Several of us had a near-death experience Sunday, but I wanted you all to know that we’re just fine and explain what happened. Becky, Sandy and I decided to go see the new Batman movie — awesowe, btw — and we got a call from Mike and Kelly that they were going to the same theater about the same time. We weren’t sure if we could make the 12:55 show so when we bought tickets for the three of us, we picked the 1:10 showing. Just after we entered the air-conditioned lobby, Kelly and Mike were there waving us into the earlier theater assuring us that we hadn’t missed it, and this theater was less crowded. I skipped my usual Icee© and Junior Mints© to rush inside. Trailers were playing already, but I still got to see three (oddly) comedy-oriented trailers before some studio logos flickered by and we saw these words:

I just can’t believe it is all happening yet again this year.  First Beltran flees from the testers, and then drops out.

An now, stage 6 winner, and leader in the KOM jersey race, Ricardo Ricco, has popped positive following his win.  He’s out, arrested, and goodbye to Saunier Duval as well.  Who’s next?  Evans, Valverde?

Still watching, but geez, this was the year to take the Tour back.

Howdy folks.  Hope you’ve all got your hustle right this summer and everything’s chill.  We have sufficiently thawed up here in the tundra.  Took a little trip to Acadia and Bar Harbor over Memorial Day.  Pic of the little man on top of Cadillac Mtn:

Gardening has taken up most of my free time as I get more obsessed by the year.  Everything has done pretty darn good.  Many peas were shelled and eaten and the season is on its way out.  We have lettuce coming out our ears as it’s starting to bolt – salads have been lunch and dinner 4 days out of the week along with bunches of oregano, chives and basil.  Green beans are producing.  Still waiting on toms, eggplants, squash, carrots, beets, and bell peppers, which, BTW, I finally succeeded in growing for the first time ever.  My pride and joy right now

Hard to see, but there are about 7 fruits on there.  I keep thinking I’ll wake up one morning and the plant will be decimated, the bugs finally having their way with it.

Cheers and keep on keepin’ on.

This is (hopefully) the last picture you’l see from me and my Sidekick. 45 minutes after opening and two customers have been processed. It’s gonna be a long day for AT&T.


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One of my favorite things about summer hands down is The Tour de France. I am not a cyclist and I’ll admit I started watching about 8 years ago because of a fascination with Lance Armstrong. But my drooling over Lance gradually turned into a love of the race in general – the determination of the racers, the drama between teams and racers, the fantastic coverage, the views of the beautiful country side and crazy people along the sides of the road - and now I find myself recording and excitedly watching the 4 hours of coverage every day. (Ok, sometimes on fastforward, cause 4 hours is really a long time to watch anything)

There are lots of names I recognize, but no clear winners and a good number of first timers that are keeping things really interesting. I am really digging the riders from team Garmin-Chipotle (formerly Slipstream), an American team that entered as a wild card and has done quite well in the first 5 stages. One of their riders, David Millar, was involved in a big doping scandal several years ago, and he, along with the whole team, are dedicated to “clean” racing.  A great idea, I think, that could go a long way toward cleaning up cycling and all of the other sports that are in big need of an overhaul.

I know we’ve got some actual cyclists here on the porch. Who do you guys like to win it this year?

The crowds around Penn State’s campus were bustling, but manageable. The fried food selection was excellent, and volunteer were taking donations as they handed out free hot dogs and r/w/b cake before the big show. In the distance you could just make out the large black canisters that held the ammunition.

Wait…were those gunshots?

Yep, that’s right. Vintage uniformed men with muskets. It was hard to tell from the distance if these were revolutionary era uniforms or civil war uniforms, but I’m thinking it was the former since there could have been a fight with all the rebel-flag wearing Nascar fans.

Now, for the show…or if you want you can view a high res version that could take a long time to download.

One of the new “features” available in professional fireworks packages is the “VIP” seating area. You can just make out a few flashes along the bottom of the screen showing the area where VIPers saw a special ground-show of characters and low fireworks.

This is a collection of photos and videos from our vacation (which is sadly over) that individually did not warrent their own post but needed exposure somewhere.

I have a new favorite restaurant in State College, now. Herwig’s Austrian Bistro (voted #1 ethnic food in State College three years in a row!) starts with a verbal assault from the owner or his son as they direct your eyes to the chalkboard menu — which changes everyday — and instruct you to order from the board in Austrian or you will be hit with the large red wooden spoon…as is supposedly traditional. I don’t know about that, but the food was amazing and the jovial haranguing from the owner and son made me comfortably full.

The chalkboard menu that changes daily.			The kitchen counter — that’s the owner over the stove and his son on the left.			This sign on the table should clue you into the experience you will have at Herwig’s.			The infamous red spoon.
Vegetarian fare is limited at Herwig’s but Becky had this stunning three cheese sandwich.				Evie went with the other vegetarian option, potato cakes.				I went with the rib special. The ribs were an unfamiliar, but tasty, difference from what I expect on ribs but they were as tender as they should be, showing a perfect cooking technique. The sauerkraut and potatoes were rich and delicious.

The night before we headed out for vacation, Kelly mentioned that we should look into getting “roll-up” screen doors. I was intrigued by the idea and set my mind to learn more. Lucky me that Evie had one installed on her back door. It’s a really simple affair and may mature more before it is perfect, but I really like the convenience…and being a Southern man, I love a screen door. We may have to get a set for the room we had renovated.

The handle (on the right) is functionally hidden flush under the hinged edge of the door.		A track at the top and bottom guides the screen door.		The leading edge pulls the screen out of the roll evenly across the track.
The handle hits against a magnet on the far side holding it closed, and there is a latch to secure it.			From a distance it looks like any screen door.

Becky does a demo:

Half our goals in visiting Lewisburg was visiting the weekly Farmer’s Market. It is apparent that what was once a single open-air building of local goods has expanded nearly 3x out into tented stalls. The overcrowded mix of Amish, Mennonite, town, gown and foreigner was a little overwhelming but there were several treats to be found.

We spent Wednesday driving out to Lewisburg on a mission to take pictures of my uncle’s dorm, and visit the Farmer’s Market. Along the way we had lunch, a delicious iced coffee (not Starbucks — Cherry Alley Cafe has had their website hacked by some real amateurs) and did a bit of walking.

Supposedly due to drag racing and several major accidents on Route 220 as you head out to Black Moshannon State Park the signage is very “in-your-face” about safety.

You can see the signs coming a ways off.	Almost didn’t catch this one at all “Slow Down. Save A Life”	“Don’t Tailgate”	“Buckle Up It’s The Law”
“Targeted Enforcement Area”	“Keep Alert”	“Keep Min 2 Dots Apart”	…and then some BIG dots.

One of my favorite pastimes is perusing the fast food offerings of foriegn locales. In the exotic world of State College, Sheetz is the dominant convenience store and I had a chance to slip inside and grab these snapshots.

Bugles Sweet & Salty Caramel	Doritos®: The Quest	Mint 3 Musketeers is nothing new, but giving it to us in a two-pack, ala Almond Joy is special.
Forget having to try to speak PimplyFacian to place your order, just put it into this machine and swipe your card…		…or even better, just pull your sealed pre-made smootie/shake from the fridge below, pop it into the machine above!

And we’re pretty sure our access to the Penn State club section will give us a good view.


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We spent Tuesday driving out to Black Moshannon State Park for a walk and picnic lunch. Like every other park I’ve been to up here, it was lush and beautiful — very reminiscent of the Arkansas State Parks that I have idealized from my childhood. Due to my inability to edit objectively, click through to see about 80 pictures and videos of our day at the park.