| It's July and Mom bought
a new really, really, really red car. I can be in the
front now because this one has a computerized seat that shuts the passenger
air bag off because I'm just a little guy. |
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| We love our
'Cruiser'.... |
This is Dale, he sold Mom the really
red car. He has a new puppy at home and likes dogs a lot! |
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We
are out racking up the miles on the new car...
I visited the City Park in
Amboy,
IL. They have lots of these cut outs. This was my favorite with
the animals and birds on it.
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| It's the 4th of July and
Mom and I are invited to a party. Johnny is there with his motor
home. |
 With
Johnny and Aunt Donna enjoying life under the awning. |
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It
go really hot and Johnny put me inside the
motor home with the air conditioner. Then
it rained!! We had a good time and enjoyed Johnny's hospitality and
having a place to stay out of the weather. |
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| Another
Saturday and Mom and I are touring again. This time we went to Grand
DeTour to see the John Deere Historical Site. It is the place where
Mr. Deere forged the first steel plow that would lead to the
John Deere Co. of today. Grand DeTour is named
because of the great bend in the Rock River. Indian lore has it
that the Rock River was so beautiful that it turned back in its course to
take a look at itself. Cool.
You learn
more about John Deere here! |
 This
is the replica of the blacksmith shop and a copy of the first plow. A
real blacksmith told us stories and showed us how to "forge" things... |
 Here
I am at the John Deere statue in the middle of the visitor's center.
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 They
have a great tour of his home and I posed in front of the gift shop.
We talked to a nice lady named Helen who worked there and even got to show
her our new PT Cruiser. |
 Grand
DeTour is just outside of Dixon. We have been there a lot lately and
love the arc. That is also where Ronald Regan was raised. We got
a lot of history in this area!
Also in Dixon is the only statue of President Lincoln
ever made with him in uniform. He was a soldier in the "Black Hawk
War" - Mom says we are going to learn more about Black Hawk this summer too. |
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It's
the following Saturday and Mom, Aunt Donna and I visit the
John Deer
Pavilion in Moline. Hard to believe all this started in that Grand
DeTour blacksmith shop! |
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Another Saturday and we are off!
This time we traveled with Sandy and saw Andover and
Bishop Hill, IL.
Both towns were settled in the 1800's by Swedish immigrants.
Sandy and I pose at one of the
historical marker in Bishop Hill. We toured buildings and went for a
walk in the park.
It was Sandy's birthday and we are happy we got to
celebrate it with her.
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| Bishop Hill had a lot of
interesting buildings from early and mid 1800's with furniture and tools
used by the
settlers. But, no micro-waves and no computers; how did
they cook or shop or plan trips? |
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This
is the Jenny Lind Chapel
in Andover. She was a famous Swedish singer and
donated most of the money for
the building. There was a really old cemetery right next to it and it
even had a soldier buried there from the war of 1812! I had my picture
taken next
to some of the monuments.
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The next day we got Grandma up
early and took off to see some of Iowa. |
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 Grandma
and me at the
World's Largest Iron Skillet in Brandon, IA. I wonder if they can
make treats in that pan? |
On the way home we stopped
in Dyersville, Iowa and I had my picture taken in front of the house from
the movie "Field of Dreams"
- there were lots of kids there too!
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 It
is August and we have a full schedule this month: Here we are with Kathy at
the Mississippi Valley Fair in Davenport, IA. You won't believe all I saw
and all the people I got to meet. We are checking our schedule
and planning our day. I am even going to see a cat show! |
  A
whole barn of just bunnies. They got my full attention... And a
new friend called a goat. I also saw cows and pigs and lots of
different types of horses. We watched all kinds of shows and even an
apple peeling contest.
What fun! |
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Jeep had this big display with logs,
a pond and a mountain you could drive over and test their vehicles.
Kathy went and even got a t-shirt. |
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OK
- so maybe we did not
really understand what a "Cat Show" was all
about. He is looking at me like I'm going to be his personal squeaky
toy!.. or lunch!!\ |
Here
I am with some new friends. The "Really Tall Guy" and
James Hardesty.
James is a DJ with B-100 Radio.
He gave me a sticker for my vest and
we got to talk with him for a while.
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At the end
of the day we watched the judging of the
Belgium Horses. There were 11
teams that came from the mid-west
and 2 from Canada to be here. |
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The horses pull beautiful carts and
come into the arena first in teams of two, then three, then four and
then six! AND, take a look, they wear bows when they get
groomed, just like me!
Life is good for a Shih Tzu in the mid-west. |
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I go to
Lamb's Farm with our friend Gail. It's in Libertyville, north
of Chicago. They have an area where you
can meet animals and we went for a train ride too. They have a bakery,
a pet shop and a nice restaurant where Mom and Gail had lunch. |
 Here
is Gail with llamas and here is a real lamb! They had horses,
pigs, goats, chickens and turkeys.
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This
animal looks familiar! |
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| The next week-end Mom and I took Grandma for lunch in Bishop Hill
and drove over to see the grave of
Norma Jean Elephant
in Oquawka, IL. She was hit by lightening in 1972 while performing
there and they buried her right where she fell!! It's a
nice tombstone for what I'm sure was a nice lady elephant. |
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Three of my friends at work have new
puppies! Here is Terry and "Macy" - She is a Pomapo and
looks like a little teddy bear. Macy is very small and very sweet and
she goes to puppy kindergarten.. Go Macy!!
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