Lights, Noise & Tickets

Chuck-E-Cheese all grown up ... kinda. That's what Dave and Busters felt like last night as our family enjoyed a night out on the town. Except instead of pizza there was real grown-up food. Oh there were lights too. And there was lots and lots of noise as well. And in the end there were enough tickets for Tyson to get some baseball trading cards (does he even collect them?). We raced cars, shot hoops, did the skeeball thing and anything else that grabbed our attention ... which was ... just about everything else.

Shrooms in the Yard

There are mushrooms all over the yard! Like anything else, Paige hit the books and the Internet to find out what all she could about them and discovered that they are of the Shaggy Mane variety. Needless to say, the harvest was on and they've found their way into our meals. As of this posting, no one has died. Tyson also came across a mushroom of the ceramic variety that was discarded at a service project last weekend. He cleaned it up and broke out Paige's paints. It's always nice when we can bring a part of the outdoors inside the house.

26.2 Miles Is a Long Run

26.2 miles ... that was the distance to finish the marathon and there were times when Cody didn't think he would make it, but he did. It wouldn't have been a bad run had it not been for the wet roads. It was the wet roads and the hidden puddles that did him in. Half way through the run the wet socks and shoes started taking their tole and the run became more difficult than it needed to. But a finish is a finish and there will be more runs. We still had a lot of fun and regardless of anything else, Cody's first marathon time was his personal best.

Discovering NW Missouri

Many, many years ago today Christopher Columbus set out to explore a new land. Today, the Edwards explored northwestern Missouri in search of a few ancestor's final burial spots. The drive took us through hundreds of miles of farm fields as we ventured within a stone's throw of the Iowa-Missouri border. Alas, we finally found the headstones of Ann Hammer and Isaac Benedict, Cody's great-great-great grandfather (on the Hull side). After years of scouring for family headstones across the country, this might be the last one to find on the Edwards and Hull side of the family.

Plucking Sunflower Seeds

Living in the Sunflower State provided us with a bounteous harvest of two sunflowers this year. Moles and other sub-subterranean seed stealers probably had a more prosperous harvest (per capita at least) than we did. But that didn't keep Paige from plucking the seeds out from the giant heads and turning them into nummy morsels. The rest of the harvest is coming to an end after what many are calling the most successful garden the Edwards have ever sown - all 750 square feet of it. In fact, it was doubly successful in that we didn't need to weed or water thanks to a cool and wet summer coupled with four wheelbarrow loads of grass clippings each week. That's garden living at its best!

Power Pole Erected

One might think that another blog post about a power pole would mean that there's nothing going on in the Midwest life of the Edwards. That would only be partially true. While it is exciting to see that the power pole is now upright and that the guy-wires are in the neighbor's yard (sorry Millers!) there are other happenings to take note of ... like the opossum that made a daytime appearance Saturday evening or that the moles in the yard are running rampant. Exciting stuff. As for the family? Beautiful fall weather (22 out of the past 24 days the temps have been in the 70's) had kept Tyson in the swimming pool on Fridays plus a Scout campout last night. Paige just completed a record setting canning season filling over 35 jars of garden produce ... and Cody's nursing 2 sore knees with a couple of frozen bags of peas.

Lincoln Logs in the Yard

The City of Tonganoxie decided to lay some logs in our front yard this week. A few years ago the city went through and widened 4th street and put in some curb and gutter as well - but only up to Tonganoxie Creek. That was Phase I ... a phase that only impacted a couple of corn fields. Phase II meant dealing with property owners. Heaven forbid that it should be an easy process. After years of city council meetings, lawsuits, bickering, name calling, easements, right-of-ways, and every other hindrance known to man, the project is ready to roll forward. At least that's what we assume the large utility pole in our front yard means. All the other neighbors along 4th street got one too! As for the people living along 4th Street ... Cody's done with 6 weeks of travel, Paige is making salsa, and Tyson's running into parked cars with his bike (a story for another occasion.)