Driving around…

I had a chiropractor appointment this morning, so back to town I went. I put it off as long as I could. I had to laugh when I left there because I thought – ‘Man, I really got my moneys worth today’. I guess the more that it cracks and the louder it sounds, for some reason makes me feel that it really went well. I just hope it all stays half way in place this time!

When I was driving back towards home, I saw a bald eagle in one of the fields. This really isn’t too uncommon this time of the year because it’s when a lot of the farmers are cleaning out their manure pits from the hog confinements or the cattle lots. I know this sounds gross, but when they spread this in the fields, out come the bald eagles. Sometimes you can see as many as a dozen in one spot! When there are a lot of them in one spot, it’s really something to see. But today I saw the first one and thought, it must be that time of the year again. Then as I drove further down the road, I saw the second one. This time I grabbed my camera and tried to take a half way decent picture of it. Then a couple of miles from this one – I saw a third one. I grabbed my camera and thought that one of the pictures that I took should have turned out. Because they are so huge in size, you can’t miss seeing them when you’re driving around. 

Next on the agenda? – Over to my Mom’s to get her old slides and negatives. I wanted to try to see if my new scanner worked to make copies. I’m planning on trying them later this afternoon. I know that I didn’t get some of the other projects done, but I just wanted to try a couple……

Before I went home, I knew that I needed postage stamps, and was trying to make up just about any excuse not to have to stop. I couldn’t come up with anything that was good, and I figured out that since I was cleaned up and washed my hair and all, that I might as well stop and get some. When I was pulling into town I noticed a lot of cars parked on the street. Now remember our town has around 400 people, so not only do you know you’re neighbors but you also know your neighbors cars. As I parked to go into the Post Office, I noticed that there was some people standing by the tavern and they had suits on. It didn’t register why they would be there until someone was parking by me, and when they got out they were also dressed up. Then it dawned on me. There was a funeral earlier today and now that the lunch is over, the family must be going to the tavern for a drink. Now I’m sure that this could sound pretty weird to some of you, but this isn’t uncommon at all around our area. In fact, the funeral parlor in our town is right beside the tavern. So if there is a lot of people waiting to pay their respects at the funeral home, you just go to the tavern until the crowd thins down. Or, once you’ve paid your respect to the family at the wake, you go to the tavern to see who’s in there and visit with people that you might not have seen for awhile. Now some people say that because we live in what was pretty much an Irish community when the town started,  that this how they did it. But I grew up in a German community not far from here, and it’s the same there. So I think it’s probably just a small town tradition. You don’t go for the drinks, but you go to visit with the other friends that are there, and maybe share some good stories and memories about the person who just passed away. In the whole scheme of things, isn’t that what it’s all about anyway?