Summer Is Over... Oh... And Honey, By The Way, I Crunched the Car...

Sunny - Hi 114 Lo 87 for Baghdad, Iraq
Partly Cloudy - Hi 74 Lo 59 for Northern KY, USA

** Side note, when I checked the weather for Baghdad, the note said "feels like 111". Well... thank goodness for that!! **

Song of the week: Other Side of Summer, Elvis Costello

Ramble:

Note: I'm not in the mood to write this morning and it is reflected in this pathetic post...

Normally, every year for the Labor Day Weekend, Michael and I head up to Cleveland for the Cleveland Airshow. But because Michael needed to slay a dragon last week, we decided that it was best to stay home. I thought about going up to see my brother and his family in Minneapolis, but even with cheap airfare I felt guilty about spending the money. But, the good news is that Terry, Maria, and the kids decided to make the 11 hour trip and arrived in Cincinnati at about 5 o'clock in the morning on Saturday. Hurray!! I got to see the kids!

Labor Day Weekend is when we say goodbye to summer- it went by so quickly this year!! September is jam packed with birthdays. So, let me do a quick roll call--

9/2 Kaeli! 1 year old!!....
9/3 Bro! 38. Can you believe it?
9/9 Michael! 42
9/18 Aimee! 13
9/25 Papaw! 83

I was going to write this week about being melancholy this time of year... but then last night coming home from my mom's and seeing the kids I had a little accident.

Kaeli, our youngest niece turned 1 on Saturday, so it was great to have her here. She is such a laid back relaxed little baby girl. Nothing phases her. When she gets sleepy, no whining... just the blinking and glossy eyes... When it was time for cake... this little girl didn't want any of it! She is definitely not from our clan. Anyway, we were at my mother's for a number of hours. Michael rode his Ninja over because we thought the kids would enjoy seeing it. I went over in my Jeep Liberty.

The day was dreary... it was in the upper 60's most of the day (unusual for early September in Cincinnati)... the skies looked like they wanted to unload buckets full of rain, but all we had off and on all day was this drizzley misty stuff. Blah blah blah... So the end of the evening we left Mom's. Michael hopped on his Ninja... me in my cute Liberty.... Michael did the speed limit except for a small stretch of highway where he flew past me as if I were standing still... Did I mention that it was drizzling? So, we are about 5 minutes from home and I take a right onto one of our curvy country roads... a road I have driven a million times... I'm driving the speed limit... I know this because Michael is right behind me... 35 MPH... Anyway... this sharp curve that goes down and up... I slid right through it... I could do absolutely nothing to correct this... the pavement just wouldn't let me grab hold. I crossed the double yellow and hit the guardrail... I know I didn't panic, I tried to steer into the slide and pull out of it... but that guardrail and my Liberty inevitably became intimate pals... Crap... I love this car.... I had a crappy Mercury Villager forever--- abused the crap out of it... never changed the oil... not a scratch on it... The Boone County Sheriff was nice... and I didn't receive a citation either............. I'm so bummed... but I am grateful for a couple of things...

Number one... no one was in the oncoming lane....

Number two... my fender when it flipped off my car didn't hit Michael...

Number three... no one was hurt. I seem to have a little soreness in my left wrist and neck and back... but that is to be expected...

Just look at the pictures...

click on the pictures for a larger image.

My nephew Caleb on Uncle Michael's bike. How cute! Please notice the Liberty behind Caleb... free from any scratches... last known photo of the Liberty prior to said accident.

Photo taken this morning... look, neither door is hurt! That's good!!

The rear fender is scraped...

The front fender is in a ditch about 2 miles from the house...

Crap!!! I didn't even notice the dent in the hood!!!

[heavy sigh]

Blogs and Links to Check Out This Week:

The Super Adventures of Ben and Noah - with running commentary from their little sister. I was over at 2996 and DC Roe said that these 2 little guys signed up to do a tribute. What a wonderful blog and what a great mom! Seriously, visit this blog and your heart will be warmed instantly.

Rantingprofs - Media coverage on the War on Terror provided by a professor from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Flynn Files - An author, but more importantly, he recommends The Young Ones.... one of the most hysterical sophomoric shows I have ever seen.

Housekeeping:

I've restored most of my "old" sidebar. I want to add a couple more things that are missing... In time. Now if I can just figure out the tabs at the top...

Have a great week everyone!

Photo of veggies from Michael's garden.