Of storms, mooching internet, black gumbo, and Benadryl-comas

Last night I got home super, super late from Nancy’s from doing homework for my class. Got it all turned in on time, but I wish I could have worked on it sooner. But it’s alright.  At least I was able to get it done and turned in.

On my drive back, the sky was clear and the moon was full and out, it was awesome. In the distance, there was a huge storm system coming closer in the distance.  When I got to the house, it was really ominous, but still not over us yet. There was still some stuff left over from the moving on the deck, and I looked at it some more and it was a lot of open boxes with books and other such things that really shouldn’t be getting wet… so I went about to start moving stuff into the house. When I was about half way done it started raining. When I got back inside after getting everything out of the rain and going upstairs (with my handy LED flashlight that I got for xmas a few years back) there was this huge flash, giant thunder crash, and a torrent of rain hit the house. It freaked me out so much. Between the new house, the spiders, the emptiness, the darkness, and then the storm. Yeah. Talk about freaky. And I’m not usually scared of stuff like that.  Then I decided to not be scared of it, so I pulled out my camera and took a few videos of them.

This morning I slept through church, which was a bummer, but it’s ok, I’m sure I needed the sleep, and I was kinda in a Benadryl-coma. But, thankfully, when I did get up, my mosquito bites were dramatically improved. Made my day. Hopefully I’ll get in some Solid Rock podcasts this week in addition to my Bible readings and studies, and maybe even go to a Wednesday night service here in town. They don’t have Sunday evening services because it’s too small and enough people are able to go to the morning services.

Got up, ate some cold pizza, because it was the only edible thing in the fridge. Showered, vacuumed my room, and went to Mondo’s diner with Jan to get lunch… which, we actually got breakfast, but it was still good. Later, I did some more stuff in my room and then went back into town. Got some iced coffee (!!!!!) at McDonald’s (because it’s basically one of the only places in town that has some on the weekend), and parked at the library to see if I could mooch of the free wifi from the lot even though they were closed for the day. It totally worked. I felt fantastic about my idea.

There was an incredible amount of patriotism going on in town and people out on the street seeming to wait for a parade. I was starting to wonder if there was some holiday that I forgot about… no, it was still June, couldn’t be 4^th of July just yet. Looked it up online and found that it was this parade thing:

Date:	June 27
Event:	Sea to Shining Sea Veterans Bike Ride Across America Sea to Shining Sea Disabled Veterans Bicycle Ride will stop in Shenandoah. They should arrive between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. State Farm is sponsoring the ride. Fareway will help sponsor a cookout at the Shenandoah Inn and Suites parking lot. Public is invited to the cookout meal with a donation. The donation will go to the veterans expenses for the ride.
Location:	Corner of Sheridan Ave. and Elm St.
Time:	Arrive 4-6pm and cookout follows

Made me really excited for the 4^th of July because of how excited every one was for this event.

After doing a little bit of internet surfing, I went back to the Shenandoah house to see how things were going (and mostly to use the bathroom). Mooched off the internet from the neighbors again when Jim asked me to come help move the chicken wire from over the garden and into the u-haul truck. Jim later chastised me for wearing my nice clothes, but I’d told them I wasn’t planning on doing any work today. Just taking it easy for the day and such… kinda frustrating, but anyway, I’m glad I was able to help.

Took some pictures of the dirt when we’d pulled off the chicken wire and the plastic underneath. It was beautiful. So, yes, I might be a nerd, but who cares! It was awesome. The dirt here is so black and high in clay content. It’s absolutely fascinating.

Called Lydia on the phone and we talked for around an hour. I walked back and forth along Airport road with the dogs, which was nice.

Jan made teriyaki steak and chicken tonight. It was more just meat boiled with teriyaki sauce (of sorts), and long grain rice, but it was still good. I miss veggies!!! After dinner, and eating a lot, Jim pulled out popcorn and chips and dip. I just had to leave. Not only was I already very full, I just didn’t want to overstuff myself because I’m just not doing well right now in that regard. I’ve been eating waay too much all the time.

I’m now up in my room, listening to this new album called Long Distance by Onra that Zach sent me today. I’m a definite fan. I think “Mechanical” is my favorite track so far.

Camp started today for real. The kids are all there. They’re probably in one of those group sessions right now. I’m going to guess, because it’s after 10 here, that they’re in their respective dorms, learning the camp song and doing all the camp guideline skits. So fun.

Without realizing it, I wore my old camp staff shirt today. Just pulled it out of my suitcase and threw it on. Apparently I subconsciously knew that it was the shirt to wear today… even if I am super far away.

Mom and Dad called, and I talked to them for a while. It was really good to talk to them.

I might be getting some Bowery family heirloom furniture for my room. I’m really hoping that I will get it tomorrow. I’ve been living mostly on the floor and sleeping on an air mattress since I’ve been here.

of downtown, lunch, and other such things

Today, my alarm went off at 6:30am. I actually did pull myself out of bed and looked outside. It wasn't raining. So I went and stood outside the back door for a bit to see if I really did want to go for a run. I did. So I put on my shoes and went off. I didn't go quite as far as last time, but I didn't expect to. It was really awesome, the sun was rising, and even though it was super humid, it wasn't quite as hot out. People continued to give me insane looks, it was kinda amusing.

After my run, I took a shower, had some cereal and did my Bible reading outside. It was really nice weather. I've decided it's probably the best part of the day here.

Oh dear. Power's dipping. There must be a thunderstorm not far away! ... yup, I can hear it now.

I can't tell you how much lack of motivation I have to write this right now. Staying away since 5pm (today) has been the biggest struggle of my life, it's ridiculous. How I've managed to still be awke now is amazing to me.

After awhile, I walked into the downtown area, stopping first in the library to get a library card. Ha, the librarian was kinda intense about giving me the library card:
Librarian: you live here? you got proof?
Me: uhh, I just moved in with my relatives.
Librarian: oh, ok, well, we'll have to send you your library card then.
Me: um, ok?
Librarian: oh, and this phone number is long distance, so is it alright if we email you when you have a reserve or when an item is over due?
Me: yeah, that's totally fine.
....so funny.

Then I walked around downtown, taking lots of pictures. They have this thing called the Iowa Walk of Fame, which is where they have bricks on the sidewalk of a map of Iowa with a famous person's name and a star with the town they're from.

I went into a few shops. Some are cutsie little boutiques. One was a clothing store full of old ladies trying to pick out colors that they should wear to some relative's wedding up near the city by a pond.

Shenandoah wants to be a tourist town, but it soooo isn't. I almost got hit by grandma on more than one occasion. They were at stop signs! I was at the cross walk, one would think (especially coming from tourist-central [aka Hood River]) that people would stop when you want to cross. But no. They don't. I mean, really. In a town of 6,000, I'm probably the one tourist, so why should they care?

Also, I went into a few shops

-------NEWSFLASH-------

I FOUND THE [one] COFFEE PLACE!!!!

*ahem*... I went into a few shops and actually got to talking to some of the people who worked in them. Mostly because I was their only customer and they were more than interested in assisting me. I talked to them and said I just moved here (people don't understand the concept of "just visiting for the summer" so it's either: "I'm just visiting" or "I just moved here") and we got to talking about life in Shenandoah, they're all very welcoming and want to know what I'm doing out here and such. It was cool. Then I went into a more trendy boutique and got to talking to the girl in there. Her name is Amber, she's 23 and lives in a town not far from here. We got to talking (more of the same, but also about meeting people and hanging out with ppl our age), and she gave me her number and said she'd love to hang out, and mentioned some other people around our age in the area. Super exciting. I was going to call her tonight, but I'm just too tired to care at the moment. Perhaps tomorrow. She also said that I'm more than welcome to come by the store she works at any time because she works every day and often gets bored (I just want to say, that this reminded me of Jill b/c I used to visit her at Anana's a lot, although this store wasn't quite so intense as Ananas, just mainly trendy).

I went into the Donut Stop and the gal said "All we got is day'olz" cool, no problem. I don't really care. So I got myself a chocolate glazed bar (called a longjohn apparently) for 35 cents. Very good.

Then I went into the Nishnabotna Cafe (Nishnabotna is the river that flows just north of town (and just north of the farmhouse... there's also a really cool bridge that goes over it on part of the Wabash Trace bike trail). I thought it was the coffee place I'd seen online, but it was really just a diner. It reminded me of The Ranch. Walking in, there was an entry way full of business cards and local announcements. Then I walked into the place proper. It was filled - filled - with retired and working farmers from the area. They all looked up when I walked in. Yup, I'm a sore thumb, but I don't mind. I walked over to the counter and sat down, struck up a conversation with the waitress as she handed me the two-sided, plastic-sleeve covered paper menu (love small diners in small towns). I got distracted by the place instead of looking at my menu. There were so many cute sayings on the wall, so many old things like a super old fridge (still in use), calendars and football schedules from the 50s, in addition to the people. Everyone was talking to everyone. Not just people knowing about the happenings of town, but actively talking about everything with each other from across tables and across the restaurant. I hastily ordered a bacon cheeseburger when she came back (only $4) and got some fries with it.

The waitress and I talked about how I liked the place because it reminded me of a place I used to work at (anything that reminds me of HR is awesome).
Waitress: so you just moved here?
Me: Yeah, I'm from Oregon
Waitress: Oregon... ok, that's not too far, Oregon, Missouri and all
Me: Oh, no, Oregon, the state of
Waitress: Oh! Really? Wow!!! What brings you out to Shenandoah?
...and our conversation went on from there ;)
this is actually common... just like when you say Washington, you have to specify that it's the state, and not DC.

Then this really sweet older guy sat down a few chairs over from me. He asked me why I wasn't in the pool on a hot day like this. I said I was going there soon. Then after we started talking a bit, he moved over to sit closer to me, and we just had a really sweet conversation the whole time we were there. He is a local meter-reader in the area. Said he gets plenty of exercise and fresh air in his job. We talked about how nice and peaceful and safe small towns like Shenandoah are, and how busy Oregon is, and how the weather is like out there, and of course, we talked about the humidity and fireflies. It was like talking to a grandpa. I loved it. I asked him what his favorite thing about living in the area was. His response? "You gotta get married and have your kids here. It's a really good place. Good schools and not a lot of crime. There are still cooks out there, so you can't be too careful, but it's so much better than those big cities." We then talked about coffee and how people in the Northwest are obsessed with coffee and specialty drinks and espresso. He had to know if Starbucks was all that it was cracked up to be. I told him that regular coffee is often burnt because they leave it on the burner all day. He was shocked... and at such an expense! He had to know the most expensive drink, I told him I didn't know, but that I had seen some that were over $6. He just couldn't believe spending so much on one drink. We finished our lunches and he insisted on paying for my lunch because "the good company was worth getting a lunch for, and you have such beautiful dimples." As we were eating lunch, I just had to thank God for letting me be open to meeting new people and being outgoing today, even though it's hot and scary being in a new town in the middle of corn-city, Iowa. Then I went on my way, and after I'd walked a few blocks, he passed me in his truck and waved as he drove by. It really made my day.

Then I walked home. It. Was. So. Hot.

After I got home, I uploaded my pictures to my computer and called Lydia. She called later and we talked for over an hour. It was really good to catch up with her. I miss her soooo much! I love hearing familiar voices on the phone. IMing, skyping, texting, emailing, and facebooking are awesome, but it doesn't compare to live voices!

After talking with Lydia, I went down to the pool. Jan was already there (she got too over heated, and I don't blame her! With temperatures in the 90s plus humidity made the heat index in the 100s! The pool was kinda a mad house. Packed with kids and parents. But it was worth it! Jan and I went between getting in the water and lying out under the spraying mist of the fountains at the pool. Probably should have continuously applied the sunscreen because I got a little sunburnt, but it's not bad and I applied aloe as soon as we got home.

After swimming, I was sooo beat. I just wanted to go to bed, but it was only 5pm! I just couldn't justify going to bed so early. So I ate my leftovers (yum!), and watched a detective movie with Jan on Hulu called "The Good Guys" it was kinda dumb, but funny, and it kept me awake for another hour. Afterwards Jan mentioned cleaning the rest of the house today. I said I think we should just take a break for the day because I was just super exhausted, probably from the run, the walking around town, and the swimming. I managed to stay up late enough to go on a walk with Jan around 9ish. It was still really hot and really humid, but it was a good walk and I really enjoy our late-evening walks together.

I just want to say that I've figured out the two big universities here. Iowa State University is a lot like Oregon State University. It has Ag, Animal Sciences, and other science-oriented majors. The University of Iowa has more of the liberal arts degrees that University of Oregon has. ha! and would you look at that! The titles of the universities are even the same. I will have to say though, I am partial to the orange and black. Although UofI is the Hawkeyes, and their colors are black and gold, and then ISU is the Cyclones, but their mascot is a red cardinal and their colors are red and gold, which isn't quite as awesome, but still cool. Yeah ag!!!

It's kinda a bummer, for some reason, Jim's mom might not be able to be there for the signing of the house this week for some reason or another. It's still pending, so it might work out, but if not, we won't be moving til next week. This is really, really starting to wear on both Jan and Jim. They're itching to move. Everything is ready to go. They can't wait to get the garden started and the painting done and the moving over with. Especially so they can have their normal lives back. They've been living in boxes for at least two weeks already. Hopefully, we won't have to be this way for another week!

Bed is really calling my name. I might get up early tomorrow, might not. Who knows. Not super worried about it. Depends on how I feel when I wake up.

Pictures posted to my facebook album and my flickr photostream. :)

of dining rooms and madeline

Here's a few pictures from yesterday that I should have posted... well, yesterday.

side/dining room before

side/dining room after

(note, I moved almost all the boxes from the living room, kitchen and entry into here to aid in further cleaning of those respective areas and  for ease of walking around the house)

and also....

Introducing: Madeline

She's super sweet and her favorite spot to hang out is on the kitchen counter. She loves attention, but not while the canines are around. If you are around and not paying her proper attention, she will rub against you, meow kindly, and roll around on the floor (or counter). Most adorable.

of bbq's, thunderstorms, and bedrooms

For the rest of yesterday we went over to Nancy's house for the BBQ (sorry, forgot my camera!!! super sad about this... next time though!!!). Sunday night, as it happens, is the traditional Mormon Family Night. The idea of a "family night" is nothing bad in any way. Just the fact that they plug "mormon" on the front of it that bothers me. They gave their father gifts because it was Father's Day, then everyone talked a little, and then Nancy read out of a book for awhile before prayer and dinner was started. For dinner we had salad, home-made baked beans (left over from a missionary feed of sorts), and steak. It was all really good. Then we went up to Rachel's room, which is painted the most beautiful shade of royal purple and overlaid with sparkles (at her request), adorned with leopard wall paper, and featuring a fun, full-sized loft bed, 3 toads, a tree frog, a pet bearded dragon and a hamster. Needless to say, Rachel loves her pet. She loves cats and dragons and could talk for hours about the video games she plays and the books she loves to read. Then we went down to the basement and watched the pilot episode of Kings while eating home-made popcorn. Very good.

Then we came back to the house, and I attempted to go to bed, but there was such an epic thunderstorm out that I just couldn't sleep. So I watched "Angus, Thongs, and Perfect Snogging" (made me think of Jill because she said it was super cute. wished i could have watched it with her!) which was an adorable British chick-flick of sorts while the sky flashed constantly (which I video'd and you can see below... it's not nearly as epic on youtube than it is live).



This morning I was going to get up super early and go for a run, but that was postponed due to the incredible storm that was still going on outside, with growing intensity. Giving up on that idea, I went back to bed.

Got up a few hours later and cleaned (like, swept, mostly -- can't really clean it until the boxes are out of it) and organized the spare room that I'm currently living in. Realized that I could actually be keeping all of my stuff in the closet (with shelves!) instead of at the mercy of the dogs (were Lacy to get in again, I try to keep the room door closed as much as I can anymore, regardless of where my stuff is).

Then I showered, organized things a bit more, and with the added space in my room, I moved some of the boxes from the kitchen and main walkways into my room.

spare (my) room before

other side of side(my) room before

spare/my room after

 other side of spare/my room after

(notice the location of the light switch. i think someone was drunk when they designed this room)

 another view of spare/my room.

you can see my stuff in the closet, and my awesome speaker system on top of the wardrobe (which is where I keep all my electronics, actually)

 View out the northern facing window and the backyard

view out the eastern facing window (and our neighbor's house, lol)

Then we all went to Walmart and I was able to pick up some things I've been missing (you have no idea how much you love floss until you don't have access to any after eating a ton of corn!!!). Then I set to work cleaning out the side room, which I can only assume was intended for a dining room. Moved boxes, scared the cat with the vacuum cleaner. Vacuumed that rug on the floor to death, then did a Cinderella job on the floor. Now waiting for the floor to dry before moving more boxes into that room. I think one or both of the dogs, and perhaps the cats as well used one of the side walls in that room for marking purposes. Disgusting.

Got my syllabus for my summer class. Ew. Not looking forward to working on that in addition to cleaning and moving, and looking for a job. But that's just the way things go, I suppose. No way around it. I also need to turn in my internship paperwork.... should get some envelops for that.

After cleaning some, Jan and I tried to hit up the pool, but it was occupied by a swim meet, which was a bummer. It was a perfect day to go swimming. Nice and boiling hot.

Then I finished cleaning the dining/side room and then Jan and I went out to this mexican restaurant in town that's over by HyVee and Walmart. It was really small, but the food wasn't bad. I can be kinda picky when it comes to Mexican cuisine, I suppose. Got a Quesadilla de Fajitas, but it tasted kinda like the cheese was a cheese sauce instead of actual cheese. No harm done, and I was only able to eat half of it, so I brought the rest home with me, which will either be happily devoured later this evening, or saved for the lunch hour of tomorrow. :)

Going to try to run tonight and hopefully *fingers crossed* actually get out and go around town some more by myself tomorrow morning/afternoon.

I've been here almost a week!!! How crazy is that? Insane. But also? I've made some new goals for myself because, although this is "summer break" it's not really a break for me because there is so much I have to do, so many goals I have for myself, in addition to everything I have to do with helping Jan and Jim, and then moving, and then summer class, and internship, and work (please, God!!! give me a paying job!)

Jim's mom has kinda gone AWOL about the whole closure on the house thing. Kinda frustrating because we're trying to move in on Saturday (after the move-in date already got moved several times), and I have a lot I have to do, they don't want to be stuck in the house here in Shen longer than they have to, and his mom is the one who is doing the main part of the financial stuff in regards to the house. Plus, they were trying to go to Iowa City next Monday to get some more trial meds for Jan, but that might have to be postponed anyway with the car trouble they've been having, and the short time they'll have between actually moving (if we do move on Saturday) and the road tripping there on Sunday for their Monday appointment.

*sigh* I guess just more prayer that everything goes smoothly and according to the current plan is something I need to be doing.

Well, now on to more organizing of the dining room, and perhaps a few pictures of it when it's finished.

Can't wait til we move and I can put up my wall decorations and maybe actually sleep in a real bed! This air mattress is starting to get the best of me... :(

Friday morning

Last night I got a text from Kenzie. It was super encouraging. As much as I've texted or called a few people, it's still not enough. I might not have a whole lot to say, but I get pretty sad knowing that just a week ago I had 50 other girls around me at all times. Now I'm often alone in what I do. Jim is usually busy with his computer business or organizing more things for the move, and Jan is here and about, usually absorbed in a book on goats or watching the latest episode of her favorite show. Not bad things, of course, but even yesterday just biking around down was fun, but slightly discouraging because I was all by myself for over four hours. What I wouldn't do to have someone to bum around town with who was at least somewhere around my age and wouldn't mind doing weird, stupid, and silly things.

Anyway, this text from Kenzie was about how she was praying for me. It was really encouraging, and it made me realize that all the preparation I had gone through for the trip, I'd pretty much forgotten about when I got here. I just focused on not overstepping and being weird when I got here. You know, all the pleases and thankyous in their right place as I really am a guest of Jan and Jim.

But after I got the text from Kenzie I remembered that I had brought my Bible and some study books to go through. This one in particular, I've always found it (weird as it sounds) to fit perfectly with my life, no matter what I'm doing. It always matches up exactly. It's so weird. But super awesome. I pulled it out my suitcase. The next one was about accepting God's call in our life. Wow, talk about true. It was super encouraging, and made me rethink how I am going about this adventure in Iowa, and how I should go about things from here on out. God is amazing. It's seriously incredible. I love it.

I'm super excited to go to church on Sunday. Hopefully everything will go well. :) Sunday can't come soon enough!!!

This morning when I opened my computer, I got an email from Cory. The title of the email? "An awesome, inappropriately over-the-top gift!!!" the message itself was quite hilarious, and the gift was music. Need I say more? Yeah, probably. I love music. It's one of my favorite things ever. 'Soundtrack of my life' is not even a question, it's a definite given. Yes, I will say that it's some more country, but I'm not opposed to it. I've always said that I'm not against it, but more that I'm not super into it. In the last year I've gotten more okay with it, which is interesting. Some of you might be screaming "noooOOOOoooooo" right now, but you can just get over it. Others of you might be shouting cheers of joy (haha, Danielle ;) ). I'm actually really excited to get all this music, and I will admit that I had been contemplating getting some of my own volition. But it's even more special to have received it from a good friend. I'm in the process of downloading all the files as I type this. It will soon join my iTunes collection, and after that, my black-hole ipod so that I can play it on my bomb-dig sony speakers.

Ha, just saying that makes me realize how much my friends and family have realized I love music. For graduation, what did I get? A 120GB iPod, a really awesome Sony speaker system just for my ipod, and now, more music!!! What else could a music addict ask for?

I was going to go around town this morning to go downtown to check out some of the shops and maybe get more applications because mornings are usually the best time for that kind of thing. My alarm went off this morning and I rolled over thinking "you have got to be kidding me" and decided at that moment that I could continue fighting with my alarm for the next 4 hours, or just let myself sleep. I opted for the latter. Getting up knowing I missed out on that was a bummer, but it's still not too late, and there's always tomorrow, so I'm not super worried about it. I still need to take back my applications to the other places I got some from yesterday.

I'm going to try to take some pics of the downtown area for you guys. It's super cute!! Also coming will be pictures of the pets. Madeline has really warmed up to me. I love her, she's adorable. Dusty still isn't too sure of me and likes to keep his (her?) ...it's distance (haha). Lexx knows who I am, sometimes when I first wake up, or walk in the front door after being gone for awhile he'll give me a warning bark until I talk to him, and he remembers who I am. Lacy, not so much. She's still unsure who I am most of the time, unless we're out for a run, or lounging on the couch for a long time. She consistently forgets who I am, but it's ok. I'm intruding on her little puppy-territory, and I'm completely new blood to her, so it's only natural that she'd think it weird that I'm not only still here, but around at all.

In the next day or so, I think Jan might be taking me out and around in the Saturn. Why? It's a manual. Ever since Scooter took me out in his little Toyota behind the LDS church, I loved it, but never got the chance to learn again. Well, now I have to learn because the Saturn is the car that I will be driving. I'm actually kinda excited about it, but a little nervous at the same time. Thankfully there aren't many stop signs and all the roads are straight and there really aren't any hills in town.

Thursday

So I managed to stay up ridiculously late again last night. But I made myself get up around 10 anyway. I really need to adjust to this time zone.

Last night we watched Glee, Chuck, Kings, another show, I believe, and a movie. Yay for Hulu and Netflix instant play. Today was kinda the same. We watched Bedtime Stories and they watched the 2nd episode of Kings again (because Jim missed out and wants to watch the rest of the series).

After I got up I showered and all that boring stuff, and then decided to go out on my bike today to check out the town. I went over to the CMA church, that I'm thinking about going to on Sunday. Then I proceeded to go all over town. Found a few parks and took a break or two in the grass. Potential reading areas under trees? I think so.

I biked down to the downtown area and skirted around the town, finding Broad street, which is where they workforce Iowa location is. I went inside, but there really wasn't much there that wasn't already posted online. But it was air conditioned and I was sweating buckets from the sun and the humidity (thank God it was windy, but that's an understatement, Iv'e never had more difficulty maintaining balance on my bike because of wind before). So I stayed and poked around online looking at local job openings.

Then I biked out to hwy 48 and found the Wabash Trace trail, which was next to yet another park, biked on that a bit, but then went back towards town. Found the pool, biked a bit more, and then into town via hwy 59. From there I found the Walmart, the veterinary clinic, and some other businesses. Got some applications that I brought back with me and filled out later.

Then I biked out to the farmhouse and back before going back to their house here in town. I only meant to be gone for like an hour to just poke around town a bit, but ended up being gone for 4 hours. Got a little bit sunburnt, but nothing bad by any means, which is good.

So far the mosquito bite count is only at 5 I believe, which is weird. I feel like it should be worse, but I'm thankful all the same.

Dinner was shrimp tonight. Quite an experience considering I really don't have a history with seafood, but it was really, really good. I actually found myself wanting more later. Then we had popcorn later. Jan said they really know how to make their popcorn out here. and well, I guess it makes sense. We are in the corn belt after all, haha.

Tonight Jan and I walked all the way around town after the sun went down so that it would be cooler, and we walked down Church street. Which, I dare say, is named because there are just about all the churches located on that street. Part of the way down Church street there was this huge thunderstorm coming our way. But it ended up skirting over the side of town. Bummer. It would be awesome if we got a serious rain storm. But it was still fantastic watching the lightening fly past the sky, lighting up other cloud formations.

I uploaded more pictures to the facebook album and the flicker photostream (which is also viewable to the side on the blog).