World's Largest Catsup Bottle

OK, it's not really a Catsup bottle. It's not even really a ketchup bottle (as I prefer to call it.) But this water tower is a prime example of 1950's Americana, at least according to the town hosting this landmark. My parents visited for the weekend and visiting this object d'arte was the highlight. The low points of the visit included the incredible heat with humidity, and helping Nick and me move our stuff over to our new apartment. We also had a great burger at Blueberry Hill, Sunday Dinner with Patti and Stan, and assembled four sets of wire racks. My mom and dad were very good sports about the whole move. I think the catsup bottle was merely the side trip.

It's hard to come home

Nick and I just spent a little bit of time visiting family. It's fun to go and see everyone, but it hard to leave. It's especially hard to leave when Caesar looks at me at the airport with those puppy-dog eyes at the airport. Also, knowing you have to get up and go to work the next morning makes it tougher about getting excited to go home.

Air Conditioning Update

Good news everybody! Nick was able to fix the fan in the Taurus. After a couple of hours of research on the web, he figured out the most likely culprits, got a diagram of the fuse box and away he went. He replaced the fuse, the relay box, and finally the blower. For the entire repair, it was about fifty dollars in parts and a few hours of his time. Isn't he handy!

We think we're moving!

After months of waiting for a particular apartment to be ready, we've given up on it and have spent countless hours and several gallons of gas looking for a new place to go. Today, I think we found it. It's about the same price we're paying now, only it has a WASHER and DRYER and is nicer, bigger, and quieter. I felt so much better after walking inside. I've been reminded of all the things I don't like about St. Louis while we've been looking for housing. Finding an apartment I could comfortably call home makes the city seem quite a bit less ghetto.

Compare the new apartment's kitchen(above) to our current apartment. Our current kitchen I describe as standing in the aisle boarding a Southwest flight. Once you're inside, you don't have to move to reach anything. You can get it right where you are. But don't touch the cupboards. There is one piece that has fallen off and hit my foot. It hurt.

Feeling Hot! Hot! Hot!

Last summer I discovered I had not truly known what it is to be hot. I had been in 100 degree weather, even climbed the great wall of china in it. But I hadn't been in 98 degree weather in 98% humidity. It's getting that hot here this week, and close to that humidity. Hardly my favorite season. The real trick is to not go outside after about 10:30 in the morning. If that cannot be avoided, I'd recommend the Becky Faddis method of having remote started your car which you left on high AC last time you were in it.

Unfortunately, the once powerful air conditioning of the Taurus has stopped working entirely. There's some problem with the fan, which is currently undiagnosed, but Nick will be working on that later. Our electric bill is close to $100 a month when it's this hot. Which of course seems expensive, but I am not willing to go without it.