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Lately we have been the recipients of beautiful and tasty fresh eggs from Cimarron. James and Emiko’s friend, Rosemary has chickens and whenever we go home to visit, we get to enjoy their eggs and also bring some home. Last time we were there, we got two dozen of these golden orbs of goodness.

The country eggs

Emiko used to call these “Country Eggs,” and they are as beautiful on the inside as they are outside. Unlike in store-bought eggs, the yolks of the country egg are a deep orange, not yellow. And you get three times the egg taste, rich and flavorful. They are big too. Most of them would be in the “jumbo” category or even bigger. When Rosemary brought them by, she gave us a dozen that were hatched the day before and a dozen that came out of the nest that morning. Now that’s fresh.

The Camry is gone, but it is the hands of some nice upstate New York transplants from Saratoga Springs.

I really didn’t think I’d be selling it for a few more weeks, and I only had signs in the windows for one day. Smudge and I went to the dog park yesterday morning and we took the Camry. A woman saw the For Sale signs in the car and called her husband about it. They had been looking for the perfect wagon to haul the two dogs they own, plus their foster dog. They came over together to look at it and took it home last night.

I have to say it was kind of sad seeing it go. Partly because in the short time we had together, the Camry and I became quite attached. And the other reason is that it was my dad’s car and a big part of him is now gone. But at least I have the knowledge that it will be used and loved by a couple of dog lovers like us. Since they live in Shawnee too, I’m sure I’ll be seeing it running around town and over at the dog park.

I spent last Wednesday through Saturday in Clarence, NY, helping out with some things around my mom’s house. She is recuperating from knee replacement surgery, which was the beginning of April. She is recovering rapidly and the doctor has cleared her to drive, and said that she is doing better than many people, even a year after surgery. So I was there to keep Joyce company and a to do a few repairs around the house, including replacing a couple of rotten door thresholds, and fixing a spot on the screen porch where water was seeping in under the windows.

Joyce and Me

The other reason I went up now was a long-delayed trip to collect some of my father’s things. He died in September and I have been promising Joyce that I would come get the car and as much stuff that I could haul away. I came home with a table saw and a lot of other tools and such. I’ve already put some stuff to work here at home. My dad was kind of a “collector,” and probably had a hard time throwing some things out. I know he must have had some good intentions about what he was going to do with all the scrap wood and random tools and parts he was saving. But I think they were just around because “as soon as you throw something out, that’s right when you’re going to need it.”

The trip back was actually easier that I thought it would be. It’s about 1000 miles from Buffalo to here. The Pepsi Max that I brought along helped. Radio was sparse along the way, But I had my iPod to keep me company.

Buy this car!

The 16-year-old Camry wagon is awesome! This thing was loaded down with some heavy power tools and it still got 32 mpg on the highway. It’s really a great car for hauling stuff around. I have already gotten two inquiries from people interested in buying it, and the for sale signs have only been on for a day. If it doesn’t sell, I just may keep it, and make it the dog car. Smudge thinks it’s a sweet ride and she doesn’t have to jump quite as high as the xB to get in.

The trip went fast. Once you get through Ohio the treks across Indiana and Illinois go by in a hurry. Highlights in Indiana were seeing the Presidential motorcade on the other side of the highway in Indianapolis, and the sign you see below.

Right down the street from “Ed Molester’s Mobile Home-O-Rama.”

I think Tom Raper must know how shocking his name looks in print, because for the two miles leading up to his exit, there must be 50 billboards just like this one. “Hey honey, that sounds good, why don’t we stop in and git us a nice new RV! I think that’s a name we can really trust.”

So I made it most of the way to Kansas in one shot, with just bathroom, gas and stretch breaks, but began feeling a little sleepy once the sun started setting, and I was coming close to Missouri. So I took a nap break there in St Louis, and then again outside of Columbia, MO. By the time I got home, Susan was getting ready to go to work and I took a six-hour nap.

I was in the basement the other day painting the trim as part of the never-ending basement remodel, and apparently Smudge thought that was far enough away for her to do whatever she wanted in the rest of the house. As I entered the bedroom she gently flicked her tail as if to say “It’s OK for me to be on here just this once, right?” We usually keep her cooped up in the basement or laundry room when no one is home, but when we are gone and feeling generous, she roams free, and sometimes she leaves footprints on the comforter to let us know where she’s been.

How can you be mad at her with a face like that?

Smudge is actually pretty good about staying off the furniture most of the time. She prefers to nap in her kennel in the laundry room anyway, as long as the door is open. Being separated from us, or the possibility of us leaving without her would be just too much to bear.

I was at the local HyVee supermarket the other day and came across this little item. I like how most of the time with breakfast cereals you know exactly what you are going to get, like Raisin Bran and Corn Flakes are pretty self-explanatory. So I was wondering what marketing geniuses came up with this one – “Essentially You.”

“Wow that sounds yummy. It’s essentially me! Gimme some o’ that!”

And the other thing is that the word “essentially” reminds me of the word “essence,” which brings to mind the idea of a “scent.” So not only is this cereal made of you, it SMELLS like you too! Deee-lish!

I recently returned from a trip to see my mom in Buffalo, and on the leg from Charlotte to KC, the woman sitting next to me offered me a piece of gum. That wouldn’t have seemed strange had we been chatting for a while and she was having some too. But this came after my having said two things to her at about a half hour into the flight. She just got the gum out, handed me the whole container, and after I took two pieces, she just put it back in her purse without having any herself. It was the same kind of Eclipse gum from the commercials featuring people with stink-mouth. It wasn’t like this was some opening invitation to conversation, since she cozied back into her jacket as close to the window as she could. Had that window been equipped with a crank, I’m certain she would have risked being sucked out of the plane somewhere over southern Kentucky, just to stick her head out for some fresh air.

Eclipse Gum Commercial

Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to bring along the salami and ham sandwich on rye with Weber’s Horseradish Mustard and eat it shortly before I got on the flight. I would have thought maybe eating the nice Crispin apple my mom gave me would have counter-acted any noxious mustard/salami fumes, but apparently that particular variety of apple is a funk-breath catalyst. I’ll have to be more careful about what I eat while traveling in the future and carry my own gum too, maybe even some floss and a travel toothbrush.

On Saturday Susan ran her first marathon and did an amazing job, finishing in 4 hours, 20 minutes and 41 seconds. She has been training for this event for months, and has been steadily working her mileage up to as much as 20 miles. This is the first time she has ever done 26.2 miles.

Susan runs by the Plaza near mile 9 of the Kansas City Marathon.

The pre-dawn start was quite chilly, but great weather for running and things warmed up a little as the race went on. I tried to get to as many different spots on the course as I could, but it was actually pretty hard to get around, since the police had roads blocked off for the race. If I had been thinking I would have brought my bike and followed more of the action that way. Susan looked fresh the whole time I saw her running, but at the end she told her friends that her legs felt like rubber. I was amazed she was still on her feet. Susan stayed with her 4:20 pace group almost the whole way, and they were actually slightly ahead of time at all the spots where I waited for them.

Susan finishes in 4:20:41

She was chatting it up with me when I saw her, as I tried to get some video footage and stills, which was somewhat of a juggling trick. I was also carrying some power gels for her and at one point, I had one held out in my hand for her as I took pictures, and the guy in front of her grabbed it. I yelled “Hey that’s for her!” and fortunately he gave it up. He knew that he would have had an angry runner on his heels the rest of the way if he had kept it.

Susan Runs the Kansas City Marathon from danrphoto on Vimeo.

Our friends, Paige & Rob, met us after the race with their three great kids. Paige ran the half marathon, and they all hung around for two whole hours waiting for Susan’s finish. We thought that was incredibly nice of them to do, and it was really touching for Susan. They are super fans and wonderful friends to have. They all yelled “GUME” at mile 26, but Susan was bound & determined to pass one last person and says she didn’t hear or see anything till she crossed the finish line.

The Maretts stuck around after Paige ran the half.

Susan’s boss Leslie, and another Hallmarker friend/marathoner Al Mauro, who also owns Races2Remember, surprised her with a special bib she wore on her back. You can see it at the end of the video. Susan dedicated her first marathon to her mom Emiko, who is a lung cancer survivor; and to my mom Joyce, who is a breast cancer survivor. Their strength and courage was great inspiration for this marathon, and thinking of you two was what kept her going through the tough parts of the race.