what I did on vacation day 1

Yep, on two weeks vacation, and today was day one. Uncharacteristically, Scrappy actually left me sleep in, so no walk today. Don't bet on that repeating tomorrow. Got a message from son KC saying he calls Baltimore over Atlanta in the Super Bowl (the real one, that is.) I'll look into that in a bit. Laurie and I ended up going to Grabill days, which we missed last year because of my idiot leg. Grabill Days is always just a hair better than most of the area festivals because of the Amish influences, like the Souder store. Laurie picked up a bottle of raspberry jam there, and I got the obligatory fudge. We ran into my brother Tom (the oldest of my family), who I haven't seen in ages, and his whole family: wife Kathy, daughters Robin and Raine, and Raine's daughter Tori. Most of that music I like so much on time machine I learned to love with Rob and Raine. Rob was born 5 months after me, Raine a year and a half. (Yes, I've been an uncle my whole life, just about.) Amazingly enough, it was Tori- who hasn't seen me since she was 6, about 20 years ago- who picked me out of the crowd. Rob didn't even recognize me till I took my hat off- a slow building OMG moment.

After a couple of steakburgers (mine w/mushroom and swiss), we met up with Laurie's sister Mary and our friend Jackie and re-toured the stuff we looked at but didn't pay attention to the first time. The highlights were the metal detector/coin collector's booth (which is by the Fudergong, and scroll to the end of the post to find out what a Fudergong is) and the couple that melted glass bottles in a clay kiln to make artwork. There was also this guy who was a mushroom hunter and guide, who had a t-shirt I loved- "all mushrooms are edible- some only once". And the stone monument place that had the stone sign for your front porch-"ring bell/ if no answer, pull weeds".

We ended the tour with a stop at a garage sale at American Legion post 47 on St. Joe rd. You don't want to go by the Journal Gazzette's sale map here. It says Halter rd leads across a bridge to St Joe, but what it DOESN'T tell you is that for a quarter mile it is Clay st., then becomes Halter road for another quarter mile before t-ing into St. Joe. Gotta love our road-naming system in Allen county. If you can't find the road you're looking for, just stay on the one you're on till the name changes.

At any rate, we did find the sale, and I got a new pair of sunglasses (I've worn a pair with one arm for about 2 1/2 months), a pair of binoculars, and a military canteen for those aforementioned walks with Mr. Beagle. Then, as one might expect, came a well-deserved nap.

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Okay, let me look at the NFL. AFC east goes to New England, central will be Ravens with the Bengals making a wild card. South, uhmmmm... I'll go Colts, much as I hate to (I am not a Colt fan) and I'll call Tennesee for the other wild card. The west is a real mess. I'll say the Chargers sneak past the Raiders. Not sure if it matters who comes out of this, they'll get killed by the NFC in the Super Bowl. Uhmmmm.... I guess I'll follow my son and take Baltimore.

NFC: east goes easily to Dallas; central, I'll take Green Bay, with the Vikings edging upstart Detroit for a wild card. South will go to New Orleans with Atlanta grabbing the other wild card.

The west is a real mess. Where have I heard that before? I'll say that the 49ers will go 9-7 and win the division. I'm going to say that the winner of a Vikes-Saints rematch will beat Dallas in the conference championship, and go on to win the super bowl. Based on last night's game, right now I'll take New Orleans to repeat. Now, last year I had the Titans taking on the Cowboys, and Jeff Fischer managed to 0-8 me out of the running before half the season was gone. So, sorry, Drew.

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Fair fun found at the fudergong
By Steve Penhollow The Journal Gazette

Searching for an answer to just what exactly a “fudergong” is? Visit the Grabill Country Fair this year, and you’ll see for yourself.
Spend more than an hour at the Grabill Country Fair and you will become enamored of, perhaps obsessed with and possibly haunted by a single word.
Fudergong.
A confident voice comes over the PA system seemingly every five minutes or so entreating everyone to go to the fudergong.
Whether you previously wanted to go to a fudergong or not, you soon find yourself almost desperate to get there. But also apprehensive.
What in the name of all that’s Amish is a fudergong anyway?
Google the term and all you get is references to the Grabill Country Fair.
Try to translate it at various German- and Dutch-friendly language translation sites and you get bupkes.
It is, however, fairly easy to get a translation of bupkes.
I called the Grabill branch of the Allen County Public Library and spoke with a librarian by the name of Angela Fox. She consulted a couple of her fellow librarians.
“We’re not betting our lives on it, but we think it means ‘gathering place,’ ” she says. “Both of them said, ‘gathering place’ so either they’re sharing the same brain or it actually means that.”Later, Fox called Lynn Witt of Grabill Town Council fame. Witt had a more definitive answer.
“It’s from the German,” he said. “The person who named it said it was an eating place. Now you take your Amish, they translate it as the place where you walk in front of cows and horses, an area you walk down through and feed them.”
Witt’s not sure a more exacting translation is even necessary.
“Whenever you say, ‘Everybody meet here tonight at the fudergong, someone always says, “What the heck’s a fudergong?” ’ We know what it is out here, but strange people don’t.”
Don’t be a strange person.
Embrace the fudergong.