Dogless.

We are headed to California and Phoenix. In June and July. It will be very hot.

We intend to return to Wisconsin at the end of July. We wondered perhaps Dear Mother in Law would enjoy Mack’s company for a few weeks? This way we wouldn’t have to be so concerned about the heat with him. Otherwise, we usually check on him in Tracy every few hours to make sure our air conditioning is functioning properly. But he’s getting quite old and if he’s back in Illinois we know he’ll be a-okay.

Dear Mother In Law is about as dog friendly as it gets, save for her cat (whom we made her adopt). Last time Abigail (said cat) saw Mack she looked pretty ticked off. Still, Mack has charmed her before and I’m quite certain will again.

So, sniffle, sniffle, we will be dogless, this summer. Sending Mack extra hugs, kisses, extra love. We know you will snooze in the air conditioning so happily.

Thanks Sweet Mother In Law. Hope you have fun.

Tracy Art.

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Little fella gets in these moods where he just needs to draw. He had an impulse this week and created Tracy, in pencil, on a junk piece of wood. He then went on to draw portraits of each of us in the family, a ball of yarn with knitting needles, and two tractors. All things we love.

He signed and dated them all and told me each was available for sale for 1 hug, 1 kiss, and 1 cent. I promptly purchased them all, save for the tractor one as Dear Husband wanted that one. We paid 50 cents each because his comment that “homemade things aren’t worth as much” actually seemed quite off. I told him homemade items are indeed worth more.

Chunks of wood stashed in Tracy is very challenging. I’ve boxed them up and placed them in our storage zone in Wisconsin for a while. I told him I am so excited to display them in our future home, be that where it may. He seemed pleased with that.

I’m glad they are on wood. I think I should seal them with a clear coat? I’d love any ideas on how to preserve them.

National Farm Toy Museum Show, Dyersville, IA.

Our stay in Wisconsin has really brought back my older son’s love for farming. Since riding along in a John Deere to plant a field full of soybeans, our older son has become a John Deere loyalist. Dear Husband remembered about the summer toy show at the National Farm Toy Museum in Dyersville, Iowa and knew we had to take the boys.

Both boys wanted specific tractors and implements, my older son focused on the model of the tractor they both rode in. Little fella is more of a wait and see what strikes his fancy type. Our little table is full of seven tractors, one sprayer, one hay bailer, one plow, one mower, and one planter. I think they’ve got the season covered.

The National Farm Toy Museum is part of a National Heritage area called Silos and Smokestacks. It’s a collaboration of stops to express the life and times of farmers and farming. I confess, I miss the home we lived at in Illinois surrounded by acres of corn, soybeans, and pastured cows. Our stay in Wisconsin is reigniting that love of farming.

It was fun to return to Dyersville for the toy show we’ve been to when the boys were very little. It’s even more fun when they have solid opinions on what to buy.

Laundry.

I miss my washing machine. I’ve retyped that line over and over, but the simple truth is, I just miss my very own washing machine.

Instead of doing a load every day or so, now I have to wait until we can’t stash the dirty clothes any longer. Then I must partake in the whole sharing-a-washing-machine-with-the-public thing. I know. I know. I AM the general public, but still.

It’s expensive too! Probably $15-20 a week, which adds up quickly. That’s if the dryers actually dry the clothes, otherwise add $5-7 easy.

To combat my frustration, I have developed some strategies.

#1. I wash all my whites with bleach. I feign that this will clean the washing machine from residual general yuckiness while washing our stuff. You know, kill anything left from said public.

#2. I wash every non-white load with hydrogen peroxide. I learned this tip from the website that I purchased our Turkish towels. It softens the towels by removing excess soap residue. It also kills public “germs” and seriously softens, well, everything. I am a big fan. I know I’ll continue this when I have a washing machine again.

#3. I use my wool dryer balls with germ fighting essential oils. I know the clothes should be clean, but this is my added safeguard. I’ve got to tell you, we took apart our old washing machine before we sold the house and the inside was so full of mold. I can’t even. So, I KNOW these public machines at least have some.

#4. I hand wash if I can. I bought a little washboard bowl. When we have water, I wash the little stuff and the polyester stuff (thank you sons for loving polyester, it suds (sudsess?) up in seconds flat). Socks, underwear, bras, the boys shirts and shorts, these are all easy to hand wash. The constriction is hanging space. I can’t wash too much at once because campgrounds frown on airing of clean laundry outdoors. I pretend the boys shirts and shorts are “swim wear” which seems legit at almost every campground. Otherwise, I hang items in our shower, a few pieces at a time, and move them to the towel racks when they aren’t dripping as profusely.

Hand washing helps me stave off laundry mats. Again, I understand I’m a member of said public needing wash machine access, and I’m so thankful they are everywhere, but less often is best. When we resettle, I will hug that washing machine. Give yours a little pat for me?

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EAA Museum, Oshkosh, WI.

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We brought the boys to the fabulous EAA AirVenture Museum when they were quite young. I was very happy to return with them older. I remembered some fascinating exhibits Dear Husband and I enjoyed and I was excited to share them with older boys with more understanding and patience.

I love the WWII hall. It features large plane art, (with many flashy girls oh la la), but the entire wrap around has many detailed displays of how women helped in the war, how families lived on rations, recounted special missions and loads more. I saw a little newspaper clipping of a vegetarian woman who didn’t use her meat ration tokens, and instead fashioned over 400 of them into beaded decoration on her dress.

I also love the SpaceShip One Voyager exhibit which recounts how the first successful civilian spacecraft operated with a movie and a moving replica. Yes, a civilian built spacecraft. How cool is that?

Anyhow, we toured this, the children’s discovery area and more in the museum and then headed outdoors to the Pioneer Airport. Our tram guide told us about the “young eagles” program for the boys, where they get to ride in a plane for free. Dear Husband shrugged and said, “probably with a paying adult.” We checked further and wouldn’t you know it, they actually meant sans adult. They have a program where they take 8-17 year olds up for a free 20 minute instructional flight. Our 8-year-old couldn’t wait to get up there (he just made the cut-off age, remember the birthday?), our 10-year-old not so much.

Neither boy had ever flown before, but they both got instructions, a log book, a flight, and my younger son even got to man the joystick. That was just amazing. Now we log in and they can complete online instruction, again free, and return for a second flight if they choose, also FREE.

The program has been in progress since the early 1990’s and they are close to their 2 millionth young eagle. We are so pleased to have the opportunity to take part! Even our older fella said it was pretty amazing.

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First Birthday in Tracy.

Just to clarify, this actually was an “eighth” birthday, but it was our first time celebrating a family birthday in the Airstream. Little fella wanted Mickey balloons inspired by our Disney World visit. I don’t have room for our regular birthday banner but instead used a felt square garland I packed for all our celebrating needs. I hung those both over the booth, which folds into his bed at night.

To celebrate we took him to Wisconsin Dells to an indoor waterpark, of which I have no photos because that was no place for a camera, and because I was swimming and water sliding right along with the fellas.

He wanted a Minecraft birthday cake. I’m a big fail at any themed birthday cake. I did better when all cakes were round and figures were placed on top. I talked him into brownies because our little convection oven just doesn’t have cake pan capacity. He was so great about it. We decided to make Minecraft grass blocks. He also requested figures atop, so I drew those and placed them on toothpicks. I am no artist cake or pencil wise and fully fess to it. He was happy with it, and for that I am most thankful.

He picked out his presents beforehand, including a gator from the Everglades. He was happy with his spoils, cake, and waterpark fun.

Oh my, I almost forgot, we had pancakes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner because they are just his darn favorite. We try to do pumpkin, chocolate, and “something” else usually, but this year we just did plain due to our pantry and kitchen constrictions.

Celebrating in the trailer was fine. The balloons got annoying after a few days so we just popped them. The cake alternative worked well. Mostly it’s pretty cool we can go anywhere fun the boys want for their birthdays.

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Roadside Trouble.

While heading north to Wisconsin to visit with family for a bit, we ended up stranded just outside of Bowling Green, KY. If you’ll remember, we lived very near Bowling Green just months ago and in fact spent quite a bit of time here. Ending up with our truck in the shop, here, of all the places we’ve been, seemed downright ironic. Not that it matters much.

We spent the night boon docking at the Bowling Green Cabela’s and pulled out early Saturday morning. We noticed the engine was acting a touch odd. Dear Husband turned the key, engine fired, ran, shook, died out. We do have a diesel and it was quite cold, especially compared to Florida. We assumed the fuel was the trouble (cold diesel can gel). So we tried again. Key turned, ran, pulled out, engine died while trying to exit the parking lot. I guess we should have called it quits there. Instead we tried again. This time the engine ran until we got 25 miles outside of Bowling Green, and then quit. It wouldn’t start again until a few days later.

We had the foresight to sign up for roadside assistance before the trip and whipped out the card. I called, we waited, we wondered, we planned. A lot of towing companies refused to tow us because of the trailer, but we only needed the one who would. We found him and waited until mid-day. He came from Horse Cave, quite a ways actually, because no local company wanted to do the job. That was frustrating.

The tow truck company brought another car to carry the boys, dog, and I straight to the Bowling Green KOA. Dear Husband, Tracy, and our broken truck were behind. The plan was to have Tracy towed into the KOA, then the truck towed to the dealership.

While stranded, the boys met four homeschooled kiddos. They gelled perfectly. They spent most of the three days playing with the kids at the park. Since we already “lived” Bowling Green, we didn’t really need to sight see. Instead I caught up on emails, phone calls, tidying, and so on while the boys played.

Our truck broke down on our journey back from Colorado Springs last October, when we picked Tracy up. Feeling this is strike two, I got nervous. I questioned whether it can go for a year. Dear Husband gave me a little perspective. Since purchasing the truck for this job, we’ve put on an average year’s worth of miles, over 30,000. That’s a lot. Somedays we drive a full eight hours. That’s a lot of “on” time. He reassured me this is routine maintenance, annoying, yes, but not out of the question.

A few days later, fixed lift pump rocking, we sailed by the spot just a few days ago trapped us. We happily pressed on, and drove seven more hours north, to Wisconsin.

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Russell Cave National Monument, AL.

Down few winding roads, on a lovely spring day, we stopped to visit Russell Cave National Monument. The beautiful setting looks like a lovely spot for a picnic and a nice spot to linger, and I suppose that must be what many, many, many generations of people before us thought as well. Russell Cave is just this, a spot many chose to stay and live from prehistoric times through early Native Americans. We are talking 10,000 BC to 1650 AD. Excavations reveal ample tools, supplies, and details to the daily lives of many on these very grounds.

As always, the boys participated in the Junior Ranger program. We ran into a fellow Junior Ranger-er who had a vest chock full of badges. Thumbs up gal! What we did find was this was one of the most detailed, intense booklets we’ve encountered yet. I suppose with SO much history they wanted to cover it all, but phew, the boys were getting a bit restless with this one. In fact, said Junior Ranger gal’s mother and I were puzzling and pouring through our pamphlets trying to assist with downright detailed questions. I did mention this to the Ranger, and of course it’s no harm done. We just feel we really earned those badges this time.

The spring dogwoods were blooming, the caterpillars were everywhere, and the water was flowing. It was such a peaceful place, but the Ranger told us there will be much activity soon. They intend to excavate again, now. We were just shy of their start date. I’d love to have seen that in progress, but again, the quiet we enjoyed was so appealing, too.

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Vicksburg National Military Park, Vicksburg, MS.

I learned a lot about the Civil War while volunteering at Stones River National Battlefield. I’m not so great at recalling exact maneuvers, tactics, or names. Instead it’s the stories of survival that stick with me. I’ve read about a soldier so weary from battle and bad weather, he went inside an old house to sleep. Wondering why those inside didn’t argue him off for lack of space, he awoke to find them all dead. I read a story of a soldier so excited to find a chicken, he stashed it while fighting, elated to return to it and cook it for dinner. Also of a soldier running by an enemy soldier who stopped and tried to repair his battered legs and return his boots to his feet for protection from the cold. It’s those singular stories that stick with me.

Vicksburg National Military Park had more of these stories. The civilian stories were memorable here for me. There are stories of women and families who relocated to nearby caves to avoid getting hit from cannons and debris. Families who stood on a town road overlooking the river in fear of attack. Those who starved for lack of supplies.

This park is quite different from Stones River in that it has stone monuments along a long driving path from each state commemorating their soldiers’ service. We stopped a bit longer at the Illinois Monument (the white dome photographed) which had a reflection for peace engraved around the top exterior, “With malice toward none, with charity for all, let us have peace.”

We also visited the USS Cairo which was about halfway through the drive. It is an iron clad steamship that was sunk trying to pass Vicksburg during battle. Did you read that final photo? Sunk in 12 minutes and none aboard perished? Intrigued? It was built in a few short months during the Civil War, sailed down the Mississippi with a few other sister ships, sunk, sat underwater until about 100 years later when they raised and eventually reassembled and made museum worthy. Inside the museum features loads of recovered artifacts as well.

We enjoyed half a day at this park and ship museum before heading north some more.

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The Illustrated Compendium of Amazing Animal Facts, A Book Review.

Did you know that a crocodile can go three years without eating? And a tarantula two years? This and many other questions have been thrown my way recently because I handed the boys a copy of The Illustrated Compendium of Amazing Animal Facts by Maja Safstrom. Full of fascinating tidbits and fantastic black and white illustrations, this little book has become the “let’s quiz mom” resource.

Ms. Safstrom makes chickens look sassy, ostriches peaceful, kangaroos thoughtful, and sloths positively radiant. The art alone makes paging through a pleasure, but coupled with serious animal info makes one feel downright smart. A short book, but with plenty of amazing trivia bait, this little number is perfect for the fellas (and their mother who is learning from them). With little space on our shelves, it’s great to have a 50% art-50% fascinating facts title to review and learn something new from time and again. Ms. Safstrom states she hopes to teach something new and inspire animal love. She succeeded in our case.

This little book seems destined for gifting at any age. It’s no DK animal guide, it’s not meant to be poured over for hours. Instead, it’s sweet, smart, and thoughtful. It’s kept us busy for a few minutes at night before dinners.

(This book was provided by Blogging for Books in exchange for an honest review.)