Phrivilous Phobias

Everyone's afraid of something.

Some are practical fears, like fear of losing your job. Some we think of occasionally, like fear of losing a loved one either by heartbreak or death. Some seem downright whacky -- but I tell you this, the person with the phobia is darn serious.

Today on the radio they were talking about a survey in England where residents listed their top fears. I think spiders was No. 1 and flying was No. 4. What surprised the radio crew -- and me -- was that clowns, yes clowns, were No. 3. Ahead of flying.

I mean you can completely avoid clowns if you want. You won't die from a clown bite and certainly not 30,000 feet in the air, but clowns rank ahead of flying and right up there with arachnids. Weird. (Said the pot calling the kettle black.)

Yes, I have a few interesting phobias. I'm scared to death to ride a motorcycle after being in an accident as a teenager. I'm also cautious on my bicycle, too. Don't like making right turns. I just freak like I'm going to fall over. (Maybe I should be a race car driver like my nephew and do left turns only.)

I'm scared of heights (falling, mainly). That includes everything from state park observation towers to fourth-level stadium seats and bridges. Underwater tunnels, I could do without. On the two occasions I went through them -- a long-ass one under Chesapeake Bay and a short one under Mobile Bay -- I laid on the floor of the backseat and covered myself with a jacket until it was over. Don't like long bridges over water, either, and tense up when we drive under a railroad bridge when there's a train overhead. Ever notice how those concrete railroad bridges look a hundred years old? How long are they going to hold up that train? Yikes.

Today was fun. Not really. We had a major downpour on the drive home. By the time we got to Amherst, there was flooding under the railroad bridge. We saw the truck ahead of us get through it and hoped our little Civic wouldn't get bogged down and stall -- especially because there was a train whipping across overhead. I just gripped the door handle and prayed. We made it, of course, so it's probably an unreasonable fear. (But I won't admit it.)

I have one more fear that's pretty out there, but I think you'll agree on the freaky factor. Or just freak.

Can't handle those men with 3-inch long eye brows... waving in the wind...

Ooooh, I gotcha! Yes, I did mention it's car show time again. I will be entertaining you with the "side show" photo gallery in the days to come. I doubt I can top last year's Eye Brow Man, but I am willing to try. I'll be watching for his return, too.

I should be scared. But I'm not.

It's Not the Heat... But You Know That

Today's weather was a surprise. When I don't have a baseball game or stock car race to look forward to, I tend to ease off my obsession with the radar -- and forecasts in general.

I didn't realize today was going to be so hot and humid... and just sticky. I guess I couldn't have done anything about it anyway. I would have worn the same clothes and still grabbed a jacket on my way out the door in case the air was cranked at work.

But as it turned out, the air quit working at my place of employment. It was so humid, fans were running and carpet was starting to bubble up -- kind of like you'd see in an old basement. Only there you'd probably see a de-humidifier working overtime in some corner. Not so at work.

This week we are setting up for the huge annual car show that overtakes the village of Iola for 4 days. Everything is pretty much on our grounds at work, but we stake our territory in just a small part of that, selling books, magazine, digital products, etc. After schlepping a few boxes, then it felt cool coming back into the building!

But that didn't last long. The good news is that we all have permission to wear shorts the rest of the week. Daisy Dukes, anyone? No, better not. We need to keep them looking professional in a casual sort of way. Probably won't get away with wearing my Twins boxers, either. Dang. I like those!

Tonight Carter had baseball practice. Ugh. I had errands to run and wrapped up just in time to pick up my two soaking wet guys. Can you believe it's too icky and sticky to have ice cream? Sad.

Guess I'll settle for strawberry shortcake. I just didn't get enough fruit today...

When Mondays are Good...

No alarm on a Monday morning. Gotta love that! I slept hard and I slept good and I slept long. Nice.

Today was our Fourth of July "holiday" for work. After sleeping in, I did finally get my "Saturday chores" of sweeping, vacuuming, etc. done. So I'm a little behind. I was busy doing nothing the last few days!

Since the air was still on, I turned the oven on and made my Blueberry Oatmeal Crumble dessert. Only this was a special July 4th edition -- one half blueberry, the other half cherry, so when you add whipped cream, you get your red, white and blue. Yup, I better get back to work -- my creativity gets to dangerous levels when I have time on my hands!

The hard rains that started last night never really let up, until about noon. I had just changed into running clothes and was going to go on the treadmill. I saw it had stopped raining and I double-checked the radar. Looked like I had a break in store so I headed outside.

Boy, did I miscalculate that break! I was half a mile from home when the rain started coming down. I knew if I turned around, I'd still get plenty wet. So I figured what the heck, I might as well keep running. When it really started to pour, I just started laughing. What could I do at that point?! And other than squishy shoes, it felt kind of cool!

Needless to say, I was a drowned rat when I got home. But I found that a good run in the rain can be cleansing for the soul... and the shirt and shorts and shoes!

After showering and thoroughly drying off, we headed into town to the Jacksons' house for a holiday barbecue. Brought the dessert and some salads to add to their yummy food. The rain quit long enough to run the grill. The rest of the time, we stayed inside to visit and watch a little baseball on TV. We are starting to get excited about our vacation to Florida together at the end of this month. Can't wait!

In the meantime, we all have plenty of work to do. It's going to be tough getting up to an alarm in the morning. But I have to say it was a pretty darn good holiday/birthday/anniversary week! Thanks for all the good wishes. We'll have to do this again sometime...

Independence Day

It's weird having July Fourth fall on a Sunday. It just doesn't feel like a holiday. Just a typical Sunday... Jim and I got up and went to church. (Carter was still asleep). Grilled some burgers for lunch. And then it rained. I mean it poured!

When it let up and looked like it was going to be dry for awhile, I took advantage of my independence and went on a bike ride by myself. I had some good resistance today since the wind was blowing -- and stayed cool because the wind was blowing the rain off the trees. Nice. No wonder it didn't seem like 10 miles!

Unfortunately, the rain returned shortly after I got home and hasn't let up much since. This was good news for people like me (who wanted to read my Stephanie Plum book) and hubby (who could enjoy his Reds stomping the Cubs on TV and the John Wayne marathon). It was bad news for people like Carter who hoped to go to the fireworks tonight.

Apparently, they did shoot them off despite the rain. That doesn't sound too enjoyable to me. I'm glad we got to see some at the race track the other night. So we're good. Thought I'd share a few images so you can enjoy them in your nice, dry computer chair....

Happy Independence Day!!!

One More Thing to Celebrate

The Austin "power week" is drawing to a close. It started off with a parade on Sunday (purely coincidence), my birthday Monday, our anniversary Thursday and now hubby's birthday today. We've had fireworks at least 2 times and there could be more.

Today, as I mentioned, we had one more thing to celebrate -- Jim's birthday. Carter got him a Daisy Red Ryder BB Gun to get those damn squirrels eating our bird seed. I got him the book Sh*t My Dad Says, which should be pretty funny if it's like the same-named Twitter and Facebook accounts.

Despite the fact it was the "old man's" day, he still mowed some grass while Carter and I took a short bike ride. Later, Carter and I finally got to watch his Percy Jackson movie on DVD. It was pretty good. We both agreed the books are way better!

Did some grocery shopping in town this afternoon and got back in time for us to head up to Marshfield for another evening of racing. This was a big 80-lap feature for Colin's super late model car. Colin did win the heat race (his first, so that was cool) and then had a top-15 finish in the feature. We gave Jim's parents a ride up there and left after the feature. None of us cared much about staying for fireworks.

Frankly, it's way past my bedtime again and I am starting to feel it. I guess we're all getting old around here!

I think that's it for our celebrations this week. Of course, there's always the Fourth. I hear that's a good reason to party. And do fireworks!

Holiday Weekend

A few signs it's July Fourth weekend: A camper or boat is attached to every 3rd vehicle on the road, there are already "speed traps" aplenty, and the mercury is rising (along with the humidity, of course).

Today was a holiday at Kidz Camp, too. Since it was closed and hubby had a vacation day, I worked from home. Just to make sure I stayed focused, Jim took his sons golfing (well Casey and Carter at least) and I had quite the busy morning in the "office." There is more work I will just have to get done this weekend because I closed the "office" in the early afternoon so a friend could take me on a belated birthday lunch. Priorities, you know.

Had a good meal at Chili's over in Plover. Then got some errands run in town this afternoon. Heard it was going to be pretty hot and sticky tomorrow so we turned the air conditioning on before we left the house tonight to go to the races.

Our nephew Colin raced his Super Stock at Golden Sands. We love watching him race in that division (which he dominated last year and is leading in points this year at Sands). He ended up qualifying third, had to take a quick pit stop in the feature during a caution so that put him at the back of the pack. It was fun watching him work his way up towards the front. He ended up finishing 6th but he probably could have won it ... just needed a few more laps! He's still leading in points so that says something about his skill level in that division.

After races, they shot off fireworks at the track. Took some pictures of that but I am not messing with it this late at night. This is a holiday weekend so I can relax when I want to.

And I want to now.

Have a great weekend! Travel safely and stay cool (and stay within the speed limit, too)!

Hot Stuff

I know my hubby jokes that we've been married so long he no longer looks both ways when he crosses the street, but I know he seriously loves me.

And the feeling's mutual.

Warning: Today is our mushy day!

Eight years ago we survived the 112-degree heat in Vegas and tied the knot in the Little White Chapel (which was air-conditioned, by the way). I'd like to think we've still got the heat (minus the humidity) in our marriage. Maybe part of that has to do with our hot tub or with my electric mattress pad, which I turn on 10 months out of the year. But mostly it's due to love, respect, friendship and stolen kisses (when the cat or the kid ain't looking).

We did not actually get to spend much time together today. I had to work and Jim took the day off and went golfing with his dad, then took care of a dozen errands and chores for us -- and still managed to whip together steaks on the grill for supper. What a man! He's a keeper!

After supper, he and Carter had baseball practice. I dropped them off there and visited my friend Christine. Our guys joined us there after practice to watch the end of the Brewers game on TV. Then we lit a bunch of fireworks in their backyard and enjoyed a pre-holiday private light show!

How appropriate to end our anniversary day with the sparks still flying!