God Bless America!

That's what I thought this afternoon driving out of town on my way home from work today. Why, you ask? Gas only costs $2.36 per gallon today! That computes to just under 60 American cents per liter. It's been dropping every day now for weeks, and I am amazed that even under $2.50, it's still dropping. Gas prices haven't been this low in years, have they? I don't know, since I haven't really cared about gas prices for the last years due to the fact of a) not having a car and b) not wanting one anyway and c) living somewhere where it didn't matter, at least in my humble opinion. But now that I am a real American again and drive a total of at least 50 miles to work and back every single day, I am thrilled that the economy is doing terribly and I can buy cheap gas again!

In other news, the "Obama's going to win" buzz is still circulating, even in these parts. We'll see what happens next Tuesday. I can't wait to go vote!!

Michigan's Fall Colors




















































The leaves are mostly off now, but this is how it looked about 2 weeks ago in northern Gladwin County and in Roscommon County. The colors were very intense, now there are just some rust colored and brown leaves still hanging on. And of course all of the boring old pine trees are still green.

My Halloween Pumpkins

A favorite fall pastime: carving pumpkins.



















The Professor























Pukey


















Meow!























The Village Idiot.

A quick update

Due to my lack of a home internet connection, I'm not posting any pictures right now, though I have a few I'd like to share...of political posters and other assorted interesting/funny/curious cultural stuff. But as soon as we have our internet connection ironed out, I'll get those up.
It seems mud bogging is not as beloved as I once thought, it is actually scorned. We had some of our neighbors over for dinner Friday night, and two of them are the ones that sold Lloyd the mud bogger his property. He is not well liked in the neighborhood, actually, he seems to be quite disliked due to his mud bog. It's an eyesore that none of the more cultivated neighbors can appreciate.

In other news, the campaign for president is in full swing. I seem to be living in McCain country, as confirmed by the neighbors who were over for dinner and all of the signs around Beaverton and Midland. There are lots of Obama supporters too, but McCain seems to have the upper hand here. We'll see what happens at the beginning of November, I can't wait to find out.

Mud bogg 2nite Lloyd's 38th

Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of that dandy spray painted sign out by the road just around the corner of my house, but tonight there is a mud bog event in my neighborhood. Apparently because it's Lloyd's 38th birthday. For the uninitiated, mud boggin' is a favorite pastime of rural folk. Basically, you flood a field, creating the muddy "bog" and get all your friends with big jacked up, rigged up trucks with big tires and four-wheel drive to come and drive in the mud. Yeah, that's it. I don't know how this can be fun or entertaining, but it sure is for my neighbors, and for lots of other people around here.

By the way, I had a dream that I came back to Dresden for the weekend and didn't want to return to the United States on Sunday. That's pretty close to reality.