Labor Day 2011

The unofficial totals, because there is nothing really official about it…and in the words that my father gave them to me; 600 bodies and 438 quads.  Labor Day 2011 was another successful weekend full of friends and fun. 

The weather got a bit scary on Saturday afternoon (thanks Brother for the heads up) and we got about 2.5” of much needed rain, but it would have been more appreciated had it come on Monday…actually maybe not, people came to get muddy and that they did!

Our average of one accident a year held strong, but he is doing ok.  The accident was truly that, no horse play and he was very well taken care of thanks to Donnie Taylor, Mindy Thurman, Amy Taylor and the Rescue Squad.  He is a good friend of my Dad’s and I know he was pretty scared, so I stayed with him until the ambulance took him away.

As if Mother Nature knew that I had called this the last summer bash, the temperature changed and it feels like we went straight into fall.  I don’t know why I forget every single year what happens to my sister when the weekend is over, but it is not pretty.  As much as I love fall, she loves summer and she experiences a wide range of emotions (not happy ones) and she is not fun to be around.  She will adjust and it will be a long winter, but if we are lucky, maybe we will have an Indian summer…

LABOR DAY RODEO

I suppose from the sky it looks like a bunch of ants and a plethora (love this word) of ant hills.  But really what you are seeing is the Annual Labor Day 4-Wheeler Rodeo.  Hosted by the Buckman, Richard, Taylor and Boyer families, for going on almost 14 years now.  Or maybe it is 13, I lost count. 

From now until Monday afternoon the Spoon River bottom will be surrounded by a cloud of continuous dust and the rumbling of hundreds upon hundreds of 4-wheelers.  Campers, tents, small hotels on wheels, trailers used for beds…I guess you could say it is our one and only family tradition on my father’s side.  I truly believe he lives for this weekend, as does my sister.  My brother used to love it but I am not entirely sure why he doesn’t anymore.  Personally I missed many of them when I lived in Minnesota.  Some years I came home.  Then I moved home and bought my own 4-wheeler.  Then I bought a bar and didn’t get to experience the event for 3 years.

THEN…I thought my life would be in Hawaii and here I am another Labor Day and this time without “Black Betty” (my 4-wheeler) to get me from Point A to Point B.

I suppose it doesn’t mean the same thing to me as it does to the hundreds of others who truly treat this as their yearly “family vacation.”  Every year I am amazed at how many people flock to this…this place that has been my home forever…this place that all of us who have lived here have taken for granted at some point or another.   We are blessed, truly. 

I will not lie and tell you that it doesn’t cause me a great deal of anxiety.  I mean these people are basically living and playing on all of our properties.  And get to do so for free.  Donations are welcomed of course but they somehow never equate to the cost that it really does take to put it on.

If you know my Dad, you know he can be a quite simple man.  He doesn’t really ask much of the hundreds of people that come.  Register your wheeler, sign a waiver, get a bracelet, don’t litter, be smart and have fun.  Way back when it first started and we had a manageable group, it was easier to monitor this.  Now, it has grown to epic proportions…a mini-Sturgis if you will.  I didn’t know half of the people that were here last year.   Either way, we just want everyone to be smart and be careful and be respectful of the properties you are playing on.  Simple request really.

If you happen to be participating in this event this weekend, please do me a favor.  Take a minute to stop and tell my Father, or Neil and Susie, or Joyce and Danny, or Dee Dee and David, THANK YOU.  You wouldn’t believe how far a thank you goes around here.  We love that you enjoy this weekend and we love that you want to be here… WE want you to be courteous, respectful, cautious, and safe and have fun!!!

According to Dee Dee this weekend is the last hoorah for the Summer…so make good-bye to the Summer of 2011 a fun one. 

P.S.

A side note from Dad…you get one bracelet.  Don’t take it off to bathe.  Don’t take it off because it’s bothering you.  No bracelet, no riding.  Pretty sure he means it.  You don’t get a new one every single day, you get one and done.  Please leave it on.

And Angie J and MJ…wherever you are, I hope you read this and know that I will be watching out for "Lying Asians," Crawdad Nippers and will probably be driving it home with “One Headlight!”

Be careful out there everyone, have a safe and Happy Labor Day Weekend.

The Shampoo/Conditioner Conspiracy

And there is one.  Walk down that particular aisle in any of your favorite marts, or specialty salon stores and you will be inundated (I LOVE THIS WORD) with choices.  Too many choices.  In my educated opinion it is definitely what is wrong with our country.  Not shampoo and conditioner specifically but, surely you are following along.  There are TOO many choices for everything. 

Chicken for instance.  Would you like the preservative injected cheap package with enough to feed 16 people?  The flash frozen giant chicken breasts in the big package but really only contains 5 pieces of chicken?  Or would you like two oversize chicken breasts that are free-range, given no special medicines to “beef” them up and who were raised on an entirely organic farm for $6 each?  I don’t know why I picked chicken to prove a point, but hopefully you can grasp what I am trying to say.  Choices.  Too many of them.  My mom?  There is only one chicken and it’s Kentucky Fried.  I love that she doesn’t struggle with this like some people (me) I know.  I just know that within the last 10-15 years, organic became a huge industry.  And added a whole entirely new section to the aisles that were perfectly fine the way they are.  And an expensive one at that.

Back to shampoo.  I do not remember the first time I learned about Bath and Body Works, or the first scent I purchased.  It’s possible it came from my Aunt Michelle for Christmas one year because she used to have an entire hall closet full of the stuff, for gifts and such.  Either way, I fell in love with the store.  This may come as a surprise to some, but I really enjoy smelling good.  And I don’t just mean, wow, you smell like you have had a shower.  I mean, wow, what are you wearing, that smells so good.  I enjoy finding the scents that work well with my chemistry.  I know, how girlie of me.  Interestingly enough the scents that smell the best on me vary but tend to lean towards the woodsy, oriental woodsy and fresh scents.

Believe it or not scents fall in to one of 4 categories; Fresh, Floral, Oriental, and Woodsy.  It depends on your body chemistry.  And let’s be honest there are some people who have no business wearing some of the scents they do and when they do they usually bathe in it and you just want to grab them by the hand and take them into Sephora and get them some real help.  Usually you can tell what smells good on you when people say, oh you smell good, what is that?   But sometimes they lie because they don’t want to hurt your feelings.  So it’s best to just go the trouble to figure it out.  And really it’s not much trouble.