Let's see: Posting has been a little wierd because Blogger has been a little wierd. I can post to the blog from Flickr, though. I really should upgrade my Flickr account because I am really starting to take a lot of pics.

Last weekend the drop zone had an Easter Boogie (boogie is the skydiver term for event. No, I don't know why). We offered discounted jumps, plus we had a big party on Saturday. Thanks to the weather folks predicting all Hell breaking loose on Saturday, I don't think we were as busy as we should have been, but there were enough folks there to keep things moving. Incidentally, we had blue skies and sun all frickin' day. We didn't get any rain until much later that night and it was pretty gentle. I strongly suspect, since the weather folks are predicting a beautiful, sunny weekend, that we will have a blizzard this Saturday and Sunday.

But anyway; one of the things that made the boogie a success was a small group of jumpers from Tennessee whose drop zone is unfortunately closed at the moment. This included one fellow named John who had a wierd obsession with bacon. Anyway they were a lot of fun. And he's right; everything *does* taste better with bacon.

The Saturday party was a lot of fun; I surprised myself by having a good time and actually lasting past midnight (then the drunken karaoke started so I went to bed). At one point two women, Sandy (Jeff's daughter) and Rhonda of the Shattered Heel (definitely I need to take more pics) talked a nurse, Chris, into going to get his stethoscope out of his truck so we could listen to the baby's heartbeat. We retreated to Jeff's motor home to find a quiet place, but I had no luck locating his heartbeat. Brenden was nice enough to get a good case of hiccups, so both women got a good look and feel of the baby's movements. Sandy, Rhonda and Chris were all hammered, by the way. Hell, everyone but me was hammered. I had fun watching the silliness.

Rhonda at one point was feeling bad because she felt out of place. She said she felt like she should wait at home until she was fully healed. I can sympathize. Sometimes I feel the same way.

This week the most interesting thing I did was walk to the park on Wednesday night with Jon where we watched some baseball games. I was amused by the kid's obvious knowledge of the game while at the same time their bodies just haven't mastered all the basic skills. I'm talking about the kids covering the proper bases when the ball is hit, and the runners trying to force throws so that they can take advantage of errors in case they are made. I miss watching baseball; maybe Brenden will like or play the game so I can be a soccer baseball mom. Speaking of, all the parents there were real supportive of their kids. If any of them got overzealous, I didn't see it.

I am so glad we live in a good neighborhood in a well-to-do small town that has money to maintain such a decent park/sports area. The schools are reputed to be good plus we live close enough to two big cities that I'm not worried about good medical care being available. We could do a lot worse for ourselves.

I found this story to be pretty funny: birth story Hat tip toAnn Althouse. I hope the baby will be okay.

And last I wanted to recipe blog for the hell of it:

Pasta Salad

1 box Rottini pasta. I love the type that has white/whole wheat/spinach pasta because it's colorful. But any Rottini will do.
1 red bell pepper (or green for color)
1 small onion (red adds more color)
1 zucchini
2 stalks of celery
10 mushrooms (baby bella are my fave)
1 small can sliced black olives
1/4 cup rice vinegar

Cook the pasta with plenty of salt for taste. While this is going on, dice the onion first, and put it in a small bowl with the vinegar. Add a little water until the onion is covered. This will remove the sharp taste of the onion plus add a nice soft acidic tang. Other vinegars can be pretty harsh so you might want to lessen the amount you use. Dice all the other veggies into small bits.

1/2 cup salad dressing - I am a hyoooge fan of Paul Newman's italian dressings and I recommend experimenting with them. You can make a creamy version of anything by adding an equal amound of Mayonnaise, but beware of mayophobic guests.
1 teaspoon garlic powder - I usually don't use powder but in this case the fresh stuff can be overpowering if you don't cook it first.
Chopped handful of parsley

Whisk everything together and let it rest a while so that the garlic can hydrate.

Once the pasta is done drain it and rinse in cold water until the pasta is cold. Drain well then add to a big bowl. Dump all your diced veggies on top; drain off the onions first. Dump in dressing mixture and gently mix everything. You may need to break out some more salad dressing if you aren't happy with the consistency. Also taste and add a little salt if needed ( more added to the pasta water helps, but be careful). This is one of the recipes where I can really tell the difference between table salt and kosher salt. Top with fresh grated parmesan if you like, or more chopped parsely or both.

Obviously you can vary the veggies, fresh herbs, and the dressings all you want. Some leftover chicken meat is a favorite addition as well. I once had some daikon radish in the fridge and that gave it an interesting crunch. I strongly suspect a Jicama would do the same.