Monthly Archives: August 2012

It wasn’t on my bucket list, so I added it just so I could check it off: Drive the whole entire length of I-65. Is that cheating, to add stuff after you’ve done it? (I kinda think so.)

This past extra-long weekend, we drove from here to Kentucky to fetch Miss Gigi, then on to Mobile, Alabama, to salute our family’s newest Eagle Scout, nephew Trevor. Recognizing his achievement was absolutely the cherry on a very soul-satisfying southern-style sundae.

When we drive anywhere, we compete to spot hawks. We’ve actually spotted a cool 40 hawks in one trip from the lake to Chicago. Oddly, we spotted only three hawks on this very, very long road trip.

But the Eagle was awesome!

This is my Mr. Mixit. Well, he was our Mr. Mixit, shared by the three of us at Mar Mar and Granddaddy’s house.

But he lives with me now, full-time. No weekends or holidays for Bucky and Monty. You fill him with milk, ice cream, and chocolate syrup, and then push-push-push down on his hat, and he mixes you a milkshake! (That hole in the corner of his mouth is for a straw.)

Mr. Mixit hangs out on our kitchen counter with the Jim Beam Bartender, who is shaking up something award-winning for the 1973 International Cocktail Championship. Bartender guy is also from Mar Mar and Granddaddy’s house, but he wasn’t shared by Bucky, Monty, and me. And I wasn’t even going to bring him home with me, but my friend Melissa advised me to keep at least one of my Granddaddy’s Beam bottles. I thank you, Melissa. And Mr. Mixit thanks you.

Well, one day, a long time ago, my friend + colleage = frolleague Debbie and I went to the Sandwich, Illinois, antiques fair. Neither of us could afford much, but we sure enjoyed poking around and talking about stuff we love. Turns out, Debbie was mourning the loss of her beloved Mr. Mixit, who disappeared from her grandparents’ house when their estate was sorted out. Gosh, I came close to giving her mine. But instead, I resolved to find another one for her.

So for 20-odd years, I’ve kept an eye out for another Mr. Mixit, at every antique mall, junk market, and garage sale that I’ve been to. And I have been to a lot.

O happy day! Debbie’s sweetie just found a Mr. Mixit! And gave it to her for her birthday! Her Mr. Mixit hangs out in her office. So I decided that last Friday was Bring Your Mr. Mixit to Work Day.

They were so surprised to meet face to face! Neither knew he was a twin!

Back in the early summer, when hummingbirds are known to arrive for the season, we hung this feeder off the crow’s nest deck (the deck that’s really, really high up and overlooks the lake).

The hummingbirds were pretty fun to sight — once in a while.

But now, apparently there is a hummingbird version of  Gangs of New York going on. Humming-gangs of Raccoon Lake. Over the past few months, six or eight of the little guys (humming-girls don’t act like this) have discovered the feeder and now claim it as their own turf. From sun-up to sun-down, they swarm and fight over the feeder,  zipping and squeaking at each other. And hardly any of them actually gets time to sip. Sheesh.

I can’t even read, for all of their attitude. And in addition, these little spitfires are now attacking our American flag, the red deck chairs, and the red party lights down at the summer kitchen. I wore a pink sun-dress yesterday, and just about killed one when it “attacked” me, by reflex-swatting at it with my Kindle.

But the funniest part about all of this? On our to-bring list, I wrote to bring more feeders, so there’s more territory to spread around. And that makes me a crazy hummingbird lady. And for the last 20 years in publishing, I’ve rolled my eyes at the customers who buy hummingbird notecards, fridge notepads, journals, and calendars. Don’t these people have anything better to do, than think about hummingbirds?

Hm. No. Why should we?