Unplugged and unafraid...adventures galore

This  past weekend was spent with my sisters and youngest two nephews in a yurt in Ponca. If you don't know where Ponca is-it's one of the the Northern most parts of the Buffalo River surrounded by mountains. And if you're wondering what a yurt is-imagine a large tepee off the ground and ours had a cedar tree growing in its center.
My poor nephews discovered quickly that there was no wifi and that their ipads weren't going to be of any use. The adults discovered that if you walked to the nearest store and tilted your head just right you might get signal to send or receive phone messages but calls wouldn't go out and the phone messages were extremely delayed.
The first night we arrived, met the yurt kitty, and Robyn and Hopper built a fire to roast hot dogs and make smores. We all learned to use the luggable loo sometime during the evening.

Just a bunch of plastic and rubber

This weekend, I spent some time blowing up tubes in preparation for a floating trip. I tried to remember when each one was purchased and how much they had cost. I wasn't successful at remembering any of that information and it doesn't really matter. What matters are the memories made on these tubes in the water. I've floated with Lauren from Hasty to Carver and from Tyler Bend to 65. We had a great time. Those same tubes took Beth, Lauren, Jody, and Shane on more than one trip. Oscar and Dixie have floated a little bit too. There's just something about plastic and rubber all aired up in the river.

What I'm making

Blue berries are coming in and so I'm using this recipe once again. I think I've shared it before, but once I made it without the sugar (reasons I should not bake before having one cup of coffee) and it came out just fine. These always rise and make perfect biscuits.

Big things in a little town aka Casey, IL

Casey is a little town with big things like a bird cage for my Tweetie:

And a really, really large mail box:

There's a me sized minion:

The largest rocking chair that I've ever seen! For scale, the tiny man shown underneath the chair is six feet tall.

There's a big top!

 Not pictured today: the large ruler, pencil, pitchfork, and golf tee.

Room with a view

We stayed here:

On the 29th floor and our room looked like this:

But when I looked out the window:

Then the view got even better:

This was a belated birthday present from my awesome husband.

All she wants to do is dance

Dwight very, very seldom dances in public. Through the kindness of these terrific gentlemen, I got to dance at the wedding: