Thank you, Josh Ritter

Oh bring me the love that can sweeten a sword
A boat that can love the rocks or the shore
The love of the iceberg reaching out for a wreck
Can you love me like the crosses love the nape of the neck?
- To the Dogs or Whoever from The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter

John Deere Green

Dan and I spent the weekend in Muncie at Brandon's, and while there traveled to exciting Jay County, which hosted the 42nd Tri-State Gas Engine & Tractor Association show, and I promised a blog post about it. I attended with the promise of steam engines and Ivanhoe's ice cream afterward. Ivanhoe's became a reality, but the steam tractors were a tad scarce. I think there were 5. Here's one of them, heading up the Tractor Parade.


There were however lots of old tractors, about which the guys were able to reminisce about using as kids. This one is apparently similar to one Dan's family had:

I was a little out of my element there, as I pretty much grew up in the city. Even when I lived in the mountains of West Virginia, it was in a subdivision, and the mall was nearby. The closest thing we had to a tractor when I grew up was Grandpa's John Deere riding mower in Jeffersonville. But I digress: the tractor show. There were also a lot of small engines running, however superfluously, as most were not attached to anything. They just ran. Others were running water pumps or performing some other useful task. This was one my of favorites, mainly because it's the right color:


Also in the parade was this cute train, with the cars made from old barrels:


After wandering around the show for a few hours, it started to rain on us, so we drove (or napped) to Ivanhoe's and ate way too much, because that's what one does at Ivanhoe's. On an unexpected but pleasant detour back into town, we ran into this bridge:


which suffered an unfortunate fate:


In all it was a great (albeit very busy) weekend, definitely good to get out of town, and as always, really great to see some old friends.

State Fair, yo

I have not gone to the State Fair in 20 years. Really, I was 7 and living in Fern Creek at the time. I remember going with a girl from school and Girl Scouts. I remember nothing else. I do know that I hate crowds, and that's why I've stayed away. However my inlaws wanted to go tonight, so we went.



That was dinner. Hot beef sundae. Mashed potatoes, roast beef and gravy, corn, and shredded cheddar, with a cherry tomato on top. Heaven. I will be making this at home this winter.



Information you've always wanted: The winners of the ham contest.



This is what award winning tobacco looks like.



We thought these goats were fighting, but we found out later that it was foreplay.



At 815 pounds this was the biggest pumpkin.



Tater zoo!



We spent the whole time there looking for alpaca. At the last booth, right before we left, this is what we found. The stall was empty, containing only this:



Bastids took my alpaca away...



Good night!

IOU

I owe you guys a couple of blog posts, one with pictures from the Art Car Show last weekend, cake makin', and another about this week's LEO. I don't have the energy for it right now, but, I found out today that someone's been using my Blockbuster account. I got a call that I had some movies that were overdue and became suspicious, as I haven't rented a movie in quite some time, so I called. Someone used my account to rent a couple of movies that I've never heard of. Fortunately they're semi-honest people, because the movies had been returned and my credit card hasn't been charged, and I was able to cancel my account. What I don't understand is how they accessed the account to begin with, as I still have my card.
That's all the excitement I have for now...

Dear Josh Ritter, José González, and Alexi Murdoch,

Congratulations! The three of you are officially the songwriters with whom I am in Love. Sorry that you'll all have to share me. Really, guys, your music blows my mind, and right now, I am all a-swoon!

What's happened?

Here's what's happened. I spent the last half hour writing a delightfully funny and well composed blog entry, telling you all about my recent music purchases, domestic adventures and fleeting craziness. Then the internet ate it. I mean, Internet, if you're hungry, eat something that I didn't just spend half an hour writing. Eat something that no one cares about (oh, maybe you did!) And Blogger, you say that you automatically save drafts. So why didn't you? And if you did, where is it? I couldn't find it anywhere. And could I have that half hour of my life back? I could have been doing something else, like, I don't know, staring at the computer some more. Anyway, I'm not so sure I can rewrite that whole thing, but I'll try, just for the three people who read this thing.
Suffice to say that I really wanted to be depressed and spend the day in bed today. Wait, I was (am?) depressed, but I fortunately can recognize it and can force myself out of bed and finally out of the house. So the ipod, the cell phone (and so vicariously Mom) and I walked to ear x-tacy for the new Patty Griffin (who we're going to see next month!), José González (who we're seeing in December!), and Alexi Murdoch. I've also been listening to two awesome podcasts: Ritmo Latino and De Root Art. Ritmo Latino is hosted by a man from Colorado living in Poland, and is broadcast by National Public Radio in Micronesia. De Root Art is done by a Mexican living in England. His description of it says something like, "Music you like but haven't heard yet." This stuff is great. I love it; it's like listening to mix tapes made by people with much better music collections than I have.

Let's see. Domestic adventures... I decided last weekend that it would be a good idea to can spaghetti sauce, seeing as we had about 6 pounds of Roma tomatoes from the back yard to use up. I learned that from now on I'll freeze sauce instead of canning it. I was successful. I have 3 pints of canned spaghetti sauce, but it was more trouble than it was worth. I have a big kitchen, but still needed more space. I did take a few pictures, motivated by my favorite blogstress Alicia P (she takes beautiful pictures of the most ordinary things!) See how pretty it was?





I haven't actually eaten any of it yet, so we'll see later how it actually turned out. Hopefully no one gets botulism! (I shouldn't tempt it, should I?)

Lastly, the MRI referenced in the last post has been postponed until next Thursday, as long as the worker's comp doctor, who I have never seen, deems it medically necessary. All this could have been done for last week, but my paperwork was lost. Thanks Risk Management!

That's actually everything I wrote earlier. Awesome. Thanks for hanging in there.

¡Hasta entonces!

Bad Bad Blogger

I'm a bad blogger. I hear a motherly voice in the back of my head that says, "Now Kelley, if you want people to read your blog, then you have to actually post something on a semi regular basis." Yes, I know, and it's not for lack of things to blog. Recently I could have blogged about our recent trip to the Frazier International History Museum (aka Frazier Historical Arms Museum). I could have blogged about our trip on the Belle of Louisville. I can sit at work and think up blog posts all day long, but then to actually transfer those thoughts from my brain to my fingers, the keyboard, and your computer screen, not so much. But I do have news. I officially applied for graduation in December, and while I knew I had enough credits to graduate, the Dean has approved my application!
Also, I found out that the doctor who thought I had carpel tunnel now thinks that I don't have carpel tunnel but something else, probably something in my neck, so he has ordered an MRI. I was hoping to get through life without one, but regardless, I should get one in two weeks. I've heard nothing but horror stories from people who have had them, but I'm not as claustrophobic as they are. At any rate, I'm still on light duty for the time being. I'm also job hunting, so if anyone knows of an employer who's looking for a smart, graduate-to-be with a BA who LOVES Louisville, speaking Spanish, and generally getting things done, let me know.
And the big news (drum roll please!):
Dan found his wedding ring! After a year, and the purchase of a new Mexican silver ring, it was found in an envelope of change. Yes, it was hiding with a bunch of quarters. Amazing stuff.