Planet Stahl

Picture this…  Kids are playing in the pool across the yard…  Its in the 80’s…  Sitting in the shade of a tree, I am kicked back in my lawn chair after working on the yard all morning…  Having just got out of the shower, I am ready to kick back and read a book…  I read a few chapters… And the next thing I know, Ang is waking me up from a dead sleep!

Ahhhhhh…. That felt good!

In other news:  I was mowing today, and was trying to clean up some mole holes that have been popping up in the front yard.  Well, with the zero-turn mower, I just roll up over the hole and hit reverse on the wheel over the hole.  It cleans it up and spread the dirt out…  Once the dirt was cleaned up, I backed up…And what should I see???  The dirt kicked back up…  Was I seeing things?  I knocked it down again… And it did the same thing.   Hmmmmm….  I have heard of being able to see moles go through the trails, but I have never seen this in person.  I gave it one more run over, and it did it again. 

In a moment of adrenaline, and years of pent-up mole rage, I grabbed a stick off the mower (The one I keep to clean grass out of the deck when it gets plugged) and came raining death on the varmint.  It was like a scene from 300…  I was Spartan!  I jammed the stick straight down in the ground, then in one swift motion, I stabbed under the mound and popped that guy right out of the ground.  Man, I am getting breathless now thinking about it!  Pretty exciting stuff!

OK, I was not real surprised that no-one by Dan showed up… But you missed a good “Heat Related Near Miss”…  I think we were minutes from someone going down by the time it was over…  We started at 9:30…  And ended at 2PM.  PEAK 100 degree conditions!

Sorry, no pictures!

Hey…  Who were those 2 Billion people who watched the Earth concert???  We had a conversation about this at work…  And none of saw more than a minute…  2 Billion is starting to sound like a reach…  Unless everyone in CHINA was forced to watch!

Any volunteers that want to help build a fence tomorrow morning… Just show up around 9:30!  It promises to be great fun, and I have heard that the weather in Green Valley calls for 75 degrees, partly cloudy, with a 10 mph breeze.  YEAH RIGHT!  Its gonna be hot!  I have roped Dan into helping me…  Maybe Margaret will take a picture of us struggling to get work done.

Angs story with the local farmer is not over.  I told her she should call and talk to Mrs. L…  She did.  And the conversation ended with Mrs. L stating that she would talk to her farm manager.

Now really, nobody owes us anything, and our use of their land for pleasure is certainly at their discretion…  Its just a sad fact that nobody around here is “Neighborly”.  The fact is, we will have to buy a patch of 50 to 100 acres to leverage hunting access and other access in exchange for riding rights.  Its moments like this when I wish we had that Commonwealth mentality, and had open hiking, biking and horse trails though-out the state. 

Keep checking the Picasa like for new photos…  We added 40 some in June, and July gets more everyday.

We went to Lake Camelot for some fun on the afternoon of July 4th.  Some friends of ours let us go the club pool on their coattails!   It was nice, and the kids loved it.  Went over to the folks house for dinner and fireworks.  Joe, Sylvia, Linda, Dan, Noel and Sister Sylvia were all there.  It was great!  No raging Domino game though.

Summers birthday party is Wednesday night July 18th at Planet X roller rink in Pekin.  All are welcome, and don’t expect to see me on skates!