Vertigo reared its ugly head yesterday, and I stayed in the house, not even stepping out once. I did type up two of the revised transcribed letters from our Civil War uncle, but sitting at the dining room table typing isn't ideal as I was lower typing higher...now does that make sense? However, I did get two done!

Then Dick regaled me for about two to three hours with stories about his two years in the U.S. Marine Corps. He tells good stories, and we were both laughing most of the time. He did some funny, funny stuff, but was well regarded by his officers and the men in his group.

John came over and we had pizza. Tara came over later. We have been trying to find the Civil War Letters of James B. Williams, whose father was William Williams, our great great grandfather. Dick has been looking for them since I have been here, to no avail. So John starts looking, but he too came up with nothing. When it comes to throwing things out, Dick is hilarious. He goes through the bookcase, and then puts everything back just where it was before. He went through the dining room buffet, found all kinds of things, like wrapping paper, decorative plates that he doesn't know where they came from, etc. Then, after looking at everything, he says, that goes to a yard sale, that stays here, throws out things like old bags, etc., then puts everything back as it was! So John started going through the same buffet, and Dick did the same things, although Casey was the recipient of about ten sets of kid's paper birthday plates, still wrapped.

However, James' Civil War Letters have yet to be found. And I can attest to the fact that Dick has been in every nook and cranny of the living room, dining room, his bedroom, the bedroom I am in. He just says "they're here somewhere?" You have to understand that my brother is a pack rat, and has been one since he was born. He is three years older than I, but I can remember as a kid, mom and others calling him a pack rat. Buttercup, the pack rat!

As I said in an earlier post, ethanol is big business here. A solutions to the waste product has been solved by drying the used corn, called dried feed, which the Chinese are importing by the millions of bushels. The one out of Nevada has also planted a field of wire grass to see how much ethanol can be produced out of one field.

There is a huge Barilla pasta plant at the corner of I35 and old US 30 (Lincoln Highway) which we take directly from Nevada to Ames. Dick related that Barilla executives went to a farm on that corner and talked to the farmer, wanting to know how much yield he got from his corn and soybeans, and how much acreage he had. Then they offered to buy the farm, building, acreage, and pay him twice the price he would get for everything. The farmer then asked for a ranch style house to be built for his son on an acre of land. They agreed. The executives then went to another farmer who was planting corn or soybeans in the field adjacent to the first farmer. They offered him twice what he would get for his product and for his land also. He agreed. Now mind you the crop was up and thriving, but not ready to be picked. The very next day bulldozers came in and took down the house, barns, etc., bulldozed the fields, and construction began for the Barilla plant! On an acre land further north on I35, a ranch house was built for the son. Amazing what money can do! Barilla pasta is now being made in Ames, Iowa! Look for it on your shelves.

Rain has been falling off and on for the past few days, mostly at night, and is much needed here. Everything is very green, and the crops are doing very well. Big John Deere machinery goes back and forth along Lincoln Way (where Dick lives), getting cleaned and readied for the season - huge corn pickers, etc. And, the corn will be as high as an elephant's eye by the Fourth of July!

Is anyone as pissed off as I am about the BP Gulf Oil Spill??? No one should be buying BP gas. There should be a total boycott. When I saw the picture of the pelican covered in oil, my anger reached a higher level. BP needs to be brought to their knees, and then thrown into all that oil. Let those execs find out what it is like! The tragedy here is beyond imagination - all for the almighty dollar!

Going to Ames today to get some covers for the copies of my book, so at least the story won't be damaged in sending to my family. I also need to start cleaning out my car, and repacking it and myself, before Monday morning rolls around and nothing has been done.

Adieu, Adios, Mahalo,
Love you all,
Sally