Upside Ann

 If you go back and review (August 18), you will note that after Wisconsin Dells our next stop was Athens, MN and The Spam Museum.  We were cutting the time close and had only an hour to spend Spamming.  It was enough.  The museum was worthwhile with serious Spam history (WW II), Spam geography (Hawaii, Australia, Japan...), Spam pop-culture (Monty Python, Broadway) and just for fun Spam.  It could ONLY have been Better if the Spamettes carrying around various flavored samples of hot Spam had been dressed in black and white miniskirts (to match the floor) and roller skates.  (I should contact them!)  Below, enjoy a taste of The Spam Museum.

  I dreamed we had a pet spider.  Not a tarantula, but one of those whitish-you-almost-can't-see it spiders that find our home a favorite abode.  And the spider - not sure it had a name- didn't live in a cage, but was a free-range spider in our house.  (I think this was Zupe's idea.)  Our spider had spent a week away at camp.  Spider camp? and was back.  It was so glad to see us. It dropped down from a silk from the ceiling in front of our faces.  It wanted to crawl up on my finger.  (I am NOT a spider person.  I once threw a baby gate at a spider skuttling across the carpeting late one night while I was watching Saturday Night Live.  I cannot imagine how I am emotionally surviving this pet!)  Since the spider was being so friendly, I thought I'd take its picture.  I took a portrait.  Just her face. (Wow! This new dream camera has some great zoom lens!)  Ended up being not what I wanted.  There were two imag...

Once upon a time - like when I was still in high school - my father built a section of fence.  The tall boardy kind of fence.  About 6 feet high.  It extended east from the edge of the garage and ran parallel to the fence row.  I do not know WHY he built this fence.  One day I'll dig through old photos and show you what it looked like.  If I'm successful, I'll add it to this post, as well.   But that isn't the story.  That fence is long gone. Growing against that fence was a plant that was brought over from my grandparents' farm.  We called it Loevy's Lace Vine.  (I have NO IDEA how to spell Loevy.  The name is pronounced Low - vee.  If I spell it Lovy, you will likely think it is Love- ee.  A search of Google is no help.  There are people with the surname Loevy, however.)  It grew immense and bloomed like crazy in late summer and early fall.  My best guess was that it was a   "Sweet Autumn Cl...

  So, for like a week - maybe more- maybe a lot more - I had the feeling, whenever I opened the drawer which holds my placemats and napkins or the cupboard below where the pots and pans and housed, that I was smelling something dead.  I couldn't see anything and on Sunday I took EVERYTHING out of both places and found NOTHING.  Weird.   Since it was not Monday and Kevin was visiting, I thought I would try once again to use the dishwasher.  My cousin Steve and I had loaded it up on Poultry Days in June to find that soon after the cycle commences the dishwasher displayed an error message, started flashing blue lights, and dinging quietly but persistently.  As suggested in the guide, we cleaned the filters (which - for the record - I had cleaned thoroughly at a time approximate to my last use of the dishwasher months previously.  Turning off the light and bell - which with enough time starts to make you feel like you are living in a Poe story - requi...

 My morning glories are volunteers this summer.  Last year I planted them.  The year before, too.  They never amounted to much - but this year.  OMG.  They flourish! They trail over all the trellises, the forgotten day lily flower stalks, the weeds, the ground.  And, of course, into the fence row.  Most are dark, dark purple - called something like Grandpa Ott.  I should look that up*.  But, also, some of these light blue beauties. *I did.  That's it!

 Thanks to Alexa - which is playing this for me this afternoon....."to die by your side, is such a heavenly way to die..."

1 can drianed and rinsed black beans 2 T strong brewed coffee 1/2 c canola oil or grapeseed oil 2 eggs 2 t pure vanilla extract 3/4 c cocoa powder (I like dark chocolate) 3/4 c brown sugar 1/2 t baking soda 1/4 t kosher salt 3 oz chocolate chiops (I, again, like dark chocolate) Blend the beans, coffee, oil, eggs and vanilla Add to the dry ingredients including 1/2 of the chips.   Pour into an 8x8inch greased pan, top with the second half of the chocolate chips and bake for 25 minutes at 325F. The brownie should bounce back from the touch of your finger.  It should not scream or poke back.

  Wisconsin Dells originally made my list thanks to the Duck Tours of the dells - WW2 amphibious vehicles that would drive a while then drive into the water and boat a while.  I thought Zupe would REALLY like that.  Unfortunately, the Canadian smoke was really bad and we thought it prudent to spend less time breathing it.  The good news - there was still the Museum of Root Beer! As you might expect, displays about the history of root beer - it is VERY old - as they say - "Older than Coke".  Root Beers were made by the founders of our country.  Mr. Hires and Mr. Barq.  OK.  Not them. The other ones. Lots of root beer cans. Recipes for root beer. Root beer ads.  Root beer as it appears in popular culture.  Remember, it was a favorite of the flying ace fighting the Red Baron.  At the end you get a (one, 1!!, only 1!!!!) small 5oz sample of one of the flavors they have on tap.  Kevin tried something a bit exotic - I think it was mi...

Lincoln Home National Historic Sight - but that was obvious, wasn't it? August 2026  

I guess I didn't really take to heart that mathematical truth that the shortest distance between to points is a straight line.  I think our final distance was something like 5,300 miles.  I understand that is greater than a round trip between here and Los Angeles (2,178 miles).  See that?  I fact checked myself.  (Now, I'm wondering if fact check should be hyphonated and, while I'm at it, is round trip a compound word?  Sigh.  The work of Google is never ending.)  The trip is composed of three parts: To camp, While camp is camping, From camp. As She-Who-Plans-The -Road-Trips, it was on me to plan the road trip.  Ready? TO CAMP Indiana Dunes National Park Chicago - Field Museum Chicago - Great Wolf Lodge Wisconsin Dells - Duck Tour and Museum of Root Beer (but the tour got canned due to Canadian smoke) Austin, MN - Spam Museum Blue Earth, MN - Jolly Green Giant Pipestone National Monument, MN Sioux Falls, SD Marshall, SD:  Corn Palace Cha...

  Chicago Field Museum, 2026

Elements of our touring group are big, big Pokémon players.  As a consequence, and because it was also Mr. Level-40's birthday, we included the Field Museum of Chicago where a Pokémon "fossil" exhibit was taking place.  While there are (probably) tons of cool stuff at the Field Museum, given Zupe's attention challenges, we focused on three areas. 1. Pokémon exhibit  2. Egyptian exhibit - I was hoping that June's series of Rick Riordan graphic novels of the Kane Chronicles and rewatching the Marvel Moon Knight series would instill a fascination for pyramids, mummies, ushabti.  Well, I thought it was fascinating though I had to view it all on fast forward. 3. Fossils -dinosaurs and other extinct creatures (which were never residents of a pokeball).  The absolute best element of this area was the poet in residence- who, if you tell him something you know about dinosaurs, will write you a poem.  Right then and there.  Despite Zupe's impatience, I got...

 I figure when your framing/cropping is off to begin with and there IS no way to make it perfect, make the skew extreme.   So, here you have it! Me, Paul Bunyun with his hotdog, and a bag from the gift shop with a miniature version of said giant inside.  Trust me.  He's there. Athens, Illinois  2026

Yep, Here is my kid breaking the rules to pick a flower in a national park.  He wanted to carry it for 2 days to give to his "sister" in Colorado.  The boy has a loving heart...with a rebellious streak.

  Indiana Sand Dunes National Park.  This.  This was my favorite element.  Though, additionally, the gift shop had some pictures I appreciated.  But being in the wilds of Indiana - not for me.  Three words.  Hot.  Humid.  Mosquitoes.  And all the latter preferred me far and above my companions.  I had been to the Sand Dunes once before in 1990.  A long, long time ago.  On the day before my crappy new (used) car broke down for the third time in as many weeks needing repair in St. Louis and then have its muffler crap out before we got back to Ohio.  Even with all that garbage, I remember that the dunes were dismal.  Kevin, however, has set a goal to visit all the national parks. Indiana Dunes:  1.  One dune that seems to be creeping across a parking lot and devouring trees.  It does have a taste for people having sampled an 8-year-old boy- so guests must stay behind the rope on the opposite side of t...

 Here, I worship the jackalope of the variety chainsawious.   Wall, SD  2026

 

 These are a month old.  I took them prior to embarking on our westward journey but did not get them posted.  The tiger lilies have invaded the fence row.  They are spreading recklessly throughout the side flower bed but last year they jumped the fence - and a bit of lawn - to run free.  I suspect I "seeded" this area by discarding the chopped off stems over the fence during autumn garden clean-up.  I am amused.  (Note: This spring there were about a dozen plants over there but my cousin and I dug up a selection for him to take home to SC... where they are, no doubt, planning to take over the southern United States.)  I like them OK - but not as much as the field lilies- which, ironically, have much better manners.  And, for the record, I am TIRED of my Stella del Oro daylilies.  Yawn.  I'm sure I read they are supposed to be repeat bloomers.  My girls have not read the same manual.

 Yes, that's right.  You recognized him.  This is the start of geranium I showed you a couple months ago.  It has grown to a number of leaves beyond counting AND is prepared to start blooming.  Well done! Not much of a photo- but I'm running behind.

  Chicago, 2026 Zupe with Canadian smoke What do I like about this photograph? The way his long legs mirror the skyscrapers around him.