Fishing and Fireworks

Elise and her second cousins Amelia and Will

There’s really no reason for us to move on from Kansas. Matt and Marina are taking good care of us. The trailer fits in the driveway, mostly. We are being well fed. The kids keep pretty busy. Weather’s nice.



It was a particularly nice Fourth of July. We got up and ate Marina’s made-from-scratch pancakes — delicious. Then we geared up and drove about five minutes away to a really cool park. It’s called Deanna Rose and is named for a police officer killed in the line of duty who had a special affection for kids. The park is free to enter, but some activities such as pony rides, schoolhouse crafts, and feeding the animals cost a very little bit. There are numerous animals, including a bald eagle, two bobcats, a red tail hawk, a great horned owl, and all of the barnyard animals you can think of. There is a reconstruction of a one-room schoolhouse, a barn, and Native American lodge. You can feed baby goats a little bottle of milk, but you must be brave and not easily pushed over.


Matt scares the living wits out of Will, Elise, and Amelia


Will discusses the finer points of quantum theory with a skeptical audience.

The girls went for the pony ride, but Matt and Will bought a small bucket of worms and took a bamboo pole over to the pond in the hopes of catching some blue gill. This is nominally called fishing. In actuality, you are feeding the fish. They know this too. As you wrap a worm on your hook the blue gill look up from just beneath the surface. Once you swing your line over the water, they sink out of view, preparing for their next move. You plop the worm in the water. The bob dips. You pull out your line. The worm is gone and you have done your part to feed the fish. Actually the boys caught four: two small and two big. Not bad!




The big one

After a full morning at the park we went home for lunch. Marina made rubens — delicious. We then took the kids to the pool and chatted while they played. When we got home we ate hamburgers for dinner — delicious. Then we sat on the patio and chatted while the kids played. Are you sensing a pattern?

The neighbor a couple doors down had 250 pounds of illegal fireworks, which he lit off in the street and we gladly watched and cheered. It was a pleasant day.


This hot air balloon drifted right over the neighbors’ houses.