Happy something-something of July! I don't even know what day is is--it has been so crazy around here. I have had my Internet access cut off for two consecutive weekends (Comcast outages), then on Monday my beloved iPod refused to power up, so it's dead. Then the following day my iPhone refused to connect to the cellular network. I took it to Sprint late last week and was told the only way to fix it was to buy a new phone. But then yesterday I tried a couple of things and now it is working again. What a relief! I didn't really have the money to go phone shopping.

I swear, I am just about ready to buy a piece of land and a cabin in Montana and completely drop off the grid. It already seems as though the grid is dropping off me.

This week I went to the State Fair and got some nice photos of the Buck Moon (full moon with a funny name) rising over the Midway of the fair. I also went to the water park one day, and that was a lovely way to keep cool!

And speaking of the fair, I'm afraid tonight is going to be a no-go for chatting. Today is the last day of the State Fair, and there are some things that Mary really wants to see before it closes. So we are getting ready to head out to Sacramento. One of the things was in a transportation museum they have there--they have a few model railroad pieces and one of them looks remarkably similar to a box car model that Mary's grandfather made for the Southern Pacific Railroad. We have a photograph of him presenting it to his boss--back in 1927. So we are going to go try to talk to the curator there and see if there is any possible way it is the same model. That would be a thrill! Apparently he made this thing over the course of three years and without the benefit of power tools of any kind. He was one of those old-school cabinetmakers.

Speaking of cabinetmaking, I found an amazing store last week. It's called Rocklers, and it specializes in woodworking of the cabinet and small scale variety. It is kind of pricey, but they have tools there I did not even know existed! It's the kind of place where if you wanted to build a jewelry box, this is where you would go to find all the little hardware pieces. Plus they have all kinds of exotic woods. Really neat place! (I basically walked in and my jaw fell open. I just wandered up and down the aisles drooling.)

Well, I need to get busy and try to get ready to get to the fair. It will be my last day to try a deep-fried Twinkie! I thought I might try, if my phone is working, to try a shout-out on the chat from the State Fair, but it will also depend on whether I can get a signal, or where we are at...but I'll try. We are anticipating, because it is the last day, the place is going to be PACKED today. Packed and hot--it is supposed to get to around 103 degrees. So wish us luck!

We'll talk to ya later...