Summer Heat

The days are hot. It is summer and that means humidity. Summers are suppose to be a time to enjoy canoeing, fishing, picking berries, gardening, mowing the yard, running, playing ball, biking and swimming. It is not a time to go head in the house to escape the temperatures. Instead, kick your shoes off, cut up your old t-shirt, put on your sunscreen and wear a hat. Get outside and enjoy the heat. It is summer after all.

Brought to you by the summer lovers fest.

Living in a Modern Commune

So I was thinking on Mother's Day as I was sitting around the campfire by myself this thought popped into my mind. It would be great if I could live here on my farm, maybe raise a pig and a cow, along with the chickens, cats and dogs, and have a garden. And I would count on my neighbor to grow the feed for the livestock. And we would shop at the local General Store that would NOT get their items from foreign countries but from other crafters within the state or county. And we would gather together in times of harvest and planting. We would share in joys and sorrows. And no one would go without. Everyone would have enough to eat, and warm place to sleep, food in the pantry, food for the livestock, and a place for the children to run and play without fear of stranger abductions.

Is anyone else out there interested? I realize some would say, hey join the Amish. Or some other religious cult. But I don't need religion. Religion is what has caused the great divide of humanity. I am looking for others who wish to commune with others on this spiritual level, who wish to live together as a human unit.

Signs of Spring

My tulips have broken through the ground.
The grass has a greenish tint.
Tim is obsessed with the Iditarod.
Tim is obsessed.

The buds are bursting on the maple trees.
We can sit around the campfire at night
Tim is obsessed with the Iditarod.
Tim is obsessed.

I always can feel when it is spring
the air is warmer,
the dogs take off for hours at a time
Tim is obsessed with the Iditarod.
Tim is obsessed.

WHAT I HAVE DONE RECENTLY

BY ANGIE
It's Feb. 1st and I have been busy this year. Just wanted to share some of the things that have been keeping me busy. I'm sure you all are on the edge of your seats so here goes.
I got a new job. No longer am I slaving over writing promos for the news department at kgan/kfxa tv. I have been appointed at the University of Iowa as Educational Media Coordinator II at the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. When I figure out exactly WHAT my title means I will share it with you. For right now, I am the assistant to Head of the Production Unit, Bob Burns. Bob used to work at KGAN. So, it has been a blast so far. Just finished my 3rd week on the job. Tim came over after his gig on friday to get the nickel tour.
The 100s had two gigs in Janaury. One around Jan 10th. at Springville at the Legion. Good show. We went out for breakfast afterward, which meant driving to Cedar Rapids. Tim was mad at me, but I was hungry. A girl has got to eat.
Then the 100s played an unplugged gig at the Java House in Iowa City, Friday Jan. 30th. Filled the room and more. Great show. It aired on the radio, IPR so cool. They did videotape it so you can watch it somewhere, sometime, at a date which I don't know.
We have been taking the dogs out on the snowmobile, or snowmachine, trails about once a week to get them some exercise. Tim wiped out, as you may have read last weekend. We went today and had a better run. We did not let Krunchy go with us so it helped Brownie focus on leading. HEr and BIscuit did a great job. PRoud of both of them. They pulled me a long ways. Tim made a new break for him when he went down the mountian trail. He didn't wipe out, the break worked great. We are now in the house, sweaty and tired but feeling great about the dogs. They did a super job.
The daughter is performing in speech and is going to the state contest for her group mime. We are proud of her.
The teen son is using Motley Crue to wake us up ev ery morning. At 6:15 every morning. Even when he is not here. He is playing basketball, and although I have only been able to attend one game, Tim took the video camera and I was able to watch another. HE seems to enjoy it and even remembered the other guys from the other teams that he played against during football. That is the cool part about playing sports, meeting the other team and sometimes making friends.
Saw Tim's other son at the gig Friday and turns out he has class in the building I work at. Maybe he'll look me up more?
Would recommend reading the book "winterdance" by Gary Paulsen, if you like reading about life, obstacles, dogs, outdoors, dreams, and the iditarod. Good book. Easy reading, fast paced. Good. 5 stars. And I finished the book I got for Tim for Christmas, by Neil Peart "Roadshow" good book and again, easy to read, fast paced, could keep reading for hours on end if I had the time. He (Peart) is similar in many ways to Tim. Or vice versa. So I totally understood his lack of enthusiasm for being a rock star. Like I said, great book worth the read. Especially if you are a Tim Looney fan, a Rush fan, or a DRUMMER.
Now we are preparing for Feb. the time of the year when winter doesn't go by fast enough. Looking forward to selecting seeds from the catalogues, planting new trees, and baseball and softball season.
Stop in and visit friends or family. We welcome ya'll.

THE COPING DIET

Only girlfriends can understand this one. This is a specially formulated diet designed to help women cope with the stress that builds during the day.

Breakfast
1 grapefruit
1 slice whole wheat toast
1 cup skim milk

Lunch
1 small portion lean, steamed chicken
1 cup spinach
1 cup herbal tea
1 Hersheyʼs kiss

Afternoon Snack
The rest of the Hersheyʼs kisses in the bag
1 tub of Hagen-Daaz ice cream with chocolate chips

Dinner
4 glasses of wine (red or white)
2 loaves garlic bread
1 family size supreme pizza
3 Snickers Bars

Late Night Snack
1 whole Sarah Lee cheesecake (eaten directly from the freezer)

Remember: Stressed spelled backward is desserts

Send this to 4 women and you will lose 2 pounds
((You see....by posting this I don't have to send it and I'll still lose 2 pounds. Probably 2 million because that is how many readers we have reading our blog.))

What's YOUR Name?

Readers. Now is your chance for some inter-active fun. Just follow the directions . You know, if it says to name your pet rock....Loon is BLUE and ANGIE is pink. I thought that would be easy to distinguish. Added is one of our FAVORITE READERS...FRANKIE! She's in orange. Pinky Brewster is PINK.
1.. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car)Pandy Ranger
Scooter Pilot
Cthulu Windstar
Lily Lumania
2.YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (fave ice cream flavor, favorite cookie)Vanilla Chocolate Chip
Cold Chewy
New York Fudge Snickerdoodle
Cookie Dough Peanut Butter
3. YOUR "FLY Guy/Girl" NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name)T-Loo
A-Loo
F-Sto
D-Cla
4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal)Detective Black Dog
Detective Black Cat
Detective Purple Owl
Detective Pink Panda
5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born)Michael Solon (that sounds like a porn name LOON!)
Janine Sigourney
Diane St Luke
Rayn Austin
6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first)
LooTi
LooAn
StoFr
Cla-Da
7. SUPERHERO NAME: ("The" + 2nd favorite color, favorite drink)The Red Whiskey
The Purple Coffee
The Orange Cola
The Light Purple Gatorade
8. NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers)Deyo
Ham Herbert
Posey Deyo
Sam Les
9. STRIPPER NAME: ( the name of your favorite perfume/cologne/scent, favorite candy)Drakkar M&M
Obsession Free
Cabotine Snickers
Paris Hilton Starburst
10.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother's & father's middle names )Phelan S.
Leslie Sue
Edith Smith
Janine Reinhard
11. TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME: (Your 5th grade teacher's last name, a major city that starts with the same letter)Fiala Fresno
Heyer Houston
Casady Chicago
Higgins Helena
12. SPY NAME/BOND GIRL: (your favorite season/holiday, flower)Fall Morning Glory
Halloween Bleeding Heart
Autumn Hollyhock
Christmas Lily
13. CARTOON NAME: (favorite fruit, article of clothing you're wearing right now + "ie" or "y")Banana Shorty
Apple Pantie
Pear Crocky
Peach Capri-ie
14. HIPPY NAME: (What you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree)Coffee Cottonwood
Granola Oak
Soy Maple
Cereal Christmas Tree
15. YOUR ROCKSTAR TOUR NAME: ("The" + Your fave hobby/craft, fave weather element + "Tour")The Drums Raining Tour
The Guitar Thunderstorm Tour
The Sudoku Storm Tour
The Volleyball Snow Tour
GIVE IT A SWIRL AND TELL US YOUR NEW NAMES! I will add your new names to our list if you send them in to us.

Tidbits to Chew

by Angie
Back to School....I remember those good ole' days of getting ready to go back to school. Opening up my new box of crayons and smelling them. Filled with the inspiration to become a better "colorer" than Becky Griffin. Holding my number 2 pencil in my hand and convincing myself I will beat Karen Kudrna with a higher grade. And just knowing that I won win a recess race against Barry Bentley. No, it never happened but the dream of doing all those still occupies the dark caverns of my mind. Now, my kids Pinky Brewster and Iron Man are participating in the back to school rituals. Do they have those same inspirations that I did when I was a kid? Probably not. But that is OK. I really don't want them to. What are their hopes and dreams? Right now, the biggest one is "to quit band!" Oh, for the grace of Mozart, you can't quit band. It is an easy A. Unless you don't go to your lessons. Pinky Brewster will tell you all about that.
Puppy Love?.....As you readers may know, dogs or the dream of having more dogs occupies the future here in Looney Land. What, may I ask you, is the number one consideration to keep in mind when raising dogs? Comments are encouraged.
Career Change vs Job Change.....It hits like a divorce. Sometimes you want it, sometimes you know it's coming but don't want to admit, and sometimes it just hits you in the face without expecting it. Readers I ask you what is your definition of career change vs job change. Words of wisdom (I know you Looney's are full of this!) and ways to keep the ole mind from going insane.
In closing....I had given my resignation as writer of the Looney Talk post. However, after careful consideration and talks with the management, we have come to an agreement and my columns will keep coming provided as it does not exhibit bad taste, intimate conversations, intimate actions (unless it has to do with enormous size or amount of sex ) or anything else that would look, say, indicate, presume, suggest, imply or paint my immediate family in a way that would be considered piggish, less than appealing, stinky, jerk, prick, stubborn, or any other type of adjectives that a spouse wouldn't want the other spouse to say about them in public.

The LooneyMooners

If you have not seen this series yet, you may want to look at your schedule and take some time off. Oh, wait, it hasn't hit the airwaves yet, it is only available on-line.
It's a great story about two creative writers, who use the internet to settle the intimate details of their life. One is not very happy about this. The other thrives off the emotions being exposed to the world.
They are a happily married couple until it comes to their blog. The gloves come off and the slug fest begins.
Episode One: Sign on doors reads DO NOT DISTURB
(Looks like they have kissed and made up.)

Tune in next week when one writer gets a chance to write for the local newspaper as a columnist.

Censorship...Who Is Watching

(this post has been censored.)

What's a Blog For?

by Angie
Don't answer that! It is a question I pose.

Tilling Mania

by Angie
With summer half over and the weeds high in the garden, I have finally gotten my tiller back to the garden. If you remember, it has been broken for well over 6 weeks. So during that time, I decided to not fight the weeds, the grass, the insanity of it all and leave the garden to grow by itself. Now, I am dealing with the aftermath. Imagine, leaving your children for six weeks, letting them eat or drink whatever they can. Wild to the wind. Yes, that is what my garden has become. We tried to dig the potatoes. Oh, last year it was the great Irish Potato famine. This year was different. I had great big plants. They looked luscious. Until the tiller broke. Now, we had to look thru the tall grass to find the brown stems of a once alive potatoe. Digging into the dirt, hard has stone. It felt like clay. Mud clay. Isn't that what the Native Americans used to make their eating utensils? All the onions were still out there as well. Their stems had all but dried up. I found some, dug them up and they had grown about half an inch. Seriously. Now, I am contemplating not putting out a garden next year, and support the local farmer's market. Those tomotoes, they are having some blooms but that shaking them everyday is getting a little old. I can only shake so much, ya know? The lesson to be learned here is this, when you use those little red flags out there to spot a row, pick them up when the plant starts growing. They don't need to be tilled into the soil.

Digging Up the Dirt

by Angie Loon
After more than six weeks of being in the garage and/or shop, the tiller is back to work. The garden of weeds sprinkled with remains of vegetables is in shambles. The chickens loved having me till the garden yesterday. Absolutely enjoyed being able to roll in the dust and take a long bath. IT was a great opportunity for them to peck at the insect I tilled up.
I still can't find the potatoes. The grass is almost as tall as me.
Maybe next year I won't plant so much garden, and spend more time watching movies?

Day of the Living Morning Glories

by Angie Loon
Imagine, sitting on your summer deck looking out into the yard. The green, green grass of home. Red delicious Dahlia's covered with blooms, salmon-colored Petunia's twinking eyes in the wind and the magnificant beauty of the Stargazer Lily.
As you sit there one dog day of summer morn, you notice the vines that have circled the Canna's great trunk. The old bicycle placed in the center of the flower bed to add to the funkiness of your flower bed is gone. Completely swallowed. The cries from the Bleeding Heart are wasted on deaf ears. The Morning Glories have taken over. Just like the fog coming up from the Wapsi, so to have the monsters of the summer, the Morning Glories.
This film has not yet been rated. Due to the graphic nature of the lifestyle of the fawna, the board of directors has not yet released their findings. They believe their Chairmen of the Board is lost in a bed of Morning Glories.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Is anyone else out there having problems with their garden produce this season? Besides my tomatoes, I checked out my sweetcorn and there is not one single ear of corn on the stalk. How can this be? Coons? Or did the ears ever produce? And those tomatoes. I have been out there shaking my bushes everynight and still not many blossoms. The peppers I have are spicy, few and far between.
ANd the worst thing is this. WE finally got our tiller part picked up from the local hardware store. THey fixed it by getting a new part. It cost almost $50. Ouch! So, here's the lesson in tilling the garden. Pick up those frickin' red flags instead of tilling them into the soil. It could save you $50. Tim still loves me, I just have a lot of making up to do. Don't bother us for a couple of days if you know what I mean.:)

Tomato Talk

Is anyone else having problems with their tomato crop this season? I do not have many blossom's on my plants. Too much rain perhaps? If you have any ideas on what I could do to produce more blossom's write me back! Angie

Angie's Garden

This seasons garden is far from what I have grown in the past. I didn't get a chance to start planting anything until the end of April and I just started with onion sets. The ground was so cold and we did not till that past fall so the soil was in pretty rough shape. (Not cutting down the Loon-just telling the truth.) WHen I did get the potatoes in the ground still was cold. ANd the early corn went in about the same time and it took forever for it to come up. It is now about 2 feet tall and tassling. Such a sight for sore eyes. My peas didn't get planted until mid May so right now they are looking shabby. It was so wet for such a long spell and then it didn't rain for weeks and got the ground all dry. ANd then to top it off, the last time I tilled I got the rope that starts the tiller wrapped around itself so I couldn't get it started. Tim had to take it apart and buy a new rope and now we have to take it in to a shop to get it put back together. Seems like there is always something. However, a bright spot is the cherry tree and red raspberries are producing record crops. Too bad I don't have enough time or energy to get out there and pick more. Maybe tonight!