Spy Photos

In our backyard, right now...

It has been rainy and cold here for the last few days



She must feel like the smartest bird on the block, her nest is nice and dry.

POW!

No more guesses on the band name??? Come on peeps!

Great Band names

Night before last was LONG. Jason was out getting a friend from the airport until 4:30. I kept waking up wondering when he was going to get home. During one of these groggy moments, an idea occurred to me, as they ate wont to in groggy moments.

You know what would be a great band name?

Fines may be doubled

Wow, yes, this is what my mind said to me. When I remembered that this morning, I remembered a great thread on a message board that Jason frequents, and I visit from time to time. It was guess the band name. One person would post a picture, or series of pictures and then everyone else would guess. It was like rebus. However, I was not that great at it. I saw a series of pictures similar to these, the big difference being that the third picture was a man turning a hand drill against his temple (okay pretending to):

I yelled out "Couch Baby Crank Horse!" This is not, has never been, and will never be the name of a band. However, at that moment, I knew what I would call any bad I would ever be in. Including my guitar hero band. That one kinda got abbreviated, Couchbabycrankhor, but that was still awesome. So, can anyone out there guess what the band ACTUALLY was? I'll give you one hint. The guy in the original drill picture looked insane...

You know already!

Random Thursday

And a preview of things to come. Sorry I've been away so long. I'll be back soon.

lsngoigworkjn'na'

Random

But R!

Not S

not Q

What does a pirate say?

_____________R_______________

R!!!

R!!

R!

RRRRRRR

p.s. if you don't get this, read last week.

Random Thursday

Does anyone else remember college schedule planning when the letter "R" meant Thursday, because Tuesday had already selfishly taken up the T? I do, and what better "R" activity than an random picture. We take a lot of them, and I know they don't all end up here. So, without further ado, Random Thursday!

Mid-Ohio Anniversary

Last year, as you all know, when Jason and I went to Mid Ohio, this happened.

So when we made our return trip this year, I knew not to expect quite as many fireworks, even though a week earlier we’d be recognized. We were at the Kentucky Headhunters concert and a guy walked up to us, and for a minute we thought there was going to be a fight, but then he said “Didn’t you guys get married at Mid-Ohio?” It was close enough, so we said yeah, and he said cool or something like that and went on his way.

ANYWAY.

We didn’t take Friday off, so we started our drive at around 6pm. That should have put us there around 10, and we’ve set up the tent in the dark plenty of times, so we weren’t really worried about that. What we were worried about was the fact that we had seen the new batman the night before and were really tired. The drive was pretty uneventful, I saw another deer (a strange aside, I’d never seen a wild deer until I met Jason, now I see them, and all kinds of other neat things) and we had to stop for dinner and groceries.

We really arrived at around 11 pm, and were shocked. The campground was PACKED. We usually camp up in the “family” area. It’s near the showers, and the restrooms. It’s supposed to be quiet. We get there and not only is the family area full; it’s full all the way back to the back of the second area! They gave us a pass, and we’d reserved a campsite, but we weren’t sure there were any left. We found one, just a few sites down from a bar (I know) and set up the tent.

It was the fit’s first time camping, so there were some kinks to work out. For some reason, the power inverter in the fit will not inflate the mattress, while it would in the sonata. So, the first night, we slept on sleeping bags on the floor of the tent. Refreshing. Oh wait, not. The next morning, Jason found someone else with an outlet, and he filled the bed there. We were satisfied with camp, made some bagels and headed toward the track. We caught a tram, which I was very glad for. It was a good day, but very, very hot. Vitor didn’t wreck right in front of me, which was a great big plus.

Back to camp for a second, Jason hadn’t seen the place this full since the cart era, late 90’s I’m told. There were so many people! I’m used to kind of having the run of the place, except for on race day, but that just wasn’t the case this year. It was nice that there were so many more fans, but we definitely need to get there earlier for camping next year.

We visited some autograph sessions, and I’m proud to say, that my favorite ALMS team was the nicest. The Ferrari guys and the Porsche guys were just kind of handing stuff off, while my Aston Martin guys asked every single person’s name and were really nice. I smirked at Jason. After autographs, we found a place to sit for a while and watched Indycar qualification. Then we crossed over to our real sets for the ALMS race. I wanted the Aston to dominate, and they didn’t quite, but they hung in there and performed for the whole race, which was more than you could say for quite a few other teams. IT was HOT in the stands, so we picked up a pizza, which is, for some reason, always better at the track and sat in the shade to watch. It was a long race, and we were tired, so we headed back to camp.

We were on the tram again, and got stopped for a while waiting for a pit crew guy to have to be lifelighted out on the helicopter. There was a fire, and he was burned, but I think he’s doing well now. Scary.

When we got back to the tent we rested for a while. The mattress always stretches out after you fill it, so let’s just say it wasn’t on the firm setting for Jason’s nap. There wasn’t a line for the showers so we took out turns, and as I was brushing my teeth, I was very glad I was a woman. I heard one man yell to another in the showers “Hey! [friend’s name] Are you starting at the top or the bottom?”. We cooked dinner, shrimp, chicken, and corn, yum. Corn was the best, even though we didn’t have butter or salt. We went down to another campsite to celebrate a birthday, and the came back up to go to sleep.

Halfway thought the night, Jason gave up on the mattress, and I woke up like this:

We broke camp just as it began to pour. We hid in the car for around half and hour and when it looked better, we made it to our seats. We had just finished out bucket of fries when the skies opened up again. There was no-where to go, we didn’t have any umbrellas or ponchos, and we’re crazy, so we sat there and got soaked. It actually turned out well. The wet kept the sun from baking me as much, and we were kinda dry by the time we left.

As for the race: I was ecstatic when Vitor was leading. If not for yellows, once again, I think he would have really had a chance. I don’t know why, but I don’t like Briscoe. I don’t really know anything about him, but he just rubs me the wrong way. Overall, it was a good race, and everyone in our stands cheered when Milka passed Roth, and then groaned when we heard she had spun it not too long after.

We made it home, and had a great weekend. I’m really a wimp though, with the heat and all of the walking, I felt bad about complaining, and constantly said I was going to quit, but then was right back to it. Jason was completely within his rights to smack me right there, but didn’t. Thanks.

Oh yeah, also, this.

4th Of July Weekend, Sans Camera

We had a great weekend! But we forgot to take the camera to record any of it. So, I've re-created some of it the best I could. You'll see. Trust me. On Thursday, Jason and I went to pick up his new truck! Its an older ford ranger, and it is white. Its in perfect condition and I hope will be a nice car for many years to come. Here's an artist's interpretation. That's smiley Jason. Don't ask me why he doesn't have hair or arms or anything.

We didn't however, take it to go see WEIRD AL! on Thursday night. It was at white river lawn. Last year, we went to see symphonic Led Zeppelin there and it was fun. We brought in food, and even a bottle of wine. So, this year, we planned to take all kinds of stuff. Drinks, and Mom, who awesomely bought us the tickets, was bringing sandwiches! We were waiting at the gate when it opened. Turns out that over less than a year, they had turned into food nazis. They were letting in one sandwich bag and one bottle of water, small, each. So Mom and I trekked back to the car and left most of the yummy there. I was really mad. I'm going to write a really strongly worded letter. BUT, none of that now. The show was great! It was hilarious, and really high energy. I really enjoyed it, and so did everyone else. We walked back to the car and home to bed. zzzzzzzz

The next day, the 4th, started off slow, but we got going. Larson had suggested the Indians game that night. They would have fireworks there and then also, fireworks from downtown, that we could see from our seats. Our seats were on the lawn. I'd never sat there before, but it was really nice! There, we could bring in all kinds of food. The game was good, even though we lost, and it was a pretty night. They brought out the fireworks and I thought "gee that's close". That's our red and black blanket. Then BOOM!!!! The first one went off and it was instant fetal position. They were extremely loud and incredibly close. I finally got used to it, and it was a nice show. The downtown ones were also good, but not quite as three feet from me. We had a great time.

Saturday, both Jason and I had to work. I had my guitar hero tournament, a great success! Yay! Sunday, he worked again and we watched the race. I cried. I wanted to wring E.J. Viso's neck. Vitor was on his way to a win. He was on the right fuel strategy, and set up great. RHR did great though, and I'm happy to see him get a win. There's developments in the garden, look for posts when I find my camera.

Honeymoon day 11 The Sponge Docks

We had been told that there was a place near where we were staying that was a must visit. It was the sponge docks. Yeah, for sponges that are grown under the ocean! We didn't know where it was, so we drove forever until we got to a AAA. They then informed us that it was about 3 minutes away from the house in the other direction. So, we arrive to see a million people waving flags (okay, like 4) for parking. We drive through and decide that the best parking is right at the front. We park and go!
The whole area is a street lined with shops on one side and shops and docks on the other. The shops had all kinds of cool stuff. The sponging business was mostly run by Greek immigrants, and so there was quite a Greek flair to everything there. The shops sold Greek clothing, handmade soaps and lotions, cool shells and strangely, fisher price toys that speak Greek.We went into the first shop and there were a TON of really cool sponges. There was also a lady selling boat tours. It sounded interesting, so we took a flier. We went and signed up and it was worth it. We toured the shops, looked at all kinds of interesting stuff and then it was time for the nature tour. We and a few other people got onto a pontoon kind of boat and the tour guide told us all about the history of the area, then took us into a bird sanctuary, and an island. We saw all kinds of cool stuff. We saw diving birds, bald eagles, all kinds of fish, dolphins, and just all around coolness. The guide was really knowledgeable, and it was really great. We came back and went shopping for real. I bought a bunch of sponges, Jason got two loooong loofahs, we got some other odds and ends and then last but certainly not least, we got some awesome soap. It's honeysuckle scented and has a little sponge embedded in it. It is really awesome. Oh! Also there was a whole shop filled with hot sauces. Jason got a bunch to complement the collection he had been building. Remind me to post on that later.

At the end of the street was an aquarium. We decided to go in. At the beginning was a talk for you to touch urchins, and starfish. Those were neat. Then there was a HUGE tank full of all kinds of native fish including sharks. I was worried when we went in that it would be poorly kept and grubby, but it was the opposite. The fish were all really healthy and the place was really nice. The employees were extremely knowledgeable. After the huge tank there was a stingray and shark petting tank.


That was really cool too. Even Jason petted stingrays and a shark. The shark's skin was really rough. The rays all had their stingers removed, and the guy had some to show us, but said they could grow back at any time, so there was still a little danger, but rays aren't aggressive. We fed them shrimp. You could hold the shrimp on your hand underwater and they would come suck it off. The next tank also had sharks, but not the petting kind. You could feed them, but had to put the shrimp on the end of knitting needles. It was scary! There were a lot of working boats there. We thought these were derelict, but they were working shrimp boats:

We were tired then, so we went to dinner and it started raining. Pouring really. We decided to go to a movie. We run through the pouring rain and see signs everywhere that say that the power "might" go out, because of the storm. We think they are sissies and go watch Superhero movie. It was funny, but obviously not too memorable as I just had to ask Jason what we saw.

We got back to the house and dried off. EEK!