Sea of Red at Arrowhead

No cough, no sore throat and no sinus infection could keep Cody and his friend Nate from visiting Arrowhead Stadium to watch the Kansas Chiefs taken on the New Orleans Saints in a little pre-season football action. Unfortunately, no Chiefs player could stop the Saints either. Nothing like a little hometown booing to make for an interesting quarterback controversy. But a great time had by all ... for who could argue with $2 tickets to an NFL game? Just don't ask how much the drinks cost. Go Chiefs!

A Ride on the School Bus

... and with the ring of a bell summer vacation was over. It was back-to-school for Tyson and the rest of the Tonganoxie USD 464 school district kids. Could that explain Paige's smile that spread from ear to ear? Sure it was only a half day to start with over at the new Tonganoxie Middle School but it was a day back nonetheless. Reading, Writing, Arithmetic and now a ride on the school bus! I guess we're rural enough that Tyson gets to ride the bus, but not the short bus. 5th Graders only get one recess now though ... which was a good thing today considering it was 102 degrees outside. NOTE: Cody & Paige resume studies next Monday (see courses at right).

A Show Me State Fair

There are few things in life that are fair. But one of the best is the Missouri State Fair located in beautiful Sedalia, MO (pop. 20,000), about two hours from our home ... and Paige and Cody enjoyed date-night amongst the pigs and sheep on the opening night of the fair. Oh it was hot ... hotter than blazes! But that didn't keep the throngs of visitors and FFA members from judging the livestock and taking in all the sights and smells the fair has to offer. Then came the concert that night ... Jason Aldean! Thousands of country music fans crammed the Grandstand to take in an awesome performance by one of country music's rising stars. But boy did we feel old when we started jamming out to his renditions of Guns N Roses and the high school cowboys in front of us just stood and said, "Guns and who?"

... and check out our weather blog to see our recent storm damage from earlier this week!

A Dip in the Pool

We kicked off the start of our first official heat wave of the summer by taking a dip in Chief Tonganoxie Pool in downtown Tonganoxie. Where else can you go and swim with grain towers in the background? It was also a good time to get a swim in before the 82 year old pool is closed for the season and the construction begins on the new (and improved) one for next year. It was impossible to dry off with a heat index of 104° and high humidity. Paige has always said that she likes the humidity in the Midwest ... she says it always feels like you just got out of the pool. I guess tonight we did.

Garden Harvest

It's been hot and dry which has slowed down the garden harvest, but to date, we've harvested ...

• Summer Squash (3)
• Pickles and Cucumbers (8)
• Lemon Cucumbers (6)
  
• Tomatoes (2)
• Corn (4 ears)
• Green Beans (2 qrts)
• Peas (quart)
• Zucchini (more than we can count)

Still on tap to harvest includes:

• Cantaloupe (1)
• Watermelon (3)
• Miscellaneous/Mysterious Squashes
• Peppers and Jalapeños
• Carrots
  

The black berry harvest is all but over too ... hmm, with this kind of harvest, it sounds like it must be fair time!

White H20 in a Dry Heat

While Paige was home picking black berries off of our newly discovered black berry bushes, Cody was at a summer meeting at a resort in Midway, UT. When meetings weren't in order, he and some co-workers floated the Weber River on Saturday morning. What a fantastic way to beat the "dry heat" that filled the air. Nothing like the humidity back home that's for sure ... but at least we know that a couple dozen black berry bushes sure like it!

News From Around Town

Life in a small town is never boring ... sometimes you just have to read the weekly paper to see how exciting small town life is! We love life in Tonganoxie ... we are continually grateful for where we live and the community we decided to call home a couple of years ago. Here's a few interesting tidbits of information from around town:

• The Pleasant St. bridge has been deemed unsafe for large vehicles (buses, firetrucks, etc.) and will be demolished and rebuilt. Whew! Inadequate bridges scare us all!
• How rural are we? Rural enough to have a farmers market now every Saturday at 7 am. Vegies free from pesticides - how novel!
• Plans for the new Chief Tonganoxie Swimming Pool were unveiled! Construction should begin in August. The original pool was built in 1925 ... yup, time for a new one.
• How popular is Tongie? It was the 3rd fastest growing city in the state of Kansas last year, growing 9.19% to around 4,100 residents. Mike Yanez, city administrator put it this way, "People in the Kansas City market are looking for affordable housing and looking for a quieter atmosphere, looking for a better school system. Then people are coming to Tongie and realizing we have a pretty good package."

Yes, Tongie has the total package and is a great place to put down some roots and call home - a little patch of heaven in the Great Midwest.