Call the Law and the Long Con: summer so far

Last month my husband's neurologist told him, "You've graduated. No more nasty medicine. Go back to your normal life."

We are so grateful. The Total Package still has one small area of vision loss, and blood may never again flow through his left vertebral artery, but his body has compensated and the healing is remarkable. Again, thank you for your prayers!

Hours after the doctor gave him that news, my husband and son (MOON PIE!) packed the truck and headed for Michigan. They slept in Spokane the first night (thank you, Badens). After that, they camped in Glacier National Park, grabbed a hotel and pizza somewhere in the Dakotas, and pitched a tent the next night in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, with a view of the Mackinac Bridge. Notice that I wasn't specific about the Dakotas, out of sheer apathy and carelessness.

Here are a few photos they took in Glacier.

And the camp at Mackinac:

After that, Moon Pie flew solo at his grandparents' house (thank you, Keips!). In proper grandkid fashion, he did whatever he wanted for a week, while his dad drove 2500 miles home. Then his grandparents drove him to his auntie's farm.

The farm was a different story. At the farm one must herd some cows into one barn, and keep some cows in this field or that. One must help cows with pink-eye, and cows that fall down for no reason. One must get up early and milk cows, then gather eggs and stack some hay bales. Then one must ride the zip line over the pond, try to kill the snapping turtle in the pond, and flirt with the waitress at the local diner until she agrees to buy fireworks because she's over 18.

All the while, Uncle Dave took photos and videos and emailed them to us.

Thank you, Vander Zandens. :-)

Meanwhile, back home, the rest of us helped sell fireworks for a school fund-raiser. Part of the job involved sleeping at the fireworks stand, to discourage theft.

The stand, first thing in the morning, all buttoned up:

Breakfast with explosives...

And my two favorite fireworks names:

Finally, Moon Pie flew home and brought his cousin with him. We'll call this cousin Long Con, because his name is Conner and because he is very, very tall. He is so tall, in fact, that when he sits on the floor to play a game, it creates a visual impression similar to watching a giraffe drink water. There's no place for his legs to go.

This kid eats like three people, which is quite fun. We managed to eat our way through a couple Portland neighborhoods. My favorite spot was Pine State Biscuits. Here's a fuzzy photo of my son's dinner. It wasn't rainbow stew, but he said it tasted excellent.

On an equally appetizing note, Moon Pie had been home a few days when Uncle Dave emailed a follow-up photo of the snapping turtle in their pond. For some reason the turtle was floating lazily on his back. Dave called the photo "Turtle Soup."