'Another Spider Blog

Spiders are not my favorite critter, but I am fascinated with their webs.  Over the past few years, I have taken pictures of webs and spiders and written about how much I hate walking into their webs.

Several weeks ago, Don and I looked out our sliding glass door to find that an orb spider had built his web in such a way that we couldn't use the door.  We could, of course, have pulled down his trap, but we preferred to watch what happened.  So we let Babs in and out the door, but we never graced the stair.  And we watched.

Invariably, by morning numerous bugs were caught in the spider's trap.  And as he ate the bugs, he got bigger and bigger.

One morning we were able to catch the sunlight just right to capture a picture of his by then huge web.

It got cold the other night, and now all we have is a remnant of his web.  He is curled up above it, hoping for warmth, I think.  We'll see if he returns, but if not, we feel lucky to have been privy to his fine art work!

There Are Tailgates, and There are TAILGATES!

I had been planning the tailgate party for the KU-KSU game for awhile.  Our niece and nephew, Kylie and Chase were going to join us, as well as Don's brother Kevin, his wife, Barb, and their two boys.  Chase is purple through-and-through, but the rest lean blue and red.  Nephew Eric is a student at KU, yet he was the only one who did not wear blue and red.  Kevin, Barb, and Zach made up for it.  And although Kylie is learning toward KU, she is keeping an open mind!

So, I tried to make sure the kids had a good time.  Since it was an early game and Don had a meeting Friday night, we went up after school on Friday.  While Don was at his meeting, we went to Aggieville, watched the band play at Kite's, ate at Bluestem Bistro (it was a 2 hour wait at Coco Bolo's), took a tour of the Kappa and DU houses, and drove around the campus.  Then we went to the stadium parking lot and slept!

Early Saturday morning, we were up and getting ready for a 9:00 visitor.  Right on time, Willie drove up in his little car.

After Kylie and Chase had their picture taken with Willie, Don and I had to do the KSU with him!

I thought we had had all the visitors we were going to have.  What I didn't know is that Anne Strube had been tweeting Eric Stonestreet.  Three tries did not go through, but the fourth did.  And about 5 minutes after Willie left, as Anne was preparing to go to the Cats' Closet, up drove a green four-wheeler with Eric inside.  Anne hadn't left yet (good thing!), so she and Ashley were able to get a Christmas card picture with him.  The whole group gathered for a photo, we gave Eric a cup of coffee, and he left to grace other people's tailgate parties.  What fun!

Unfortunately, most of our group had not yet arrived.  The KU folks had gotten trapped in horrible traffic on I-70 as had Kenneth and most of the Kansas City crew.  We are grateful Anne and Ashley were there, however . . . .I know Kylie and Chase will remember this party for a long time!

Fast Food

We have long been warned of the dangers of eating too much fast food - especially hamburgers.  They cause people to gain weight . . . and I am certain hamburgers are addicting.

I have not eaten a hamburger from McDonald's in years . . . except for the occasional $.99 one purchased while driving through the McDonald's in Hugoton while on the way to the cabin.  Other than that, I haven't had one in forever . . .

For the last few months, I have been having trouble getting our little Babs to eat.  She has gotten very picky, and one day she will eat something, only to turn it away the next day.  She went through her rotisserie chicken stage, her ground up dog food stage, her cheese stage.  Those lasted less than a week.  But several weeks ago, she started eating hamburger.  I would buy a pound at the store, brown it, and serve it to her over a course of days.

Tiring of the "browning routine" I decided earlier this week to purchase a $1.29 hamburger from McDonald's.  I took it off the bun, cut it into pieces . . . gone.  She loved it.  It wasn't nearly enough.  So we began buying a double cheeseburger, plain, no bun.  YUM!  Gone so fast, I can't believe it.  Those two hamburgers have about 300 calories . . . today she ate two homemade burgers + two McDonald's burgers.

It is a relief to have Babs eating, but in the process of feeding her, I tasted the cheeseburgers.  Man, I had forgotten how tasty they are.  I am not yet tempted to order one for me, too, but I can surely see how easy it is to over-indulge.  In the meantime, we are hoping to "Supersize Babs" as she needs to gain weight.  Thanks, McDonald's.

The Race For the Cure

I have never walked in the Race For the Cure.  Usually, we are out of town on the day, but this year we were home.  So I signed up with the KWCH team and walked as a part of Kim's Crew.

Arriving in the parking lot is a like going to the State Fair.  It was crowded . . . very crowded.  And there were booths everywhere hawking all sorts of stuff.  Some people were dressed in bizarre pink outfits, though most of us were pretty middle-of-the-road.  Once the walk started, we all streamed out onto Douglas Avenue and began our trek through Eastborough.

It could not have been a lovelier morning, and the walk was not stressful at all.  When it was over, people quickly dispersed, and the walk was over.

Luckily, I ran into Kim's mom prior to the race.  She is such a beautiful woman, both inside and out.  She is the rock that has held the rest of us together.  I know it was an emotional day for her . . . it was for me, so I cannot imagine how it was for her.  I loved seeing how many people love and honor Kim, and I hope she did, too.

Kim impacted those around her in so many ways.  The least I could do was walk to preserve her memory.

The St. John's Bible

Have you ever seen an illuminated Bible?  I hadn't until last week.  And what a treat it was!

My Aunt Ruth had told me about the St. John's Bible exhibition at the New Mexico History Museum.  She tried to describe it to me, but until I saw it I didn't understand.

Kathy Dunlavy, Ginny Marti and I visited the museum on Wednesday, and it didn't take long for us to determine that this was a very special exhibit.  A man, Daniel Jackson, had a dream as a boy to create an illuminated Bible, totally hand calligraphed with gorgeous art work that utilized the finest materials available.  The pages were calf skin, some of the inks were from an ink factory that closed down in the 1880's.  Daniel created his own font, then taught it to numerous scribes.  A computer was used to set up the pages, then the work began.  Gold and platinum were used to illuminate it . . . all hand done!

One of my favorite pages was the Valley of the Dry Bones.  Tough subject, but the artist did a spectacular job with it.  In the valley, s/he depicted not only Biblical images but also contemporary ones - the Holocaust, the genocide in Rwanda, oil spills, ecological disaster.  It was breathtaking.

If the exhibition ever comes anywhere near you, go see it.  It will be time well spent.

Fantasy Football

A few weeks ago, our family decided to set up a fantasy football team.  We invited my sister and brother, Joey, Diana, Kenneth, and Morgan.  The names of the teams were all related to silly nicknames  or events, which will mean nothing to most people but a lot to us.

When we held our draft, Katie didn't get to participate, so the computer picked her team.  DianaSaurus Rex decided to use a "complex algorithm" based upon looks and funny names.  When I asked her if she was going to draft Tom Brady, she said no because "He's too old."  Thirty-four and he is too old. Sheesh!  The rest of us were pretty serious about our picks . . . and I got Jordy.

Unfortunately having Aaron Rogers and Jordy Nelson does not appear to be unbeatable.  So far I am 0-2, though hopeful that this week I can beat WillieBago.  I won't know until Monday night, so we will see.

Fantasy Football has made us interested in all of the games.  Fantasy Football has encouraged us to root for teams we would never have considered before.  Kenneth says there must be something that makes 500,000 people participate on a weekly basis.  Now make that 500,008.

Perfection

One of our family's favorite card games is 3 to 13, a simple, fast, fun game that can be played by many. My friend, Kathy, plays the same game, but her deck of cards has five suits (they add a yellow star suit) and it is called Five Crowns.  There is no place better than the cabin to play it, so we did.

I have played many, many games of 3 to 13, but I have never seen a perfect round.  Until last week.  When I had one.  Perfect.  No points in 10 hands.

And here's the score card to prove it.

It may never happen again, so I had to have visual and blog proof that it happened!