Indiana Wants Me

Posted on February 16, 2014February 16, 2014 by Dusty Roads | 2 Comments

Back to my vacation decision making. I feel pretty comfortable saying Idaho should be left for another year and another style of vacation. Colorado is still in the running. The next State with a timeshare exchange where I haven’t visited is Indiana. And that gave me a “ear worm” you know when a song gets stuck in your head and you can’t get it out?

The minute I saw Indiana had an exchange I heard the song Indiana Wants Me start running through my head. I can only remember the refrain so that makes it especially annoying. (Indiana wants me, Lord, I can’t go back there
Indiana wants me, Lord, I can’t go back there
I wish I had you to talk to)
Anyway Indiana has 1 exchange in Mishawaka, the Varsity Club of America.

According to the timeshare description this time share is located in the heart of a college town with easy access to the University of Notre Dame. It’s near the Indiana / Illinois line only 100 miles from Chicago.

A more interesting location for me anyway is Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. Carl Sandburg once wrote “The dunes are to the Midwest what the Grand Canyon is to Arizona.

Charles Kuralt sang the praises of Madison but that little town is located in the southeastern part of the state. Too far from Mishawaka. Same goes for Nashville and Brown County.

About 4 hours away in west central is Parke County. Parke County is the unofficial covered bridge capital of the World. Ahhh my photographer’s heart is going pit-a- pat! But what a long drive that would be. How much time would I have to explore the bridges if I have to drive 4 hours each way?

Only an hour from Mishawaka is the little town of Topeka. Why do I mention this? Because if popcorn had a world headquarters it would be here. Yoder Popcorn Shoppe sells popcorn “the way you remember it”. That’s tempting!

And that about sums up Indiana. I’m not a Nascar fan so the Indianapolis 500 or anything about the speedway wouldn’t be an attraction for me. I won’t rule it out yet but unless you folks can give me more suggestions I don’t think it will beat out Colorado.

Once again, I look to you, my readers and followers for comments, suggestions and advice about Indiana as a vacation spot. Remember, base camp is in Mishawaka.

Happy Birthday to Me

Posted on February 15, 2014February 15, 2014 by Dusty Roads | 8 Comments

Not much of a post today. I’m celebrating my birthday 🙂 But not telling my age!

Oh Oh. I forgot this picture just gave it away!

Valentine’s Day in History

Posted on February 14, 2014February 14, 2014 by Dusty Roads | 2 Comments

I ran across this article on the site This Day in History and thought it was worth a share.

Feb 14, 278:

St. Valentine beheaded

On February 14 around the year 278 A.D., Valentine, a holy priest in Rome in the days of Emperor Claudius II, was executed.

Under the rule of Claudius the Cruel, Rome was involved in many unpopular and bloody campaigns. The emperor had to maintain a strong army, but was having a difficult time getting soldiers to join his military leagues. Claudius believed that Roman men were unwilling to join the army because of their strong attachment to their wives and families.

To get rid of the problem, Claudius banned all marriages and engagements in Rome. Valentine, realizing the injustice of the decree, defied Claudius and continued to perform marriages for young lovers in secret.

When Valentine’s actions were discovered, Claudius ordered that he be put to death. Valentine was arrested and dragged before the Prefect of Rome, who condemned him to be beaten to death with clubs and to have his head cut off. The sentence was carried out on February 14, on or about the year 270.

Legend also has it that while in jail, St. Valentine left a farewell note for the jailer’s daughter, who had become his friend, and signed it “From Your Valentine.”

For his great service, Valentine was named a saint after his death.

In truth, the exact origins and identity of St. Valentine are unclear. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, “At least three different Saint Valentines, all of them martyrs, are mentioned in the early martyrologies under the date of 14 February.” One was a priest in Rome, the second one was a bishop of Interamna (now Terni, Italy) and the third St. Valentine was a martyr in the Roman province of Africa.

Legends vary on how the martyr’s name became connected with romance. The date of his death may have become mingled with the Feast of Lupercalia, a pagan festival of love. On these occasions, the names of young women were placed in a box, from which they were drawn by the men as chance directed. In 496 AD, Pope Gelasius decided to put an end to the Feast of Lupercalia, and he declared that February 14 be celebrated as St Valentine’s Day.

Gradually, February 14 became a date for exchanging love messages, poems and simple gifts such as flowers.

Happy Valentine’s Day

Posted on February 14, 2014February 14, 2014 by Dusty Roads

Without Valentine’s Day, February would be… well, January. ~Jim Gaffigan

Buddy’s Annual Physical

Posted on February 13, 2014February 13, 2014 by Dusty Roads | 2 Comments

Can it really be a year since Buddy came to stay with me?

Must be. Vet records don’t lie. So out came the carrier and to my surprise , in went Buddy. No coaxing, no teasing no stuffing. He just walked right in. We are off to a great start!

Carrier goes into the car. During the short drive to the vet I only heard one soft mew. I could see Buddy’s face pressed against the slats facing me but he didn’t seem agitated.

The wait in the office was short and wonder of wonders, the vet tech we had was Diane, our pet sitter so someone Buddy knew well. It just keeps getting better and better.

I opened the carrier door and Mr. Bud strolled out like he owned the place. Very confident. Unfortunately that didn’t last long. As soon as Diane started to clip his nails he turned into “Hell Cat”! I’ve seen Buddy in a bad mood but never anything like that! I told Diane to forget about a nail trim. No point in upsetting him or getting her scratched or bit because he was trying both. She then managed to get him onto the cat scale, basically a glorified baby scale. 16+ lbs. not quite 17. He’s a big boy!

We set Buddy loose and let him roam the exam room to calm down. Diane went to get the Vet who soon arrived with another technician in tow. Buddy seemed to be on his good behavior at first but then scooted under the exam table and wouldn’t come out. I volunteered to sacrifice myself to get him and sacrifice I did. Blood flew and it wasn’t the cat’s. I’d have been a good candidate for Jackson Galaxy’s My Cat From Hell, a show on animal planet. So much for being a “Cat Whisperer”.

They wrapped Buddy in a towel and the tech had on leather gloves that went to her elbows for protection.

They let me wash off my blood in the sink but there were no bandages so I watched from the sidelines with paper towels on my scratches.

As expected I was told to put Buddy on a diet (Fat Chance pun intended) and we laughed about how hard it is to lose weight. Buddy got his rabies shot and distemper drops and was pronounced healthy and whole. (More than I can say for me)

I was embarrassed. In all my years of owning cats I have never had one misbehave so badly. Diane told me not to worry about it. After all, I found Buddy and who knows how much handling he had before I rescued him.

Back home Buddy headed to the food bowls first (A Stress eater?) then to me. He sniffed my arm, now covered with Band-Aids and gave me a series of kitty kisses. I guess I’ve been forgiven. The sweet cat that I know was back and that devilish one was long gone… at least for another year.