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I took a huge carload of stuff to my mom's on July 3. I did not get much put away as I was invited over to Jack and Kari's house to watch the recent remake of True Grit.  I brought some treats--chips, dip, gum drops, and ice cream bars.  The movie was good--I had already seen it at  the theater, but I enjoyed it a second time.  There are some awesome one-liners in there.  I think my favorite is, "I call that bold talk for a one-eyed fat man."

It makes me laugh every time.
 

My mom helped me carry in the stuff from the front seat.  I left the rest for Jack.  He came in the morning to pick me and mom up to go to Tammy's house up near Rockford and Delano.  He and Caleb emptied out my back seat but forgot to check the trunk.  He said he'd get it later.

We went back to their house to get Kari and Cora who  were still getting ready.  We took a back route to Tammy's.  It seemed to take forever and a day to get there, but it was a nice scenic route, especially one section of gravel road that went through a thickly wooded area.  The treetops met in the middle of the gravel road and it was really peaceful, green, and shady.

One thing I notice was how high the water was in every lake, river, ditch, and creek.  I guess I have been watching too much of the weather channel's Storm Stories programs because it kinda freaked me out.
 

I had brought the Garfield quilt I've been working on for Erik.  I worked on that most of the way up.  I get bored just sitting.  Also, it takes my mind off how much my knees hurt in the car, especially when I cannot stretch them out all the way.  My legs were nearly paralyzed by the time we got to Tammy's house.  Stupid knees.

Burt's sister Judy, his mom, and his cousin were there as were Tammy's old friend Wanda and her husband and daughter. There was enough food there for us to all stay and feast for about a month, I suspect.  Judy, the cousin (name escapes me), Leatrice (Tammy's mother-in-law) and I had a nice chat about goofy stuff we remember from our youths.  We talked a lot about this guy who used to draw a face on his hand and use it as a puppet.  Beanie and Cecil, the Sea Sick Sea Serpent were also mentioned.  What a hoot.

Coconut, Tammy's dog, was very happy to see me as I always slip him a little sustenance under the table.  I love that goofy little boy.  Her new dog is an interesting looking critter.  I wish I had gotten a picture of him, but I did not.  He is supposedly a cross between a chihuahua and an Australian Shepherd.  He originally belonged to Sadie's boyfriend's sister, but she kept him locked in a tiny little kennel all the time and never let him out.  Sadie, being an animal lover, liberated him and brought him home.  Now my sister says they are never getting him back.  She has fallen in love with him and he is constantly in her lap.  He's smaller than Coconut who is supposed to be a papillion miniature poodle mix.  Coconut was only supposed to weigh about 8 pounds.  HA!  He's at least a 25 pounder.  But I like a bigger doggie, myself. 

Ron the Rat was a big hit with the kids.  My mom was horrified--"A RAT!  It's a nasty RAT!  No!  I don't want to hold the RAT."

Rats are actually very sweet and friendly animals.  I learned this from sweet little Essie, may she rest in peace.  Essie was a lab rat the science teacher's daughter had experimented on when she was in college.  She fell in love with the rat, and instead of euthanizing it at the end of the experiment like she was supposed to, she smuggled her out in her jacket pocket and gave her to her dad.  He brought it to school, and she often visited me in my room as I always had a granola bar in my desk just to give chunks to her.  She never ever peed or pooped on MY shoulder. 

Ron is also a very sweet rodent.  I took quite a few pictures of him bonding with the kids.

 

  

Here you can see Ron's rather spectacular tail.  It is the tail that my mom finds the most loathsome.
 

At this point, Ron had already eaten three raspberries, an olive, several chips, and who knows what else.  He was till sniffing the air in hopes of something else.

Both Caleb and Cora are animal lovers too. 

This one is just a bit out of focus, but you can see the bulging sides of Ron's belly here.  LOL.

That white fluffy thing in the background is Coconut.
 

Left to right are my mom, my sister in law Kari, and my sister Tammy.  They are looking at pictures of Sadie's rodeo win--third place.  See how Ron looks up at my sister with adoration.  LOL



It appears Ron is attempting to steal a kiss from Kari.



Wearing the Mr. Incredible shirt in the background is my brother Jack.  Ron is loving being the center of attention.



Again, a little out of focus, but look at those sweet little "hands."

Ron is a mighty fine rat.



And no photo shoot would be complete without the best doggie in Minnesota!  Coconut. 
 

Before we went home, we played a few games of Apples to Apples with the kids.  It was a fun day.  When I hugged Bert good-bye, I reminded him that I am now unemployed, so if his company needs any proofreadinig done, I am ready, willing, and able to do it for them.

We went back home via I-35, which did not seem to take as long.  We got off on the Hwy 30 exit just as Lily called to see if mom and I wanted to go to the fireworks with her and Jerry.  I didn't much feel like it at that point, but we went.  Jack carried in the rest of the stuff from the trunk. 

We picked up Kim and sat in our customary place near the Village of Yesteryear at the Fairgrounds.  It was   a really good show this year. Apparently some rich dude donated a bunch of money towards it.  I took a few fireworks pictures, just for experimentation.  They turned out okay,  You can see them on my flickr account if you want to look.

This July 4th would have been my dad's 80th birthday.  It's hard to believe he's been gone so long already.  He was only 64 when he died.

I had planned to go back home on the 5th but I had so much stuff to put away--I didn't want to just leave it in an unholy mess like that, so I stayed another day and another night.  I missed my kitties terribly.  I am sure they missed me just as bad.

I made good use of my time and got a ton of stuff put away.  I now have almost all my fabric sorted and put into containers in the closet.  I have everything separated according to color.  Blue has two drawers.  LOL.  I must like blue. 

I have my holiday fabric separated into four drawers:  (1)  Valentines and Easter  (2) Fourth of July   (3)  Halloween    (4)  Christmas

I have a bit of St. Patrick's day fabric too, but I didn't have much, so I just put it in with the green stuff.  I  have one big tub of just flannels and "jammy" type fabric and another tub of "fancy" stuff like satin and velvet.

I also have one drawer marked "Misc" as the fabrics have too many colors or patterns to really fit into any one color drawer.  Some of my specialty fabric like Mickey Mouse or Raggedy Ann is in there as well.