Camp Shack!

Another road trip is in my future for the weekend, though not another 12-hour drive to Arkansas, thank god. I'm headed up to Tower, Minnesota tomorrow morning. I'm going to a lovely little spot, hidden among the mighty pines and the stately poplars, who are now exchanging their summer foliage for something more festive for fall. I'm looking for the place with the firepit where too many hot dogs to count have sizzled over hot flames, and some have even perished tragically among the ashes. I'm looking for the porch where the shadows of campers past lose their footing and sometimes the contents of their stomachs, and the outhouse where some have feared to enter. I'm yearning for that good ol' shack, where there's an ancient army radio calling me to dance, a beer with my name on it, and my friends are all waiting. It's time for Camp Shack, and I cannot wait!

it's raining, it's pouring

The metro area just got spanked by a cranky mass of thunderstorms, winds up to 70 mph, and hail the size of golf balls, with some possible tornadoes lurking around for good measure.

I ran outside when the brunt of the storm was on us here in Wayzata (ha, yes, I'm pretty dumb), and was kind of afraid that the stop sign on the corner was going to be whipped right out of its spot and come flying toward me. Instead of going back inside and into the basement like any sane person would do, I got in my car so I could stay outside and watch it without having all the dust blown into my eyes. Not only did I see some green scary-looking clouds and insane amounts of debris in the air, I saw about 13 people flagrantly breaking the law by blowing through the stop sign right by my house! After that, I fled to the basement where I alternated between WCCO and CNN - which was actually covering the storm, to some extent. Of course it wasn't as big a deal as Hurricane Rita, understandably.

Last week's brief trip to Arkansas was pretty exhausting. My step-dad and I woke up at 5 on Thursday morning to drive down there, and once we arrived (around 7 pm), we moved furniture in and out of a U-Haul. We did the same the next day. All for these rental houses my parents have there. Then we got back in the car around 5 pm on Friday and headed back home.

Anyway, being in Arkansas was sort of like being in another world. Though we were in the northern part of the state, it was really pretty rural. Everyone had a drawl, everything was fried, stores and restaurants closed up around 7 (except the Wal-Mart Supercenter, of course), and everybody and their brother drove a truck, many of them with the Confederate flag slapped on the back. It's the South! It was a little weird being there; I kind of felt like people knew I was a foreigner, even without opening my mouth. That I was a - gasp - Yankee! Okay, I keed, it really wasn't bad, and the people I actually talked to in the brief time we were there were nothing but very friendly and welcoming. Even the woman who didn't even realize Minnesota was a state.

road trip!

Um, so, I'm whisking off to exotic Arkansas tonight, for a day and night of fun, adventure, and furniture moving! It's going to be great.

When I get back, I'll tell stories galore of the wonders of Arkansas. And maybe a story about my 83-year old grandmother pushing a car. Or how I got a call from Barry White, from beyond the grave.

In the meantime, enjoy this photo of an authentic, historic sod house in Nebraska. Also, note on the left the scary fake Native American, riding a fake horse, hunting a rather small and sad fake buffalo. All next to a Shell gas station! Oh Nebraska.

Three things

First of all, I have Flickr now and I loooooove it. It's kind of addicting, for some reason. My feet get a little tingly when I think about it, but maybe they're just falling asleep. There's a link to my Flickr photos down there on the left, beneath all the other links. The photos aren't really that recent, but it's nice to share.

Second of all, we all know how painful it can be shelling out tons of moolah for the gas it takes to haul our lazy butts places. Well, Twin Cities Gas Prices and Minnesota Gas Prices list where to find the cheapest gas prices in the area, which might help ease that pain a little. The parent site is Gas Buddy and it looks like they list similar sites for each state (for those not residing in the Twin Cities or Minnesota).

Lastly, I had a headache all day yesterday and most of today. It felt like blacksmith elves set up shop in my head. And made horseshoes enough for an entire cavalry.

Be nice to me.

Today I went and gave blood to the Red Cross. Last time I donated was when I was 17 and the Bloodmobile came to visit my high school. Those were exciting times for me. 17 is the legal age when you can start donating in MN, and I was pretty excited that I was of LEGAL AGE to do anything, even if it was getting poked by needles and then filling a plastic bag with a pint of my own blood. Woo-hoo, what a wild child!

Today I was no less excited about giving blood than I was at 17. The Red Cross was sucking people dry at a church in Maple Grove, and my appointment was for 5:30. I was pretty eager and I got there around 5:15. Then sat there, with like 15 other people, all waiting to give blood. Waiting. Got pretty well acquainted with some real nice old ladies. Waited some more. Went to the bathroom. Had a snack. Waited. For two hours. Blood did not actually leave my body until 7:30. And then, after all that waiting, all it took was 6 minutes for them to get their pint from me. Vampires.

Sorry, that's not much of a post, but that was my day. Oh, I went to the State Fair on Sunday with my parents! I forgot about that. We saw my step-aunt's art, saw a really cool jazz band, stuffed ourselves (mm, roasted corn, pronto pup, cheese curds, brownie, milk, beer, and coffee... on a stick, natch), and saw Gary Puckett play! Awesome, Gary Puckett! Who is Gary Puckett, you might wonder as you scratch your head in bewilderment, much as I did when my parents practically yippee'd with delight when they found out he was playing the Fair Bandshell. I guess he's some old fogey rocker who had some hits back in the day, including:

-"Young Girl" ("Young girl, get outta my mind! My love for you is way outta line, better run girl! You're much too young, girl!" This song = Dirty Old Man anthem. It's just so wrong, and yet, so much fun to sing.)
-"Woman, Woman" ("Woman, whoooooa, wooooman, have you got cheating on your mind?" but, you know, I always thought it was "Have you got Jeannie on your mind?" and that never made sense because either he was singing to a lesbian, which, why bother man? or else it was "Have you got GENIE on your mind?" and, assuming it's the Genie from Aladdin on her mind, the Genie will win every time!)
-These, and many, many other CLASSICS!

Anyway, that was my Fair experience in a nutshell. Oh, and I got to push my mom around a lot. In a wheelchair, sillies - she has a very bad hip and is having hip replacement surgery in November.

Hope everyone had a nice first day of school.

I can't even begin to wrap my head around the devastation that the City of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast are facing -- the flooding, the sheer loss of lives. Now they face waterborne disease, looting, and chaos. The hundreds of thousands who have been displaced from their homes, seeking refuge as far as 400 miles to the north, in Memphis, TN - where will they go? Some of them have nothing to go home to. It's so, so sad:

"At least in San Francisco [after the earthquake and fire of 1906], people were able to begin rebuilding immediately, sometimes using the rubble left behind after the fire. In New Orleans, rebuilding can't begin until the levees are repaired; the water has been pumped out of the city; and sufficient electricity, communications and sewage disposal have been restored. This may take weeks or even months. Even then it is possible that some parts of this nearly 300-year-old, below-sea-level, at-risk city may never be rebuilt at all...." (from a Washington Post Editorial)

Here's a link to the Network for Good, with numerous organizations working on disaster relief, in case you're looking for some way to help. My heart is with them.