Just Passing Time

Just a hodge podge of recent goings-on around ol' St. Lou, so we've got a bit of a miscellaneous post. A few weekends ago, Aunt Christine and Uncle Joe went to the St. Louis Renaissance Festival. Renaissance Festivals are gatherings here in the USA for drama school nerds in which we Americans just fabricate what we think history was like. In Europe, where history comes from, you don't have to act it out.

A bee flew into my beer. He had a buzz,
but afterwords he was hammered.

 

It was a long day, and Aunt Christine was thrilled by the end of it.

The day before that, Aunt Christine and Uncle Joe went to the St. Louis Cathedral, or at least the unofficial cathedral.

The rally cap worked, and the Cards won!

Unfortunately, even though the Cardinals won while we were at the game, they came up just short of making the playoffs this year. Now we're left to root for my new favorite team, the Anybody-playing-against-the-Cubs. Let's go Anybody-playing-against-the-Cubs!
We're also getting excited for the new Star Wars movie, Rogue One. Have you guys been watching the new season of Star Wars Rebels? Good stuff so far; Uncle Joe was excited to see Wedge Antilles.

Uncle Joe and Aunt Christine have started our own little backyard farm. We repurposed some of the railroad ties from our backyard to build a nice above ground garden. Bantry and Gulliver love it, but not for the potential veggies...

Aunt Christine, Uncle Joe, and Grandpa will be participating in the GO! St. Louis Halloween run this coming weekend. Uncle Joe has been running much more and has really been enjoying the weather out on the Katy Trail.

Not too much else going on around our parts. We love hearing about what the UK Millers are up to. Uncle Joe and Aunt Christine are going to learn more about where you guys live tonight by watching a highly recommended Netflix documentary starring Gerard Butler and Morgan Freeman called London Has Fallen. Looks intense. Miss you guys!

Update on this side of Pond

 Well, after a couple of false starts, I'm going to try to update everyone, again.  We've been busy over here on this side of the pond, and fall has given us very good weather so far.  Below you see me running the Trails for Tails.  Joe was running too, but he is way far ahead.  Christine was there with her work, and Grandma even helped her a bit.

Boo at the Zoo is going strong now.  They really have outdone themselves with the decorations.  This is as you walk toward the Stingrays' inlet.

Every time I go to the Zoo, I stop to see my buddies the vultures, Boris and Natasha.  They are almost always busy fixing their nest.  Apparently, I'm told, that Boris will put a stick in the nest, then Natasha will come along and move it somewhere else. 

 Next door to the buzzards is the American Eagle.  He/she is more sedate and just watches people.  Since he/she is kind of out of the way, many people don't see this guy.  I don't know, but I assume he was injured and rehabbed so he can be exhibited.

 And, when I work in the birdhouse, here is what I do:  those are peanuts which I shuck.

These are waxworms, which I separate from the small flecks of wood that they are shipped in.  Apparently, some of the picky birds need me to provide this service.

 And, I wash the feed dishes, and set them there to dry.  I also make mix up kale and romaine for greens.  I spared you that.

 A couple weeks ago, the Santa swap occurred for the year.  This is Aunt Carolyn's year to have it, so Grandma and I took him over and we went to Moonlight Restaurant for lunch.  Aunt Carolyn had found this pirate Santa, and bought it for me.

In case you hadn't heard, John McCarthy is the new Captain of the Barracuda.  They played the first game last night, but lost, I think it was 3-2.

 I'm not sure if you heard about the senseless murder of a St. Louis County police officer.  He was shot point blank from a guy in a car who had been disturbing the neighborhood.  Turns out the officer, Blake Snyder, was the son of my former dean at Lewis and Clark, and his brother is a pediatric dentist in Godfrey.  The funeral was Thursday, and every overpass had large flags flying over them.  The procession literally went on for miles.  His funeral was in a church in the Valley, and he was buried in Godfrey, where Earle, and our Grandmas, and Grandpas are buried.

This week at the butterfly house I saw something I had not seen there before.  This butterfly laid a large number of eggs on the underside of that leaf.  They are little yellow dots lined up in rows.  She eventually laid about twice that number.

Below is a picture of Grandma preparing for the stein-holding contest.  It's a Masskrug (large stein in German) and it has to be held straight out.  She and Wendy, our friend, competed.  Neither won the whole thing, but Grandma did very well.  I don't know if the video will play, but it downloaded, so we'll see. 

 The last even to document is the Fest-of-Ales, at the Missouri Botanical Garden.  They had abut 30 different craft beers for tasting, and live music.  The weather was absolutely wonderful, and so was the company. 

 That's about it from here.  Hopefully, I'll get this down a bit more timely next time.

Uncle Joe's Travels

Uncle Joe has been doing a little travelling with work lately. First, I spent a few days up in Kansas City, Missouri at a conference on sustainability in laboratories.

Only picture I could take at the conference. Uncle Joe goes to a lot of conferences where photographs are highly frowned upon.

The sustainability conference was really cool and there were a lot of like-minded scientists, engineers, and architects that I got to geek out with and throw around energy and resource saving ideas.
Usually when I'm travelling on business, I like to be a hermit and stay in my hotel room, but Aunt Christine has been demanding I get out and at least eat some local fare. So I went to one of our favorite places to eat when we go down to the Carolinas.

I love me some Zaxby's! They have them in Columbia and in Kansas City. Supposedly it's because Mizzou is now in the SEC, so the southern food now has a market. I couldn't care less about Mizzou, but I sure love Zaxby's.
Kansas City, like St. Louis, is well known for its craft beer breweries, so I looked for one near the conference and stopped into a tap room after a long day of lectures.

Cinder Block Brewery: The Paver's Porter was very nice

On the drive home, I stopped in at Kansas City Cupcake Company and got some cupcakes to bring back to make sure I was in Aunt Christine's good graces by the time I got home.

I also tried to stop in at the Missouri Mavericks' stadium store to find a puck for a certain "horrid" knucklehead that I know. The Mavericks are the ECHL affiliate of the NY Islanders and the St. Louis Blues. Unfortunately, contrary to their website, they were closed.

I did see this place on the way out of town. Made me think about actually being a farmer; if I could raise a herd of pizzas, I'd do it for free.

The following week, I went to glamorous Decatur, Illinois for a smaller conference on seed testing with representatives from all the major agriculture players. There's nothing in Decatur, so I told Aunt Christine to shut it, and grabbed myself a Domino's pizza and crashed in the hotel room.

Hope you guys are doing well. It's no Copenhagen, but I made the best of driving around the American heartland. Can't wait to tour around Europe with you guys!