#79 – Race for the Cure

Enter one of our charity walks, Race for the Cure, Saturday of Mother’s Day weekend.

Sometimes, bowing to peer pressure is not all bad.  I’m not saying you should jump off the bridge with your friends, or get married in Vegas just because two other guys did it, but there are occasionally positives.  Such was the case on Mother’s Day weekend, 2009, when I was talked into Racing for the Cure in Ottumwa.

Not on the List – Witness Bad Parking

My wife is a fan of several blogs mocking the mundance and the insane.  Among them is the Bad Parking blog.  She was only too pleased to make submissions.

#49 – A cop, an indian, a sailor, and a construction worker want to work out

Young men!  There’s a place you can go!

Work out at the YMCA, 611 N. Hancock, swim , exercise, call for more information.

#45 – Oooh, Aaaah, Ohhhh!

Get your mind out of the gutter – the Red Garter Parlor closed down a long time ago.

Watch the fireworks in Ottumwa Park on the 4th of July, HWY 34 & 63.

It was bloody miserable out – 93 degrees, according to the notes I have, with a humidity in the 80s.  Sticky, hot, damp from the floods and previous rains… but the 4th of July is a tradition, and my wife’s favorite holiday.  So trek out to the park we did.

#22 – Look! Up in the Sky!

Attend Ottumwa Pro-Balloon Races held in June of each year

After being told for several months how big a deal the annual pro balloon races were, I was excited for the big weekend to arrive.  The fact that it came on the heels of flood watch only served to buoy many people’s spirits.

Off the List – Clowns to the Left of Me, Tightrope Walkers Up Above

Annually, the Ringling Bros & Barnum and Bailey Circus comes to the Bridgeview Center in Ottumwa.  It isn’t “Under the Big Top” – it is indoors, in a giant room that kind of kills a bit of my circus nostalgia – but what family doesn’t enjoy a trip to the circus?

#59 – Spuds Emporium

While our previous entrant had an extra apostrophe, it would seem this entry is missing one.  That said, no one could confirm if the Emporium belongs to Spud, or if is an Emporium of Spuds, and therefore grammatically correct.

Either way, I ventured into a place I actually sort of feared – the world of comic books, Magic: The Gathering, and an unusually high number of dragons.