…I Met a Girl so Fair

…aahhhh… Things moved at a little slower pace this week for us. Our sitter was on vacation in Florida, so the kids stayed with our ex-sitter and good friend Christy for the first half of the week and then her neighbor Cecelia the last half of the week. The county fair was in town all week. Matt had football practice this week, except Wednesday. We were still busy, but not hectic during a week that saw a couple thunder showers and lots of hot, hot weather. On Monday, Matt & I were both fighting off a stomach virus so neither of us felt like doing much out in the heat. Matt even missed football practice. We watched the Home Run Derby on TV that night and fell asleep early. On Tuesday, it was more of the same for me. Thankfully, Matt was feeling better and went back to practice that evening with the varsity team. After I brought him home, we watched the All-Star game and Abby went out with Mom & Sandy to the fair to work the booth with them. The National league finally pulled one off!! The Red’s players looked good that night as well, which was great to see. I really wish Ken Griffey Jr. had made a guest appearance or been an honorary captain with an at-bat or something…that would’ve made it really special. The gals didn’t pull in home until late and Abby was really grumpy the next morning…a recurring theme for this week for her. On Wednesday, it rained a little during the day but cleared off and made it cooler but a bit muggy. It was one-ticket-ride night at the fair, so we braved the elements and potential crowds and went out after dinner. Matt didn’t want to go out and neither did Ann; so it was just Bu, Luke & I. To our surprise it wasn’t bad after the sun started to go down and the crowds weren’t bad at all. We barely had to wait to ride anything. Luke was so excited to be able to ride every ride on the midway on his own. We started at the Avalanche and went to the Himalaya and Storm rides to start. Next we went to the Sizzler, the Tilt-a-Whirl and the new fun house with some rather racy pictures on the wall… We ended with a run down the fun slide, bumper cars, Ferris wheel and dragon roller-coaster. We grabbed some ice cream, said hello to my friend Pam from work (who was at the ethanol booth with her fiancé) and headed home. Before we left the midway, I had the kids stop and stand still for a minute. It was pretty cool to take in all the sights and sounds of the fair. It was hard to believe that only a week ago it was a quiet field and that in a few days, it would return to that state again…

Thursday was another hot one. While Matt was at practice and Abby was at the city pool with her friends; Luke, Ann and I jumped in the pool. There were threatening storm clouds all around us, but it never rained nor did we ever see any lightning. The water was really nice and we played for close to an hour before coming in for some special popcorn that Ann makes with butter and cheese…mmm… On Friday, Matt went to the early-morning practice so that evening we could put the wraps on the Decatur County 4-H fair for another year. Ann enjoyed the night to herself as I took the kids out to the last night of the fair. We caught up with Mom & Sandy first. The WTRE booth was bustling with activity as they were giving out all kids of prizes for anyone wearing a WTRE Attitude shirt. There must’ve been over a hundred people crowded in to that area. Sandy moved closer to purchasing the station this week as well, which was big news. Grandma had ride tickets for the kids left over that she gave us as she took all of us over for a game of ski ball (ice ball at this fair). Grandma won again! She won a big banana for the kids that they all fought over. They dubbed it Baah´-Na-Na (pronounced like the band & TV show Sha-Na-Na). Luke also talked Gma in to another round of Pluck-A-Duck and won a golden sword (just what we needed). We had to drop off our loot and get our chairs and the cooler we packed as it was time to attend what we’d waited for all year. It is the highlight (or low-light, depending upon your point of view, I guess) of the Decatur County 4-H fair – the annual Smash-Up (Demolition) Derby. I think we enjoy the atmosphere (i.e., the crowd) nearly as much as the event itself. It is a microcosm of life in a small town in southeastern Indiana. There were only 19 entries this year, but it lasted longer than it had the past couple years. We got there a little earlier than in the past and I’m glad we did as they had fenced off the section of land that we usually set up our little area. We did get a front row seat, though, just a little off to the side. Matt & Abby went out and got us dinner. We had pork burgers and cheeseburgers from the Smyrna church and fish sandwiches from the Lett’s fire department. Later, we had popcorn and ice cream. We missed out on the foot-long corn dogs, the ears of corn and elephant ears, but vowed to get them next year. Attendance was down this year for the derby. I’d say there were about 3-400 there and it’s normally about twice that amount. We got in and out with very little trouble or wait. We rode a few more rides, including the Pharaoh’s Fury where I thought Luke was going to puke in my lap and Abby was going to make my ear drum’s pop. We also rode the bumper cars one last time and Lukey finally got to ride the new ride the Wiggle Wurm. There were only a few kiddie-type rides that we didn’t ride this year. The last ride of the year was Storm. It was a good one, too – as the ride guy let it go for close to 4 minutes! I thanked him and the kids showed their appreciation by nearly barfing when they got off. 😛 We took one more trip around the midway, up through the booth areas – where most of them were closed up and empty – and got one last ice cream cone. We finished up our cone, picked up our fish and headed out. There was a beautifully clear crescent moon out that night and we came home and showed Ann our goodies. Lola thought the new banana was a chew toy and Molly thought it was a monster – she did not like it at all. We got our fish set up in their new home (let’s see if we can make it through the weekend with them). They were officially named Bob II and Fish (pronounced f-eye-sh).

On Saturday, we were up early to get the boys’ haircuts over in Columbus. We came home and I loaded up the truck and headed over to Mom & Gigi’s to mow. The kids stayed home and cleaned out the Pacifica and Grand Caravan. They needed it badly. It was very hot that afternoon and Abby felt sorry for her old man and volunteered to mow the back yard for me. I was only happy to oblige her! After a short in-service and a couple times of killing it, she finally got the hang of it and used the lawnmower for the first time. For their trouble, I took Bu & Luke to Dairy Point for goodies. Abby got a banana split; Luke got a twist cone and I got something I shouldn’t have… We were pleasantly surprised to see Christy’s oldest daughter, Heather, working the counter. She started there less than a week earlier and did us up with our treats!! 😉 We came home and took a nap before Luke & Bu went to a birthday party at the city pool until late! Matt & I watched movies in the playroom. We tried to use our old laptop as we have done countless times, but it died and we had to bury it. Instead, we watched them on our home computer. We watched The Crazies and The Book of Eli.

On Sunday, we did our weekly chores and did some troubleshooting on our 36??? Sony Wega Trinitron HDTV in the living room. Just like the laptop the night before, it took a big shit on us. It worked fine on Saturday night for Ann. But, when she went to turn it on Sunday morning, it wouldn’t start. It started to and then the little red lights started flashing 6 times. We looked it up in the owner’s manual and followed all the troubleshooting guidelines until it said to locate the nearest Sony repair guy. Well, that was in Massachusetts! I can’t see us boxing up this 400 lb TV and shipping via truck. So, we called Best Buy – where Ann purchased it 7 or so years ago. They wanted $150 just to show up at our door before they even looked at it or did any work. So, we told them we’d call them back and we looked it up online and one of the things said to unplug it for 6 hours and then start it. We tried that to no avail. We are going to let it set for about 24 hours to see if it helps, but at this point it doesn’t look good. When Mom & Sandy heard about our dilemma, they immediately told us to come over and get their big screen TV from Gigi’s room. So, we’ll see how it goes; but it wasn’t a good weekend for electronics in our home. Then, just before bedtime, Bob II had to have the big flush, as he had turned to a silver fish and was floating upside down. Luke thought he was doing tricks but he was obviously not breathing. Luke wanted to eat it! 😛 He was all excited at bedtime, as he got to watch Star Wars in his room and sleep naked for the first time (…don’t ask; but you should’ve seen his face – he was so excited that I swear he was glowing!). …he is so much fun… Here are some video clips from this week:

…and just for fun, I have a couple other videos to share as well. Robert Plant is back with his old band mates from his pre-Zeppelin days with the reunited Band of Joy. They started their tour this week in Memphis, TN and may possibly have a new album in the works. The re-worked Zep classics are pretty cool. Now that Robert, John Paul and even Jason are out doing things this summer, when will Jimmy join in the fray??

It’s time now for our weekly Waybac feature. Leading off, we have a cute one of little Annie in about ’71 – love that big smile; Sharon & Dan with little Nathan at some river in about ’73 – Sharon, any idea where this was??; Keith, Ann, Dean and their “lapdog???? Lulu at their first home by the high school in about ’76; and little Katie getting in to the munchies in Kokomo – is says 10 ½ months, so I am guessing this to be in about ’79…

Next up we have Ann in another dance picture with her partner in about 1980 in Greensburg; 2 from what I am now guessing to be a baseball team party – possibly our league runner-up team of Lee’s TV in LaPorte in the summer of ’83 since there are a lot of the same people from that team in these pictures…but no idea why there are lots of girls…and I do see where my partner is catching an egg I threw – perhaps we won or came close, but I honestly have zero memories of this outing; and then there’s yet another picture (how many pictures are there from this weekend??) of Keith and his sisters just before his wedding rehearsal in LaPorte in ’93.

Wrapping up this week’s version of the Scheu Family Blog is a bunch from 1996: me with my cousins Tammy & Trudy with Dad talking to Homer and holding Matthew out at Kenny & Marylou’s house for a Brown family reunion, most likely in September for a fish fry – outside their pole barn in Rossville (Homer had a cool remote control plane that year, as I remember!); Mom O and Mom B fighting over the first grandchild in September in our old apartment in Columbus; Matt in October just a couple days before my birthday in his Boo onesy at Mom & Dad’s first house in Rossville, playing on the floor with his uncle; then a couple of Matt in his favorite position – in fact, it’s still his favorite to this day – plopped right in front of that huge Mitsubishi TV (now it’s in our playroom and he plays his Xbox 360 on it) on December 8th; then on Christmas morning in Columbus in the midst of all his new toys from Santa’s first visit; and finally a couple of Rob from a night out in a limo with his then girlfriend in Rossville – Rob, was this for a dance at school or something??…that is a limo with the pay cell phone, right! LOL

Well, that puts the kibosh on another episode of the Scheu Family Blog. Thanks as always for keeping up with us and we’ll catch up with ya next time. Until then, have a good one.
Later, Scheu