Adams Wife’s Weblog

Went to the fair this afternoon.  I ate corn dogs and funnel cakes and visited the long horns, angus, work horses, and chickens.  Also the art and antique exhibits and the quilt and other home arts displays.  I saw lots of people I haven’t seen for many years.  It was fun!  I took lots of pictures.  I’ll be posting them when I get home next week.

Gadfly that I am I’m off to Twin Falls/Buhl again.  County fairs are still a big deal in Idaho and I’ll be spending a day at the Twin Falls County Fair.  I’m leaving tomorrow and will be back home on Tuesday, September 2.  I’ll try to come back with some good pictures.  Perhaps like some of these that I picked off of Flickr.

You won’t find me on the rides, but I love to look at the animals (including the two-legged variety) and taste the food.  I promise more pictures than you can possibly want.  You’ll be as sick of my pictures as I get on the rides before I’m through with you.  I’m gonna have FUN!!

26 August 2008

Welcome to Slice of Life Sunday -

a meme dedicated to preserving the accounts of events cut out of the lives of average people just like you from all over the word.

Choices for a Slice of Life for the week of August 24 include “First Kiss.”  Cricket indicated that she is gathering stories from our adolescence for the second chapter of her book.  Sorry, Cricket.  I was a bit past adolescence when I got my first kiss.

I was something of a late bloomer when it came to dating.  I had my first date during Christmas vacation my senior year in high school.  I didn’t have another date for over two years.  Guess I wasn’t impressed with the process.  I had two friends who were sisters.  They called and asked if I would be willing to go out with their brother who was home for the weekend.  Of course, I agreed.  I didn’t realize this would set a precedent for me in dating their brothers.  They had five brothers - one was married, one was only 14, and I had at least one date with each of the other three.  I kind of got the feeling they were hoping to make me a sister.

It was the third brother that I dated most frequently.  And it was he who gave me my first kiss.  I was by this time well past my 20th birthday and moving rapidly toward 21.  We had been to a party/dance at the church.  I’m not sure how many times we had been out together prior to this, but it was by no means our first date.  We were “doubling” with another couple as he couldn’t get use of the family car that night.  When they dropped me off my date walked me to the door as any gentleman should.  He also followed me into the house which he had not done before.  (My mom always left the porch light on for me when I was out.  I’m sure this is one reason I had not been kissed previously.)

As we said our good-nights he bent down to me (he was 6 feet tall, I was 5′2″) and kissed me.  As his lips met mine I remember thinking “So that’s what it’s like.”  Then I had another thought, “It would probably be good if I kissed him back.”  I did, and it was.  That first kiss led to a second, and then the driver began to honk his horn.  I guess he was tired of waiting to take his date home and get his own good-night kiss.  You know it was a good kiss, because I was anxious to try it again.  All these years later I continue to enjoy kissing very much.

About that ever-present porch light:  I’m pretty sure I would have been kissed sooner were it not for that light.  I remember the end of another double date.  My date walked me to the door (I can’t remember who he was).  As we stood there on the front porch with that light shining down on us, he looked up at the light, looked back at the car where another couple was waiting and then looked at me.  “Well,” he said.  “Good-night.”  And he left.  I was never sure whether to be grateful for the light or to wish that just once Mom had forgotten to turn it on.

Read other Slices of Life here.

24 August 2008

DOUBLE CLICK ON ANY PHOTO TO ENLARGE IT.

I finally got some of my photos ready to post.  These first ones were taken through the observation window at the visitor’s pond at the Clear Springs Trout farm.  The smaller fish are trout, both rainbow and brown speckled.  The larger, shy fellow is a sturgeon.  If you spot any that seem to be swimming upside down, they are reflections in the top of the water.

This next photo is a spring that used to come down the side of the canyon.  It was piped in and the rock opening built many years ago.  Thirsty travelers can stop here and get a drink of cold, clear spring water.  I remember stopping for a drink when I was a child - it was old then.

Yes, there are gators in Idaho - but not growing wild!  These gators were imported from Florida.  Thre is a lot of natural hot water in the Magic Valley especially in the Buhl/Hagerman area.  These gators live at a swimming/therapy pool that is a favorite place to go to relax in the hot water and soak away your aches and pains.  The gators are kept behind a sturdy fence in their very own warm water pool. Actually it is a double fence.  Behind the chain link there is another sturdy fence with a different pattern of links.  Very hard to take a picture through.

I took this picture over the top of the fence, so didn’t get it aimed as well as I would have liked.  If you look closely at the bottom center of the picture you can just see the gator’s back.  This is a good time to double click and enlarge the photo.  You can see more of him under the water when you do that.  There are three of them in the enclosure, but they were staying submerged to keep cool that day.

Post Script:  If you enlarge the picture and look closely you can see two of the gators in the foreground (one in the center the other more to the right).  The third one seems to be hiding under the big rock on the left in the back.  Let me know if you find them.

More of Pensieve’s Friday Photo Challenge

More Haiku Friday

**I love my new computer - EXCEPT the cursor doesn’t point at the buttons.  It points above them and sometimes off to one side as well.  I spend a lot of time just trying to get lined up to push the right buttons.

**NEVER, NEVER set out in the car with four children to drive for 2 1/2 to 3 hours unless you have drugged said children first.  I am constantly reminded that life was much easier when I had but one daughter - she never screamed at herself while riding, never complained that she was taking more than her share of the seat, never had a fight whilst going down the road.  One is so much easier than four!!!!!!

**I ordered another new toy yesterday.  It is called a Kindle and is an e book reader.  You can download up to 200-250 books onto this thing and take it with you wherever you go.  It is about the size of a paperback novel.  I’ve heard that they are considering making text books available for download using one of these things.  It’s not something I needed, just something I wanted.  It should be here in about a week.  I’ll let you know how well I like it then.

**I recently purchased and uploaded The Scriptures on CD for study by computer.  I don’t talk a lot about my religious beliefs.  They are sacred to me and I don’t wish to leave them open to ridicule.  That doesn’t mean I don’t hold strong convictions.  This CD includes many study helps and other languages, too.  I’m excited to use this new tool to learn more about and become closer to my Savior, Jesus Christ.

**I’m looking for a recumbent exercise bike and a set of rubber bands that attach to a wall for resistance exercise.  Since I threw myself at the sidewalk badly bruising my ribs, scraping my face, and breaking two bones in my hand I have this unreasonable fear of walking falling.  As walking has always been my principle form of exercise I think I need to find something different.  The cardiologist suggested swimming, but I got krypto last fall after my kids went swimming in a contaminated pool.  I’m not sure I want to chance that, either.  I’m a mess!

**My grandkids go back to school Monday.  I can’t believe the summer is over already.  I’m trying to talk my son-in-law into a family trip to Twin Falls for Labor Day.  He says traveling isn’t very restful for him any more.  I think it must be the four children.  ;)  I didn’t get to do all the things I wanted to do, take all the pictures I wanted to take while I was out of town.  I got too tired to keep going after just one day of visiting the fish and ‘gators and having a picnic.  Maybe I should stop trying to get the kids to go to Twin with me for Labor Day and just go alone.  I don’t seem to get as tired when I’m traveling without the children.  And, yes, I know that makes me sound old and cranky.

**I’ve been taking fish oil for my cholestrol, etc.  I don’t eat fish much because it repeats on me sometimes.  So does the fish oil.  Someone remind me why I want to take care of my health.  Is it so that I will look really good when I’m laid out in my coffin?  Or maybe so that I can spend more time giving myself shots or living in a nursing home.  Wouldn’t want to die and miss that now would I?

**I’ve recently started using oxygen while I sleep.  It seems as though my oxygen saturation is below 90% about 80% of the night.  Apparently when I lay down I stop breathing because the percentage was low after having laid in bed reading for a few minutes before I went to sleep.  I’m very surprised at what a great difference this makes.  Even my hair looks better in the morning when I use the oxygen.  I must rest easier without as much tossing and turning.  I don’t wake up with cramps in my legs during the night nor do I get up with a morning backache.  Most days I don’t even feel a need to nap during the day.  Isn’t it amazing how much better you feel when you get enough oxygen?  Maybe I’ll start taking an occasional hit during the daytime just to keep me going strong.  lol

20 August 2008

Wordless Wednesday #21

This is actually one of my “vacation pictures.”  It’s a magnet on my cousin’s refrigerator.  I just couldn’t resist it.

More vacation photos.  These are of the kids playing “Octopus.”  It’s very similar to “Twister” except you have to connect the specified color of velcro band to your partner’s specified band.

Player 1 - blue, Player 2 - red.  Player 1 - green, Player 2 - orange.

Player 1 - yellow, Player 2 - blue.  Player 1 - green, Player 2 - yellow.

Other Wordless Postings

I have returned from my mini-vacation.  I’ll be posting some pictures and perhaps some tales, too.  But not tonight.  Tonight I have to rest up from my vacation.

10 August 2008

As requested I took some pictures of the new computer.  I’m not totally satisfied with the way they turned out, but I submit them to you here.   I’ve decided there’s just no good way to “pose” a computer that is all hooked up and running - they always sit in the corner somewhere.

I had to show you my son-in-law’s choice for a desktop wallpaper.  Can you tell what interests him?  It will soon be replaced with one of my pictures from the Snake River Green Belt here in Idaho Falls.

Concentrate on the computer and ignore the background, please.

This is going to be a quiet week for me.  My daughter,  my grandkids, and I will be going to the Twin Falls area for the week to spend some time with family and do some fun stuff.  None of us has had anything resembling a vacation this summer and the kids will be back in school soon.  So this is our last chance for a summer vacation.  We will be touring the new LDS Temple in Twin Falls prior to its dedication, checking out the Balanced Rock, visiting a trout farm, and swimming at one of the natural hot-water pools in the area.  I’ll take lots of pictures and promise to bore you with them when we get back home.