Iced Tea Forever

You never know when a new word is going to whap you upside the head. Today my Mom used the word “ecru” and my wife didn’t even bat an eye.

I said, “Wait a minute, WHAT did you say !!”

My wife and mother-in-law knew what it was, I had never heard the word in my life. It means light brown or something.

I wasn’t alone, though, so that made me feel better. My father-in-law had never heard it either, and he’s been around a LOT longer than I have!!

I finally updated the home page of AHQ’s website. I hope Keith is happy. That’s who I refer to in the opening paragraph.

Speaking of farming, take a look at my new desktop. It’s sure too bad I have so many icons on there messing things up. But at least I’m not the mess that Hans is!

Thanks to my buddy Stanny for this great Utopian pic. Stanny took most of the Snow Peak shots I use for ITF headers now, you know.

I wish I could drive tractor again, that’s my favorite farm thing to do. I used to be a farmer, you know.

These goofy shoes called Crocs have become a big thing lately. Aptly named, I say, they are a crock! Expensive or not (and they are), they’re still just goofy ugly plastic shoes.

There’s certainly no guessing what the next fad will be, is there? Who would have thought you would be able to sell chintzy-looking fifty-cent shoes for thirty bucks a pair?! Amazing.

But people are just adamant what a wonderful “shoe” they are, and can wax eloquent on and on the myriad reasons why. That’s great, I guess, but at the end of the day they’re still just a garish plastic shoe.

Women go for any kind of shoe, I’m guessing they’re the driving force behind the success of the croc. I personally know at least one man who thinks they’re wonderful, but really, I’ll bet that women are vastly responsible for the croc craze.

Note: I did not get my wife’s approval of this post. Hopefully she won’t see it.

My buddy Brandon Mullet does a men’s chorus weekend every year. I was privileged to participate a couple of years ago when he held it in Indianer. I wasn’t able to make it last year, but this year I’m going to PA (at Faith Builders) to sing with the chorus once again.

Brandon’s a great guy and a great director, it’s fun and challenging to sing under him.

I’m riding out this Friday morning with my buddy Trell and his wife, unfortunately Jewel has to work this weekend.

They’re out to get you. Anybody here listen to Clark Howard? Does the name “Bank of America” bring any stories to mind?!

I regard banks as if they were caged vipers, just waiting for a chance to destroy me. Well, maybe it’s not quite that bad, but I’m very cautious. They usually stick it to you any way they can. So far I’m real happy with our loan officer though, I have feelings of gentle benevolence towards that bank.

After we got married we closed my wife’s checking account. I was not impressed with that particular bank at all, and breathed a sigh of relief when all ties had been cut. Today we got a piece of mail from them.

Inside was a “certificate” that said, “Present this coupon at any of our locations and receive a free mouse pad with our Thanks.”

I couldn’t believe it! They’re giving away mouse pads! Ha ha ha!! I hope their generosity doesn’t get away from them!

Do people still use mouse pads? I haven’t used one in ages. And if they do, what do they cost? Fifty cents?!

And they capitalized “Thanks.” Weird.

Needless to say, it’s going to take a lot more than a mouse pad for them to sucker me in.икони

I’ve never liked the artwork on CLP materials. It always seemed really elementary or something, at least to me. Maybe that’s changed though, I don’t know.

But especially thinking of their Sunday school quarterlies, I never thought they looked like much at all.

However, we got this last one, and I was impressed! I thought, wow, that’s the best looking cover on anything I’ve seen from CLP! They used an actual photograph, that’s very rare.

And it seemed somehow familiar to me.

I looked at it and thought, “I know what that looks like.” I dug around on my computer for some pictures, and sure enough. I was right.

It’s a shot of an arbor at the Biltmore Estate. I took this picture from the opposite end of the arbor, but there’s no doubt that it’s the same location.

When Mrs. ITF and I were on our honeymoon, we took one day and visited the Biltmore Estate. We had both wanted to see the place, and we really weren’t that far away, so we made the extra drive down there.

This place is nothing short of astounding!

At 175,000 sqare feet, it’s the largest privately owned home in the United States.b

I thought about this a lot while we were there. I’m all for raging capitalism and prosperity, but I can’t imagine people spending such a staggering amount of money on themselves. It’s unreal.

I love tourist attractions like this. We had a great time.

The grounds were enormous also. There was a huge garden, greenhouses, a lake, and who-knows-what else.