles went by while we were there and he was way too tired to give chase. The three of us walked the outside perimeter of the grove. There's a hackberry, 5 or 6 mulberries (which Kurt was loving!), a couple of hardwoods I can't identify, and some sort of fruit tree with a pit. I bit into it to find out. It was bitter!

Being out there and planting stuff felt great. Trying to decide where to put things. Our plan is to move out there in 5 years. I want plants and things to start being established so that we can enjoy them when we get there.

Once we got home we mulched here. We also planted a second lilac. I put in some bee balm the aunt bought me and I watered everything. We moved the porch furniture back since the painters are done and gone. Kurt put our mailbox back up and I made brownies. While the brownies cooled we went and vacuumed and washed the truck.

Now we are watching GHOSTBUSTERS. I remember seeing it in the theater in Dubuque when I was little. My shower will have to wait until it's over.

I can smell that it has started to rain. It's VERY windy and cool today. In the 70's is perfect!

Bargains Galore!!

my sister recently posted that she has an addiction. She is addicted to buying plants. Well, so am I! Hardly anyone is having decent sales on perennials, but Wal-Mart in Waterloo is! I - actually the aunt - bought a cartload of stuff. We got hostas for 2.96 ea; a 3' hydrangea for $2; and 2 pink lilacs for $2 ea also. She also bought some hibiscus that were very cheap. I went back yesterday and bought 2 Colorado blue spruce trees for 50% off. Kurt is very excited about all the gardening we get to do this week. I bought mulch earlier in the week that we need to get put down, too. Oh, and I ordered some hostas online, too!

The painter boys have been here since Tuesday scraping and painting Big Blue. She's the same color (although I think the cream is a shade darker). It will be nice to have that over with. The only home improvements we have left are installation of 3 more ceiling fans, replacing 2 sections of drywall and painting nick's room - soon to be the office and craft room. Unfortunately, Kurt and I are planning on doing that ourselves. Hopefully, that will go better than our boudoir did.

I took my "test" malaria pill on Monday. Next Monday I'll be able to start the typhoid pills. They have to be refrigerated. I hope they aren't too large. The malaria pill was difficult to swallow. I have to take gummi vitamins cuz of the pill size. I'm such a delicate flower!

The Boys

Rikki came over on Wednesday to keep me from going insane. She brought her 9 mo old terrier puppy, Stewie. He and Francis had a barkfest. They tore around the dining room table taking turns chasing and attacking each other. They were a little tired by the time I decided to video them.

I especially like at the end where they both look at me.

What I couldn't Be

Well I definitely couldn't be a military wife. I HATE Kurt being gone (and it's been less than a week)(and I went and saw him yesterday). I couldn't be a wife whose husband traveled all the time either. I can't imagine how couples can stand - or survive - such arrangements.



The kids are driving me crazy. The dog is driving me crazy. Having limited contact with Kurt is driving me crazy. I realize that the floods are not his fault, but that does not mean that I am understanding.



Saturday is my grandpa's estate auction. We're selling a bunch of stuff at it, too. All the s**t needs to be hauled out of the basement and pulled down out of the garage. In addition we have to load up all the boxes at my gpa's and then of course, unload them again at the auction site. UGH.



Kurt's been working 15 & 16 hour days. I should be glad that this husband works.


*** BTW it's the second anniversary of our church wedding. We celebrated by im-ming. And don't forget bickering. I miss him. (and it's not just because I'm trapped with the children)

****
Jon Stewart just said "I've been to Iowa. They are nice bleeping people." It's true. We are. We are very very soggy at the moment. When I went to Davenport yesterday I went through CR and Iowa City. Water was EVERYWHERE and it had gone down. I came home via US 61 and Dubuque ~ there was water EVERYWHERE there, too. The stench coming out of the park is horrendous. Mud, muck, dead fish. It's awesome.

Bush is coming tomorrow. woo hoo.

Father's Day Feast

We had a good brunch with way too much food of course. I made Sangria, dark chocolate dipped strawberries, quiche lorraine, grilled lemon pepper shrimp skewars, and oven baked french toast (that stuff is gooood). Mom brought ham balls and cherry/rhubarb pie. The aunt and Maria brought an cornbread/egg casserole, a chocolate ganache covered cake, a fruit mix of blueberries, black berries, and strawberries as well as a meat and cheese tray with crackers.

Kurt got home at 9:40 am and left at 12:20 pm. I just made him a hotel reservation thru Friday. His boss has decreed that the entire team needs to go to DAV, work 12 hours on/12 hours off and no one leaves until it's done. Their company alone is losing millions in lost revenue.

I'm so thankful we don't live in Cedar Rapids (or anywhere else tragically affected) and no one we know is underwater.

So it's the kids and me for the entire week. Feel free to send valium my way.

Hanging Art

My Grandma Arnold crocheted afghans and potholders. The potholders were made with a very tiny hook out of a thicker thread. I had 4 of the fancy ones framed. We paid a lot to have it done. I am NOT happy with it. Plus paying retail from framing makes me nuts since I know how much the frames cost an inch (since I had a studio). Sometimes I think I should have kept my tax permit for just that reason.

I also had 4 images from San Francisco enlarged. I'm not happy with one of them either. I think I ordered the wrong one. Also the color is off a few points. I wish I was able to print my own color. I was always good at that. However, I only shoot film once or twice a year so that's not really possible either.

We're trying to conserve water because of the flooding. It's one of those things you take for granted.

I'm hosting a father's Day brunch tomorrow. I have no idea if Kurt will be able to attend or if he'll still be in DAV. He did manage to get home last night, have a shower and get 8 hours sleep.

Currently, Cedar Rapids is predicting $735 million in damages. The river has crested, but rain is in the forecast and there have been intermittent storms, winds, hail and tornado warnings throughout the day.

Is the End Near?

Iowa seems to be the epicenter of disaster of late. First the horrible winter, then the Parkersburg EF5 tornado that affected multiple counties. Now the Boy Scout Camp tornado and the horrific flooding. We've been spared, but Cedar Rapids is doomed. Kurt's been gone since yesterday morning. There is 11+ feet of water in the building where his company's multi millions of dollars of servers and phone systems are. He and the other upper management pulled what they could before the generators blew and drove it to another center in Davenport. There are so many rumors concerning the flooding. National news people are here. We've been glued to the coverage on TV. We just got our Internet back because the Qwest building is surrounded by water on all sides and inside. I believe it's 55 of 99 counties are currently disaster areas. There will be more to come in the days ahead. 100 square blocks in Cedar Rapids are underwater. We watched furniture float of out a store and down 1st st, a houseboat hit a bridge, and a railroad bridge filled with 20 freight cars filled with rock collapse into the river like a house of cards. And it's just not Cedar Rapids. It's everywhere. It's farms miles from rivers. One channel showed cattle trapped on a deck of a house. They managed to bring them some hay and 48 hrs they are still alive. It's more than one can comprehend.

1st time shooting video

Anyone know how to rotate this?

And what's going on your Neighborhood?

Here's what's happening less 125' to the West of here. The bridge where I shot this is south 4 blocks. Our house was moved out of the flood zone after the Flood of '93. We're on a bit of a rise so we should be safe. Historically, the highest the water has been in to the middle of the street in front of us. The Wapsi is cresting at 18.8 feet, but up to 3" of rain is predicted north of here. Rain is also in the forecast for the foreseeable future.