Western Reserve?

Gateway to the West? MidWest? Why is it that when I read any of those terms I think of "west coast?" I'd be wrong. By several thousand miles. The Gateway to the West is used to describe Missouri. Midwest would be Illinois. The Western Reserve is a big dog show. I was pretty excited when I heard that a friend's dog would be showing. I, wrongly, assumed it would be California. Perhaps Nevada. I scrambled to see if I could scrape funds together as I so wanted to check it all out...until I did a bit of checking around. Ohio. Yes, OHIO!! I remember as a kid traveling across the US and ending on the east coast. The locals we talked to thought that the west coast (north, above the Hollywood movie sets) was open prairie where the deer and bison, and antelope, still roam. That was in the 70s. The way I see it is that if Missouri is the Gateway to the west, then the west takes a huge majority of the country. Why are we then ruled by the minute east coasters? Interesting, very interesting. The good thing is that I cannot afford to go any where any way with the recent purchase of the camper, so I am no longer tempted to try and find a way.

It is hot. I fell asleep sometime after 3am, right S2? When I woke this morning at six, I had the "heat" headache and the hall thermostat said it was 79 degrees. After enough time for the four ibuprofens to kick in I went out and started the pool pump and vacuumed the pool. At 10:33am I am about to take the first dip of a projected record amount for today.

Which brings me to the subject of pools. Kid pools. Those hard plastic blue fish printed things that hold a decent amount of water. Here they are called dog pools. I had four of them before I started letting the "small" dogs into the see-ment pond. One now lives in the neighbor's dog run. Another is out in the pasture as the horse enjoys it as well as the dogs. The others are in the yards and runs. They last me a few years; usually the pasture one goes first as the horse, on occasion does like to climb in. I have found that I can extend the time of that pool by setting out the sprinkler on hot days. Windy stands in it and lets the cool water wash up and down her little horsey body. Any way, I think the development of those hard plastic pools is the equivalent of sticky notes. I remember having those blow up pools for my kids. They'd last a few days. Around here now they would not even last an hour. Not only do I have dog and horse toes to puncture them, but blackberry thorns as well. Now I get a replacement pool about every two years. The ones that have a hole are wonderful for many things. Whelping "boxes" for the new litter of pups. Sand boxes for the younger two legged set. Critter enclosures for the turtles. Bobbing for hotdog ponds. Endless possibilities. I tend to buy in the fall when they are super cheap. Yes, they need to be stored, but they make great "hats" for the rototiller, garden boxes, etc.

So I am off to chill myself down in the pool. I will then begin the day with the ongoing land clearing. I suspect I will have a few visitors this week as the mercury climbs into the record books. Stay cool, y'all, in whatever way works for you. (I'm thinking skinny frap; can you say "brain freeze?)

G2