Today is Sunday, August 11 and there are only 136 days until Christmas.  It is not too early to start shopping and avoid the crush in November and December.  I can send you my list if you need it.  Today is the birthday of Lawrence Binyon, Herbert Hoover and Rhonda Fleming.  In 1790 Robert Gray’s Columbia completed the first American around-the-world voyage, Transatlantic cable was laid and former president Buchanan communicated over it to Queen Victoria in 1866 and in 1981 the Richard Nixon Museum in San Clemente closed.  It is Independence Day in Ecuador, Palio Del Golfo in Italy and Admission Day in Missouri.

We have just gotten back from two short trips, Iowa and down the shore.  We were in Iowa to visit our dear friends Paul and Randy.  We had a great time, ate quite well and saw some very interesting tourist type things.  They live in Burlington and one very interesting thing we noted was that there are a number of Mexican restaurants there and most of them are not chain restaurants.  When asked if there was a large Mexican population there, Paul said no.  I guess people in Burlington just like Mexican food.

The city is located on the Mississippi River and the lovely Elaine and I had the opportunity to sit and watch the river flow one afternoon.  We enjoyed watching the boats on the river and just sitting there, relaxing.  We are very good at relaxing and try to work on those skills whenever we get the chance.  We had the opportunity to sing at Randy’s church and enjoyed that a lot.  We ate well and often and I found the place where I want my coffin ordered from.  It will be beautiful, but I plan on making you wait a long time to see it, so don’t go getting all excited.

I want to say just a few words about air travel – it sucks.  I am amazed that in this day and age, you cannot fly directly to your destination.  There was a time when you could plan a trip and get your airline tickets for a direct flight to wherever you were going.  Now you have to plan your trip allowing for the fact that to get to a destination you have to go somewhere else, sometimes flying over the city you ultimately want to be in, switch planes (setting yourself up for the lost luggage scenario) and then fly to where you want to be.

For example, we were flying to Burlington Iowa.  To do so we had to fly to Chicago, switch planes, fly to Moline and then rent a car and drive to Burlington.  Originally, our flight to Chicago was scheduled to land giving us 45 minutes to get to our next flight.  We all know about the best laid plans – because of weather, the plane took a different route, leaving us 10 minutes to get to our next flight.  If you have ever been to O’Hare in Chicago, you know it is a large airport.  We took off running, if you can call what we did running (it was more like pathetic fast walking), to go from the gate we landed at to the one we needed to be at.  This was approximately 30 gates away and in another arm of the airport.  We got there in time, thankful that we made it without passing out and one minute later they posted the one hour delay of our flight.  It was good because it gave us the opportunity to breathe and recover from the shin splints we developed.

Going home was a little better.  The timing of the flights allowed for delays, although we were not too sure about making the connection in Chicago.  We got to the end of the taxi way in Moline and the pilot shut the engines down.  He announced that there was a ground stop due to weather and the anticipated delay was one hour.  It still gave us time to make the flight, but I was not real keen on sitting there in the plane while we waited.  Fortunately, the stop was lifted after 20 minutes and we were able to take off without any incidents.  I don’t know if I ever mentioned it, but I tend to be claustrophobic and impatient.  Not a great combination.

We got home and then the next day left to go down to Pat’s.  We had a great time there as always.  We continue to support the wine industry and Pat and the lovely Elaine continue to make inroads on solving education issues.  At one point we decided we were going to go to a small shopping area that, among other things, had a fantastic cupcake shop.  Elaine and I got into a discussion about where a particular brand of coffee that I was interested in was sold.  She claimed it was sold where we were going and I was positive it was in a different store.

When we got there she went where she said it was and I knew right away that I was incorrect.  She came and got me with that look on her face.  Married guys know the one I mean – that smug, I was right, come let me prove it look.  She takes me by the arm, leads me into the store and with a gesture reminiscent of the girls showing a prize on the Price Is Right indicates the coffee on the shelf.  My response was, “Oh look, they carry it here now, too.”  You know the look I got then.  Anyway, the reputation of the cupcake store was well deserved and we sat and ate our delicious treats while again working on our relaxing skills.

I preface this week’s fact with this warning – Please do not try this at home!  The fact tells us that 99% of people cannot lick their elbow.  I told you not to try it.  I hope you didn’t hurt your neck too much.