Over these past few days, there have been several times I've wanted to write but often don't have the time or feel too tired. It's time to catch up on a few things.
Girls - Claire and Abby arrived in Chicago without any flight issues. Mom reports that the flight attendants thought that they behaved well. As is becoming tradition, they stopped for Krispy Kreme donuts on the drive home. It's been hot, humid, and rain-less in Chicago so they've been spending a lot of time in pools as well as with cousins. The rest of us are looking forward to when we can join up with them in Chicago.
No A/C - The weather for us today has been such a nice break — breezy, dry, in the low 80's. It's the first day in a while where no air conditioning was necessary in the house. Tonight we have lows in the mid 50's! Yesss!
Since the girls are away, Michelle and I took the boys with us to the YMCA while went to go work out. On the way back we treated the boys to kiddie sized Tropicana Orange Coolatas for behaving so well. In the afternoon Michelle and I worked on the lawn. She and I also went to our local parish to try to go to Confession. 'Try' is the operative word. For both of us this was our second time in a week. Last Saturday when Michelle tried, it was pre-empted by a wedding. This time the priest was a no-show. We just have faith that God knows we're trying. Michelle and I wrapped up the day with a take out dinner from Amigos.
Local fun - We did some online investigation of some local farm/petting zoos that we thought might be fun to take the boys to. We've heard good things recently about Davis Farmland. $13 per person, though. A bit pricey. We also checked out Charmingfare Farm. There's a little less to do but it's less money — $9 per person. Lastly there's the Friendly Farm. It's about $6 per person but pretty much limited to being a petting zoo. We took the girls there years ago before the boys were born. I don't know. Michelle's reluctant to spend the extra money, but I've heard very good reviews about Davis Farmland. And since I'm a little bit "Davis" by genealogy, it almost obligates me. *grin*
What Michelle really misses, though, is Youngs Jersey Dairy, outside of Dayton, Ohio, in the small town of Yellow Springs. The food, the gift shop, the animals, the mini-golf, and of course, the ice cream! Stu used to call it "the neutral zone" because the liberals from nearby Antioch College ate side by side with the military conservatives from Wright-Patterson.
Hybrid Maps - A few months ago I first tried Google Maps and thought it had bested the offerings of Yahoo Maps and Mapquest. Then they added the option of satellite imagery. That was neat. Now for areas where they have sufficiently hi-res satellite imagery, they have their brand new "hybrid maps". Very cool! The satellite imagery is predominantly used, but the street names and other points of interest are superimposed on top. For instance, here's Center Avenue as a hybrid map. Note the "One Way" red arrows on Center Avenue and Arnold Street. 'One way' indicators are useful if you're ever planning a trip around downtown Boston. There are plenty of times you feel like you "can't get there from here". Alas, for more rural areas like where we live, the satellite imagery is too fuzzy to get much out of hybrid maps. But you can see how close Nashua's Pheasant Lane Mall is to the Massachusetts border. It's no wonder that Massachusetts wanted to charge Sears sales tax since their parking lot ran into Massachusetts as this imagery shows rather clearly.
Meme - Now that plenty of places in the US are "feelin' the heat" of July, there's a meme floating around the internet to answer the following questions. Feel free to post your answers in the comments...
I like that map link you have put up of Center St, although it needs to be updated because I dont see my pool. lol
Chris
Yep, and it still shows the Grove Metal factory buildings instead of the new apartment construction. Now if it showed Claire and Abby swimming in your pool, I'd be _really_ impressed!
Did you try that link for the Pheasant Lane Mall? Is that building close to the state line or what?! Lots of merchandise is bought there and Massachusetts is pretty jealous that they can't "get in on that action" with their 5% sales tax. That's why they initially tried to make a claim since the parking lot is in Massachusetts.
Posted by: Scott at July 24, 2005 06:36 AM