Wrapping up Summer

Just a quick note on this evenings activities.
Not that this, or most RV communities need an excuse to throw a party but this evening was just a little unusual.  Bonna and Jerry thought it would be great to have an early Thanksgiving dinner before too many more people had departed for parts unknown. Turkey, ham, yams, mashed potatoes, gravy and all the other fixins' one could ever want. Wow! And a separate dessert table with enough goodness (and calories) to put Paula Deen on notice.  Lots of effort from all the ladies here.  We're fortunate to have so many good cooks.

I told you this was quite a feed

John and Kathy were ready 

Jerry was late for dinner so .... not much left.

You can gain weight just looking at all these beauties

The smell of suntan lotion drifting through the air has been replaced by the aroma of burning leaves and fresh, ripe apples nearby.  The sunny days are still here but you'd better have a jacket handy when the sun begins to set.  Our summer is almost over and the threats of a brutal winter await us. We're going to spend our first winter home in six years.  Why you wonder?  Well it's time to get some major remodeling work done on the coach and we want to get at it.  New flooring, drapes, and a new refrigerator are planned but if the work gets done early, who knows ... maybe we'll hit the road anyway.

The other day I finally learned out how cow pies were made.  Oh sure... everyone knows that answer. But let me tell you how I found out. Our friends Jerry and Bonna invited Sharon,  Miki, along with Bill and June, out to their southern Michigan farm.  A beautiful stone farm house greeted us as we pulled into the drive.  Surrounded by rolling hills and big red barns this place is what being 'down on the farm' is all about.  Unfortunately it's so far from civilization that I was sure they'd yet to have electricity or indoor plumbing (but they did). Greeted at the door by the family dog, who apparently either has lost his sense of smell or our earlier showers actually worked, allowed us to pass. Bonna provided some cold drinks to everyone and while the girls were gabbing, Jerry wanted to show us guys what 'real' farmers do.
Jerry motioned for us to get into his big farm truck.  Big tires, big rumbling diesel, and a big step up to get into the monster.  So off we go towards the pasture.  Bill jumps out to open the gate and off we go ... bouncing along directly towards a herd of comfortably resting black Angus cattle. Their ears perked up as we approached, probably thinking we were out there to feed them but soon they were struggling to their feet as Jerry began to slowly drive right through the middle of the herd.  If cows could talk I bet they would had a few things to moo at Jerry about.  A few moments ago they were relaxing in the cool mud (?) ... now they're struggling to get out of way. Now to the part about cow pies.
It seems these cattle have some sort of an attitude ... and show it in an unpleasant way.  Disturbed by the monster truck in their midst, the first thing they do when standing up is make a pie and release enough nitrogen gas to fill the Hindenburg. It's not a pretty sight/smell and I quickly rolled up the window to keep any of it out of the truck (but wasn't fast enough).  I look over at Jerry and the smile on his face tells me 'these city boys now know what farmin' is all about'.  Anyway there we were parked ... in the middle of piles of steaming cow crap.  Hoping that that the four-wheel drive works, as getting stuck in this steaming sea doesn't seem too fun, we do manage to move on and leave the herd to settle down.  So there you have it.  My conclusions are: being a cow does not get you many perks and they have developed ways to show their distaste.  Here are some of wonderful critters.  And I didn't know they wore earrings either.

I bet Jerry knows all their names too!

With the college football season in full swing the competitive juices must be flowing here at Cousins. Since this park has a reputation for great cooks residing here, one of our more well known purveyors of fine food (June) challenged one of our least known cooks (Charlie) to a lasagna face-off.  No prize nor voting but what turned out was a great evening of pasta for all to enjoy.  Charlie apparently has been a closet cook known only in family circles so this was his coming out party.  Now June knows her way around the kitchen to so Charlie had his work cut out for him.  As it turned out both were winners.  Subtle differences in recipes were noted but both were worthy entries.  I'd snuggle up to a plate of either one of them.

Here are the two lasagna combatants and their creations.

Chef Charles and Chef June

Okay I admit ... I screwed up!
We recently had the annual Cousins Chili Cook-Off and we had a record turn-out with eleven entrants.  With secrecy paramount, only a precious few knew whose chili was in which warming bowl. After a round of sampling the votes were taken and the winner was Jeff C. with Carol B. in second and Eric L. third. Now here's where I messed up.  Usually I take a photo or two of the winning group but as luck would have it I had an equipment malfunction and got nothing. However I can assure you that few will forget how good this year's offerings were.  So hat's off to first time winner Jeff.  Great stuff!

Chili Sampling Specialist

Half asleep on the patio I was nudged into consciousness by a strange humming noise.  As my eyes fought to open I immediately saw this large bug flying around near me. Great! A praying Mantis was flitting around looking for a place to land and with a little luck I could watch him for a while.  He settled down right near my foot and landed on the wheel of my Weber grill.  He slowly navigated completely around the wheel before settling on one of the pseudo spokes on the wheel.  I watched for several minutes and the damnedest thing started to happen.  Instead of this guy lunching on a passing bug or perhaps chew on my leg She started making a ootheca. 'Betcha don't know what that is and I had to look it up ... it's an egg case.  An intricate pouch-like repository for her 200 or so offspring to spend the winter in until hatching sometime in late Spring or early Summer.  She was probably thinking, as long as Sharon and I usually go south for the winter, she might as well send the kids along in the basement of our coach where I stow the Weber while traveling. But she'll be really surprised when the kids are back in South Haven next year. Actually she's most likely already dead as they usually die shortly after laying their eggs ... so I guess I'll have to raise the little critters all by myself.  I wonder if the IRS will flinch when they see the 200 dependents on my 2014 return?  Anyway it was an interesting couple of hours.

Egg laying Mantis on the old Weber

So there you have it folks.  A little catch up on what's been going on with us.  As the parks residents continue to leave for part west and south, it's a sad reminder that the summer is over and another summer season has come to an end. Though we shall miss being on the road this winter, when we return, the coach will be looking a little better and we can start this all over again.

We have until mid-October to vacate the park so time is running out.  With a little luck this year maybe I'll get a chance to photograph one of the Lake Michigan water spouts again.  A rare treat.

Still livin' the dream but dreading the upcoming winter weather.

Phil

ps.  Here's an unabashed plug for my grand daughter Allison's Monday afternoon internet radio show.   Check out www.whaleradio.org in the 2pm to 4pm time slot. Allison and Jeff will provide an off-the-cuff unscripted review of current activities in their world.  They take on-air phone calls too. If you log in or call in tell them you heard about them from Livin' the Dream blog.