Lest this blog become a laundry list of our activities while here in Indiana (woke up, went to Starbucks, got groceries, went to the pool….),  I will digress just a bit on Day 2 to tell you about two of the….oddest?  billboards we saw on our drive in Wednesday afternoon.   We had crossed the Indiana border and I had just subjected my kids to my traditional singing of “Back Home Again in Indiana”.   We were coming up on the exit to Cambridge City (not really a city, but a very quaint town with lots of antique shops), traveling fast on Interstate 70 when I saw a massive bald eagle gracing a billboard with a waving U.S. flag in the background and it said, “America, Bless God.”   Huh?  In smaller type at the bottom it said it was paid for by the Tea Party.    Is it just me, or is this entreaty really the height of arrogance?   Bless God?   Does God need our blessings?   For what?    Seriously.  These people think an awful lot of themselves.

Before I had time to completely digest the Bless God ad, I saw one that topped it.   This one said, “Pre-planning is fun!”  and beneath it was a picture of a man dressed in a suit who looked like he had just burst out of the top of a cake, except instead of a cake, it was a coffin.   Yes, you read that right.  A COFFIN!   Hey people!   Planning your funeral is as much fun as jumping out of a sugary dessert!   I think ‘fun’ might be stretching it just a little.    Maybe thoughtful?  Or considerate?  Sure, so that relatives can focus on grieving and won’t have to make decisions about coffins. (Silk or polyester lining?  Airtight seal guarantee for 5 or 15 years?   And how do you go about checking that guarantee, again?)   But fun?

And now, a word about bugs.  We are in the country.  There are bugs.   My kids do not like bugs.   They are city children.   Bugs = roaches and roaches are bad.   Ben has the added bonus of having been stung on his head by a bee a few years ago.   He has never forgotten it, and all winged creatures from horse flies to gnats fall under ‘bee’ suspicion.   Being on the farm,  I seem to spend an inordinate amount of time identifying and then removing bugs from swings, bikes, chairs, the ground in front of their feet – you get the idea.  I keep hoping the bug-phobia will wear off the more time we spend here.

Not going to hold my breath.

Finally, the kids made videos this evening.   Nothing atypical about that, but Ben made one about how grass makes him happy, which had Mom and I in stitches.   He, of course, was talking about actual grass and was oblivious to the other type of grass that might make someone happy.     Once edited, I will be posting it here for your viewing enjoyment.

Till then.