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What word do people in your state misspell most often?
click to enlarge this image to see better.
For Missouri it is Maintenance and in Illinois it is Appreciate.
I find this very odd. But I can understand the problem people in Indiana have with the word, Hallelujah while also wondering why so many there use this word. A couple states have problems with Beautiful.
Funnier is New York state. Their troublesome word is Sauerkraut.
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The mattresses had a great go last week, with more falling on local roadways than we might have believed possible. They jumped way ahead of ladders. But now it looks like ladders are trying to make up some ground. As of this morning:
Mattresses 73
Ladders 57
Ladders had been holding at 55 for some time now.
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Late yesterday afternoon while heading back to St. Louis from Wood River, we were on 255 about half a mile from the 55/70 entrance when all of a sudden we saw an amazing sky.
I took a picture (Dale was driving) because this was really something to see. But then as we drove a little further we saw what we were sure was smoke.
We had a short piece of time to debate whether someone had been burning tires or maybe a field fire because the smoke quickly covered much more of the highway in front of us. But then everything changed and it became obvious that this was no fire, it was a powerful wind which was picking up the top soil of the farms on the west side of the highway.
This fast became very scary. The wind was so strong Dale had a hard time holding the car in our lane. Brake lights on the vehicles in front of us came on and many attempted to pull over onto the side. Most of us were just trying to drive through this, but the wind was so strong we were sure there must have been a tornado somewhere close. Then blinding rain came down and added to the situation. We had to make a decision as to whether to pull over or keep going and when we got to the 55/70 entrance we kept going and hoped for the best. The worst was over when we finally got to 111 but not great until we were past Busch Stadium.
The local weather people weren't much help on the radio, they seemed to not be aware of this so it must have been isolated along the southwest part of Collinsville and 255. I don't want to go through anything like this again, that is for sure.
This was a far cry from this great cloud which accompanied us most of the way home from Kansas City on Sunday.
Much friendlier and almost comical the way it just traveled with us.
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Today is Memorial Day and there is some history to the origins of this day to place its beginnings with the Civil War. In 1868, "General John Logan, Commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, issued a proclamation calling for "Decoration Day" to be observed annually and nationwide. It was observed for the first time that year on Saturday May 30; the date was chosen because it was not the anniversary of any particular battle. According to the White House, the May 30 date was chosen as the optimal date for flowers to be in bloom.
We spent the weekend in St. Joseph Missouri and Kansas City and while in St. Joe we climbed to the top of a bluff overlooking the Missouri River and walked around a forgotten Civil War fort. While it's difficult to picture Civil War troops in that place during those years, it was of particular interest to generals during that war.
Fort Smith, named after Colonel Robert F. Smith, was erected in late September 1861 as a safeguard against conflicting armies battling on either side of the state line. With the strong possibility of battles reaching St. Joseph, Colonel Smith stood ready with his 2,500 troops and 12 cannon poised atop the newly created fortification on Prospect Hill.
Kansas was a Union and Missouri was a state with conflicted loyalties and the Missouri River was important in getting supplies and troops moved. The fear was the confederates could take hold of that area and really wreak havoc.
"St. Joseph was seen as a strategic stronghold during the Civil War. The city in northwest Missouri was considered a gateway to the west via railroads, central location for pioneers headed west and a port on the Missouri River."
And so there was built Fort Smith and the remnants stand up high above downtown St. Joe. No parts of an actual fort survive but the outlines of the ramparts, lower wall, and some cannons are in place. It's easy to see what a good vantage point this was, anyone attempting to scale the sides to reach the fort were in for some tough footing and would have been easily seen. When you look down toward the Missouri river on the west you can see Kansas.
This cannon had markings from 1862
The small munitions shed is all that is left of the original structures.
You can see how high up this place was by how carefully Dale was looking around
Canons facing the river
There is Kansas beyond the river.
At the bottom of the picture above you can see an attempt by St. Joe to create walking paths along the river, but so far there is no indication many people take advantage of it as they do in other river cities.
Three poles which at one time held flags.
Part of downtown St. Joseph.
An interesting place to see historically.
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US border agents in New Mexico confiscated 30 rolls of Mexican bologna this week. Now that's a story you wouldn't expect. And this is just the latest shipment. It seems Mexican bologna is a prohibited product with the potential for introducing foreign animal diseases into the U.S. pork industry.
But still the fact that someone would smuggle in bologna from Mexico means someone here wants it and that is my LOL for the day.
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No mattress fell on STL roadways today but the ladder decided to pick up its pace.
Mattresses 73
Ladders 56
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The headline on this story says, "Millennials are fueling new growth in Recreational Vehicle sales." This surprised me since most RV's are driven by retirees who own huge RV's pulling the personal car behind. Not young adults. "But even more encouraging for the industry is the age of the buyers. Sales are being largely driven by younger enthusiasts seeking cheap, versatile vacation travel, not just retirees looking to tour the country in motor homes."
They aren't buying the huge RV's however, they're going for the travel trailer type which type I had to look up. They are most often pulled by a pick-up truck or strong car. Travel trailers are said to be easier to use than motor homes and two or three times less expensive, but still big enough to hold pets, people, and do some cooking.
We most likely won't be buying any type of RV but I do love the RV's pictured with this story. I've always loved the sleek, shiny, metal tube.
I can understand how this would often be more livable than hotels.
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Amazon certainly does not rest on its laurels. They've been ahead of the game on shopping for many years now. Beginning with books, digital books, and then everything under the sun, Amazon is the place to buy stuff.
Now they have opened two drive-up grocery stores in Seattle. They're testing this in Seattle but if it proves to be popular you can bet we'll see them all over the country before long. The idea is you order your groceries on Amazon's site and then go pick them up some time later. You don't have to get out of your car, there are designated "drive-up" parking places where a license plate reader signals that you've arrived, and your groceries are brought out to your car.
Wow, I'm just as interested in the very idea of a license plate reader than drive-up groceries. We're able to be identified everywhere these days folks. And, I'm curious as to whether this will be as well received as the latest local grocery store home delivery system which Schnucks, Dierbergs, and Shop N Save have going.
If you go to the link the video at the top of the page has nothing to do with the story. The story is below the video box.
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Each day brings one more mattress hitting the roadways around here.
Mattresses 73
Ladders 55
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