A Spring Mill Suprise

Don’t tell my wife, but I may have hijacked this picture from her!  Mum’s the word on this one…..OK!
 

Let’s begin with a quick rant on stupid holidays.  Valentine’s Day……dumb, I’m sure just a cheap money grab for some diva who didn’t get a large enough diamond ring one year.  Don’t give me the revisionist history version of it, if a divaish woman wasn’t behind it, my name isn’t Gary!  I would make a case for Halloween being up there on the stupidity list, but I don’t need a vigilante gang of kids beaning me with candy, and costume parties are pretty fun!  Actually forget I said that about Halloween, the premise is stupid (in my opinion) but I just spent part of the day (with my daughter and wife) turning our front porch into a masterpiece!  The fact that Columbus Day is still a freaking federal holiday is just downright stupid.  

Kids will be peeing their pants come Halloween when they approach our abode!  

Here is what you get taught about Chris Columbus, he led an expedition of three ships from Europe.  Although Italian by birth he sailed under the Spanish flag. Landed in the Caribbean and discovered North America.  For this, he is a freaking hero.  This dude and his crew gutted more Native Americans than a herd of rabid buffaloes!  Since we live an uber PC society these days, I’m still dumbfounded I am not able to receive fan mail every year on Columbus Day because, as I said it’s still a freaking federal holiday!  Ok, rant over, moving right along.

Interesting times here at the Realm this past weekend.  For what seemed like the first time in weeks the clouds became drunk on water vapor and decided to vomit all over my little neck of the woods.  That would mean rain of course.  It would turn out to a minor nuisance (or major if your yard is well past due for some serious grooming), in an otherwise glorious weekend.

Thanks to the arrival of fall break (another stupid idea…but I digress), it is dad’s week this year according to the state of Indiana.  Since my daughter is a Girl Scout, her troop delayed me for a day so she could go earn her thrill seeker badge at Kings Island with her fellow cookie peddlers last Saturday.  I have a roller coaster enthusiast in the making now and looking forward to taking her up on it next year.  I thank my lucky stars every day that I’m the dominant gene provider in her upbringing!  Devilishly good looks, and now a penchant for roller coasters.  True story, I watched her “other” parent walk out of a roller coaster exhibit in tears, BEFORE WE EVEN BOARDED, as for the looks department…….hey, my wife says I’m cute!

Instead of attending the festivities at Kings Island (logistic nightmare and #notcheap), Miss Madison and I took the stepkids to a far away place in the annals of Indiana history.  Way back in the early 1800s some settlers founded a little plot of land that would eventually one day become Spring Mill State Park located in historic Mitchell, Indiana, more on that in a sec.  Once a thriving village made famous for its cornmeal production (corn-Indiana…a match made in heaven), by the end of the century it had become abandoned until it was restored during the Great Depression into a charming recreation of its original self.  There isn’t one kid alive in southern Indiana that doesn’t remember his or her first field trip to see the famous Limestone Grist Mill that still grinds out fresh cornmeal on a daily basis.  

I was a tad ticked off that the famous water mill wasn’t in operation this day, of course, it was about closing time.

These days it’s known more as a campground for the RV (recreation vehicle Kentuckian) circuit and about this time every year they turn it into a regular “haunted campgrounds” for some Halloween fun for kids of all ages.  The yearly Haunted Village was going down this past weekend and thankfully Miss Madison and I had a wannabe rocker and S.W.A.T. officer as protection in case any zombie pumpkins decided to get rowdy with us.

This ghost apparently saw my checking account!

As an added bonus we had our buddies join us for the event.  Everything was going fine and dandy, kids were stuffing bags with treats like they stole them, local dentists were passing out cards instead of candy, and then all of a sudden Mother Nature flipped us the finger and decided she would literally rain on our parade.    

Miss Madison Jr. got to learn some quality 1980’s music courtesy of me since I compared her to a young Madonna.  If you don’t think I was humming Material Girl the whole time then you obviously don’t know me!

This ghost saw how much fun I was having, or he was giggling at me being soaking wet from the rain.

As for Mitchell, Indiana, located in Lawrence County, Indiana (population of just over 40,000) did you know that county has put three men into space?  The most famous being Gus Grissom, who was a native of Mitchell, and unfortunately burned up on the launch pad of Apollo 1.  Even though he was a Purdue University graduate, this loyal Indiana University fan has plenty of respect for one our most famous native sons.  I would be a complete douche though if I didn’t mention Kenneth Bowersox and Charles D. Walker, the latter being the first non-government employee in space.  By the end of my blogging reign I’m hoping all loyal readers could pass an Indiana history quiz!

My daughter arrived Sunday safe and sound and now kicks off a week of non-stop entertainment with her.  Since she adapts pretty well to her surroundings, she already has plenty of friends in my home area even though she is here not nearly as much as I’d like.  This past Sunday would be no different as she and Miss Madison Jr. were off to a birthday party as soon as she got to town.

She has missed our trusty steed Karma so much, she decided to brush her teeth for her.  

About it for now, again as I mentioned it’s “dad” week in Indiana in the fall break fun.  So it’s just Sloane, me, and Miss Madison to recreate the rules of fun.  Miss Madison Jr. and the Turtle Man will be back next week, but in the meantime, we get to show Sloane how we roll.  Next up, Miss Madison promised to take Sloane to this mystical world known as…………………Costco!