Update

We went to Eminence and Eureka Springs a couple of weekends ago, after my last post. It's not that we didn't have a good time, it's just that not much to talk about happened.

It did get cold the two nights camping -- though we expected it. The first night was around freezing, but we did ok with our air mattress and assortment of flannel sheets and sleeping bags. It was a cozy bed. I had bought a catalytic tent heater, but it was the smallest model and probably made little difference in our huge, 8 (or 10?) person tent. It would probably do better in a 4 person tent.

The daytime version of the Haunting in the Hills was about the same as last year -- it seemed like they had fewer participants. Or maybe we went too early. At any rate, the guys I was with weren't real interested and we ended up going back to the campsite. The ladies had gone off to a craft show -- which was apparently kind of "bleah". Typical "gingham & hearts". Not our style. If you like yarn animals -- well apparently they were all the rage.

We had some nice camp fires, good food -- Kristie's dad and brother came, and Harold and Lynn (Harold's almost a brother to Kristie) and their little two-year old daughter were there. It was pretty laid back.

Went on to Eureka Springs on Sunday. Got there in the evening. We stayed at the Ridgeway House - nice place, nice folks. At at Ermilio's -- always a great place to eat. It was only a couple of blocks away from the B&B.

Rain (2") was forecast for Monday, and it delivered. We wandered around, umbrellas in hand. Went to our favorite cheap cheezy leather shop and Vicki got a new purse, and I got a new camera bag and hat (yes, another hat of power -- this one's a little more "Clint Eastwood".) The other hat will probably be more of a city hat from now on. It's more of a fedora. New one has a wider brim, and it's a bit more rough.

But mostly we just enjoyed rainy Eureka Springs ambiance, and of course ate lunch at Geraldi's. Then we went to Autumn Breeze for dinner, mostly for the Choclolate Sufflette dessert. Eeeexxxxcellennnnnnt.

The new vaccuum cleaner works great... er... worked great. It's a Kirby, re-built. The headlamp wasn't working this weekend, so I took it out to replace the bulb. The bulb looked good, so I went to test the contacts, but the cleaner wouldn't turn on for me to test it. ???? So, I put the light back in. Still wouldn't turn on. I took it out, cleaned the bulb, and noted the positive contact on it was filed down. So I put a dob of solder on it and stuck it back in. And the thing turned on. I finished vaccuuming. But I went to turn it on one more time and it would not turn on. It's gotta be a loose contact.

So I took the housing off. Nothing obvious. So I put it back together. Unfortunately, I didn't understand how excactly it fit back in the housing, and I ended up breaking the upper switch mount (bakalite, it looks like) tightening the screw. I JB Welded it, but it broke again the next day when I tried again. So I JB Welded it again, but then built an epoxy putty support all around it. It's great now. But it still doesn't work, so I'm taking it back for the Kirby rebuilder guy to figure out.

Cardinals are in the World Series, much to everyone's surprise -- and they won the first game in Detroit -- much to everyone's surprise.

Last night didn't go so well. The sportscast and other sports press were trying to make a big thing out of something on Kenny Rogers' (the Detroit pitcher) hand in the first inning. He washed it off before the second, whatever it was. And whatever it was, he apparently didn't need it. Or he found a better way of hiding it. But you'd think that if there were any real suspicion, they would have checked his hands even after he washed the dark spot off.

You know, now that I'm thinking about it ... they said he had an ERA of 20 (that's really, really bad) earlier this year, and now he's pitched 22 or 23 scoreless innings in the playoffs & series. Quite the turnaround. A little suspicious. But turnarounds like that are what make the sport interesting. Overcoming challenges, bettering yourself.. I think the Cardinals showed a lot of class not making anything of it.

I don't expect them to win the series, but I hope they do.