Summer 2014 - Day 4

Today began with a weird dream that included the actor that plays Pensatucky. My phone rang from my sister calling me, but I didn't pick up. Instead, I texted her to say that Mom and I would not meet her and her bf for bagels as we were still asleep, so let's plan on lunch. I was going to go back to bed, but decided to go for breakfast.

I got down there and put some eggs and a whole mess of sausages on my plate. There was a family with 5 [million] children that all looked about a year apart. The dad was also wearing a Detroit Lions shirt so, you know. I got a pastry, then coffee, and worked hard to get away from the toddlers. I sat and ate my pile of sausages and reached out to people via Facebook. After consuming my food, I decided to get a bagel, then also decided to get one for my mother. People people everywhere, just hovering in places, and so close to me. I got out of there eventually.

In the room, my mother was drying her hair and wanted me to get ready to go - it was 10 am and checkout was at 11. I rested, then showered and got ready. We were out at 10:53 - 7 minutes to spare, as my mom noted.

Down in the lobby, we decided to go to the Olbrich Botanical Gardens with my sister and her boyfriend. We identified directions, got our cars aligned, and were off to 3330 Atwood. We did most things right, and Monona turned into Atwood, but eventually, Atwood ended and we realized that we were lost. We stopped, discovered what to do, and set off again. Mom got caught at a light, so I got to the gardens first and parked. Then I saw mom's vehicle and she made her way into the parking lot, where I told her to just "find a space".  Sister and her BF were at the lily sale, and had purchased lilies for Mom. We met up with them, then Mom looked at other lilies and took two when she was only supposed to take one - it was some "buy some and get one of these free" things going on. All was settled, we looked at other lilies, then decided to go to the Gardens.

Inside the jungle part of the gardens, there were flowers, butterflies, and birds. All very purdy.

Bird  Flower  Waterfall  Colorful Leaves  Hanging Flowers  Chubby Bird Two Butterflies

Tan Butterfly Red Flower Fuzzy Vines Purple Flowers Orchids Purple Orchids White Flowers

I then found a Monarch Butterfly on some flowers and took photos. 

Then, my companions wanted to go outside, but I had a few more photographs to capture. 

Then we went outside where the flowers - THE FLOWERS!

My phone ran out of space and lost battery power.

My last photo from the Olbrich Botanical Gardens

After much time spent looking at things, I bought a few things and then we carpooled to a cafe & cupcakery to have lunch. I charged my phone a bit and transferred some files to my Chromebook to make some space. We ordered food and chatted about things. Food arrived and we chatted more. Then we continued to chat until we left. Cupcakes were purchased and we went back to the gardens to part ways. A cupcake was given to my sister, they left for Milwaukee, and Mom and I were off to Rudolph. I assumed that she knew where she was going, but we did have to stop to figure out directions. It turned out that we were on the right path, so we just kept going. Once we were both on 39/90/94, I was off, with Mom in the dust. When I was near Plainfield, Dad called me, but I did not answer. I got off the highway for the last hour to home and the radio stations got more and more familiar, though 96.7 has changed from Country to "Today's Hits" or whatever they call it. I find it a welcome change, but I assume that locals are less enthusiastic.

I got in to Rapids eventually and even managed to get a Facebook post out before I was passing the lovely scents of the paper mill. Three vehicles turned on to 34 from P such that I had to apply my brakes to not hit them. The person in the last car did have her hands up in confusion, so I wonder if it wasn't another caravan with a less than intelligent person at the head. It was all okay in the end, so I drove on, noting the changes in the homes as I went by.

I turned on my blinker at the neighbors to the south, then turned into the driveway. Dad greeted me and confirmed my question as to whether he was growing his beard to be part of a ZZ Top tribute band. I went in and Dad had me sit down to watch the end of a movie with Clint Eastwood as a baseball scout and Amy Adams (I think) as his lawyer daughter. We watched that, then went out to look at things, then saw the "tiny hummingbird" which may actually be a large insect. We failed to get a photo of it, so went off to do other things. He showed me the hay and described its provenance, then we fixed the closure on a bag of grass clippings that he was saving as a natural weed repellent for next year.

We looked at the garden and other things, then Mom came home. Dad showed me pictures from the massive auction that is happening near The Farm right now. We went in, I had a cupcake, then Dad and I were off to do other things, but this time, I had my camera. We went to the barn and I took a video of Dad and his cat, Suede.

We went up into the haymow, looked at pigeons and heard a bat. We went down and then looked at rocks in one location.

Then we went around to the front of the house and looked at other rocks.

Dad and I cleaned off all the plant debris to get this photo.

Dad showed me some Japanese Beetles going at it, but I didn't get a photo. We did go back around the house and got some more photos of other rocks, this time with little figurines.

After that, we went in where I wrote post cards and watched Hee Haw.

That's Hee Haw on the TV, on RFD TV.

Dad offered me a banana, told me that I had to do something special with the peel, then asked if I knew how to open it. Before I could answer, he took it away and made a small cut in it so it would be easier to open. I finished my post cards and finally ate my banana. It turned out that I had to throw the peel away OUTSIDE, in the garbage can BEHIND the garage, ugh. But I did it, and I turned off the lights when I came back inside. Then I got out my computer, uploaded videos, started this blog post. Dad went to bed earlier, but Mom is watching Star Trek. Bed is in my very near future.