o8.26.o6....Down on the farm

Aunt Mary and Barb got here yesterday and we went to the River last night for dinner.
Today we went to another farm down the road...one of the 9 dairy farms at Fair Oaks dairy.
The place is enormous, fanscinating and a little disturbing all rolled into one. It's like a milk factory...and the cows are the main workers. That's 3000 cows and that's just at the one dairy...take that x 9 farms and that's a lot of bossie lous.

I can't believe I left Bobble at home. There were photo opps everwhere.
But I can make up for it because after going to the State Fair, Sister Susie brought home yet another addition to the Bobble family...Bobble cow. Pretty soon we'll have our own farm.
Saturday night we went to Matt and Chari's for Conner's Birthday Party. He is 5!
Got a report on Dad from Dave, who checked in on him today. Dave says Dad is the miracle man. He came out of his room for all three meals, was joking around, remembered that Aunt Mary and Barb were here and remembered that he was having a birthday party!

Big day tomorrow!

Here's Conner's Birthday present from Great Aunt Nancy...The Conner Bobblehead:


Directions to here: Rise and shine on the farm, remember my mom everytime I see her sister's face, watch the cows on their merry-go-round milker and eat John Deere Tractor cake

o8.13.o6...Hog roast with the Vandercar birthday kids

Went north again to celebrate the birthdays of these three kids:Luke
Emma
Evia

I'll let you guess, but one of those water babies is Vintage.
And here's my gift to the girls...didn't need to sign the card...if it's Bobble-like, I'm sure they know which crazy great aunt it's from:



Thanks Tammy, for letting me steal your pics!

Directions to here: get in the trailblazer with sister susie and let her make all those winding turns to the backyard with the miss piggy cart, the boy with the rosie cheeks and the 3 cute girls who live with him

o8.o7.o6....New Addition to the Bobble Family

This girl always wanted a pony of my own and now thanks to Sandy, I have one.
We found Bobble Horse for sale in the Industrial Building at the fair. He was bought and in the bag before we could stop laughing. Yeee-ha....getty up little bobble!
Directions to here: Walk the midway, stop at cotton candy booth, take steps up to Industrial building, watch the mop demonstration, resist the 29.99 deal, stop at the end booth and score the Bobble Horse

o8.06.06....Bobble and friends at the Lake County Fair

Ferris wheel, Elephant Ear, Midway, Taffy Apple, Mouse Game, Cotton Candy, Industrial building, walking tacos, pony rides, fried oreos, Grange Tent, fried cheese, cow barn, midget search, horses and carnies....yes, it's that time of the year again...The Fair!
Went to take Dad bisquits and gravy in the afternoon...and he didn't even touch it...so now I KNOW something is wrong, as he usually licks the plate. Left him sleeping and went over to the fair and met up with Susie & Jerry, Dave & Sandy and Janet, where I ate enough for both me and Dad together. Bobble and I won at the mouse game...betting on #66. Took the annual walk of the midway in search of (Jerry: "what are we looking for?" Nancy: "midgets")...the um, SIDESHOW oddities and once again proved the t-shirt true: Too many freaks, not enough circuses." Ah, you gotta love the fair, Dave.

This was Sandy's favorite ride....and only for skinny people. We had to watch from the sidelines because our number on the scale is over the limit. Wait til next year. Biggest Loser goal: to ride the bungee at the Fair!On Monday, I acted as Sister Susie's Farm Bureau Assistant and confirmed once again that if I had to be her I would cry everyday. That woman can get stuff done. Took Dad to the doctor and found out his blood pressure was so low it barely registered. Took him to the Grange Tent anyway and had lunch...and tried to get him to eat, but not much luck.
Took Dad home, stopped and saw Jamie's new apartment and back to the fair for more food and fun. Doesn't this little girl need a pony, Grandpa?














Watched Sandy's second attempt at a flip on the bungee: chicken.
Ate some more and called it a day at the fair.
Back in Indy by midnight.


Directions to here: 9 mile stretch to the main gate to the Grange Tent to the MIdway to the food walk to the gallbladder surgery, if you're sister susie! (2003)

Monday's road back to here....

Work...Vacation's over.

Directions to here: 173rd ave to I-65 south to 865 to 465 to Michigan road to 86th St. to parking lot to 8 hours of retail reality

Saturday's Road...Bobble and the racers and sister #2

Saturday morning, Patty and I continued our quest to the "corner"...by heading up 31 and hitting the antique places we had been to last year with the antique "speeders..."we're done here"...Susie and Sandy. We came to "Picker's paradise" and took a slow stroll thru the one side and I crossed over to the other side....only to find the "corner" that used to be filled with all kinds of paper, that they didn't let me even go in last year, is GONE...packed up and GONE. Now, this would be like me moving my books, moving my apartment...I can't imagine where this guy went? Anyway, there was a heavy sigh...but I did find some treasures, none the less. We had lunch and I got to see the eldest Hoshaw child...and then I was off to the Lake Village Raceway to see sister #2...official ticket taker at the track, Janet.


Man, those karts go fast!
Here I am trying to keep up with who's on first:

Moore Motor Sports had a pretty good night....that's Casey #5 behind Bobble...

And the Checkered flag goes to Casey Moore! Darold looks good with that big smile!


Directions to here: 23 to 80/90 to 421 to 10 to 41 to ticket gate to racetrack turn and go round and round and round and round...20 laps

Friday's road...Bobble and the Amish and sister #1

I woke up on Friday with a new plan for the rest of my vacation:

3 days...3 sisters.

So instead of heading south I headed east toward South Bend...but had to wind a little south to see who really is from Hicksville USA...


I wandered up and over...up and over... toward South Bend and passed thru Amish Country. Now, I know that the Amish don't like to have their pcitures taken...but they just look so darn cool...and then there is the Bobble head dog Chronicles to keep up so I just couldn't resist:


I ended up in downtown Mishawaka and met sister #1 - Patty at Eddie's Collectibles and we took a SLOW look at EVERYTHING(unlike other sisters I know). I found a few paper treasures...cause I don't have enough paper in my apartment. Then I back tracked a bit to Elkhart to take more photos of signage...and ended up in The Hoshaw's backyard watching the end of childhood...as the tree house got moved to the neighbor's yard.
Directions to here: RR 2 to Indiana 101 to SR 6 to 9 to SR 20 to the tollroad by mistake to Capitol to BR 20 to 19 to tollroad 80 again to 23 to Jeff and Patty's back yard

Wednesday's road into Thursday

Wednesday night was when I had to leave Jersey, if I was going to make it to Jolene's memorial service...so after another trip to the diner and lots of photos, I said goodbye to my Jersey friends and headed down a back road that would lead me to the mind-numbing Interstate for the 9 hour trip to Ohio.
Driving past a deli, I lamented the fact that I didn't even have time to get a real east coast bagel while I was in Jersey...let alone see all those Jersey shore kitschy motels!
...and then it happened...
i had just passed a recreation area with a lake and a pier on the right hand side of the road...and a pretty large restaurant on the left...when, i saw a large dog crossing the road. I slowed down and the dog seemed to be apologetic for being in the road and picked up it's pace...to get across into what looked like someone's yard. Then I realized that it wasn't a dog...it was a BLACK BEAR...crossing the road in the middle of RESIDENTIAL NEW JERSEY! I could not believe my eyes...especially since the next sight I saw, just a half block later was a woman walking her small dog!
I picked up my phone and called the Nichols'...as if somehow they could confirm that I had really seen what I just saw. And much to my furthur surprise they didn't seem that alarmed that a bear was walking loose in the middle of suburbia. As a matter of fact, they seemed surprised that I would be surprised that I saw a bear crossing the road. Apparantly, West Milford is KNOWN for it's wandering bears...and they aren't dangerous (???). I asked, "well, shouldn't I report it?" and Ginny told me I probably be laughed at if I did...which to me, only proved to me that I really was in New Jersey...where the phrase "shut up, you're an idiot"...is in all actuality a term of endearment.
So, I may have been facing a 9 hour site-seeing-less drive on the boring turnpike...but I had one heck of a site seen that amused me for quite a few miles of the 750 yet to come. I"m just sad that I didn't have the camera in hand....could you imagine? Bobble and the bear!!!! Well, actually, bobble has met a bear before...here's bobble when Brownie Hoshaw visited.

directions to bear crossing: Echo lake road ??? ...aka...twilight zone