Wal-Mart Doesn’t Do Fabric

I rarely stop at Wal-Mart except when we are traveling.  Probably because our town only has a Target and that’s what I’m used to.  But I was in Gilroy for a Dr. appointment and needed wanted some fabric, so I thought I might be able to find something reasonable there.  Big disappointment – they no longer have a fabric department.  According to the salesclerk I talked to, it was a big money-loser for them.

However, the trip wasn’t wasted because, as I was walking through the garden section looking for onion sets, I spotted these:

 

I’ve always wanted to try growing potatoes and last year I bought a potato-growing bag from Gardener’s Supply but didn’t get around to using it.  I’ve never seen seed potatoes around here and thought I would have to just cut up a grocery store potato.

I also found the onions.  I’ll start planting them next week if the rains hold off.  We’ve had several inches of rain in the last ten days with more expected in the next few days so we are pretty soggy around here.  Not to mention the weeds are thigh-high.

Road Trip 2009 continued

A bit out-of-date, but, hopefully, better late than never.

By the time we were finished with The Husband’s class reunion, I was pretty much running out of steam.  Consequently, no blog entries were made for the rest of the trip.  When we got home I kept putting it off and, the longer I put it off, the more difficult it got to remember the details.  Well, here it is over four months later, and I’m going to try to recreate the rest of our trip.

DAYS 8-10

We left my brother’s place on Monday morning and headed north on I-540.  It was only an hour’s drive or so to our next stop – The Husband’s cousin’s house in Bella Vista, AR.  Again the GPS was right on the money.

The next day The Cousin had scheduled a trip for us to the George Washington Carver National Monument but first we stopped in Diamond, MO to have lunch at the Diamond Cafe.What a gem!  I had the best Gyro that I’ve had since we lived in New Jersey.  When I asked the owner about her accent, which sounded sort of mid-Atlantic to me, she said she is from New York and used to be on the stage. 

 

The exhibits were very interesting as was the film about Carver’s life.  Before today, all I knew about him was that he “invented peanut butter” if that’s even true.  I didn’t realize that he was involved in so many other agricultural, social and artistic endeavors. 

After we saw everything in the building, we followed a walking trail through the woods and along a stream.  Despite the fact that it was still summer, the humidity wasn’t too high and it was so pleasant with all the greenery and the sound of the water.

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But my favorite part was the family vegetable garden.  It was pretty much past its prime, this being early September, but you could still see tomatoes, green beans, and other summer veggies.

The next day we joined some of The Cousins’ friends and drove to Noel, MO to have lunch at Cotton Eyed Joe’s Barbecue.  I do love a good barbecue place and this one is pretty darned good.

The Mystery of the Murdered Mouse

This is what I saw when I opened the door from the house to the garage this morning.  Deader than a doornail, but which gray cat was the culprit?

Luke Skywalker?

Or the Duke of Earl?

Or maybe the ever-vigilant Smokey Joe?

Nobody was talking and Officer Dog was still in bed at the time, so the mystery remains unsolved.  However, it’s a pretty good bet that Smokey Joe is innocent because he has not, in the two months that he has been with us, shown the least interest in hunting.  My money is on Luke.