What route are you taking? I frequently drive from Portland to Iowa/Minnesota, so I can help with the I-80 vs. I-94 vs. I-90 leg of the trip.

Well said. I was talking to one of my middle schoolers about this the other day. We both agreed that our state government finally stepped its game up. Yay Oregon!

Mr. MRob and I are usually up north during the state fair (woot for Leech Lake!). Enjoy the KCCW festivities for us.

Late to the party on this, and only semi-related: When Mr. MRob and I got married my mother, a former French teacher, insisted upon us using the phrasing "married with" on our invitations. It's articles like this that make me appreciate her, prescience isn't the word I'm looking for, but you get it. She suggested…

Mr. MRob and I had a small-ish reception in my parent's backyard for my hometown party (we got married in Montana, I'm from Iowa, he's from Minnesota). It was great. We had pulled pork sandwiches. My mom made her awesome mastaccioli pasta salad. There was beer and wine aplenty. Good times were had by all. It was so…

Mr. MRob has an old Apple keyboard that's the same way. I call it the clickety clacker because I can hear him two rooms away when he's using it.

Nope, Portland. :) The few times I've used chicken I've been skunked. I have been saving my fish heads and other fish scraps in my freezer. They have worked pretty well so far. I haven't tried mink either, but everyone in Newport/Waldport swears by it.

You want a terrible crabbing story?! Remember last September when we had that awful multi-day rain storm with high winds? I was crabbing off of the public dock in Newport. It was some of the best crabbing I've done. Never in my life have I been so thankful for waterproof pants and a military surplus raincoat.

I've never gone crabbing Florence. Is there a public dock? I usually go in Newport and have had good look. Also, mink or chicken for bait?

My Costco has alternated between having their employees covers their tattoos, to letting them show, back to covering them again. I have to wonder what the corporate policy is for things like that.

Shit. Why am I always late to this party. Mr. MRob and I had a friend of ours going that treacle was mined, and that the miners were a special breed of burrowing sheep. You know, sheep that burrow underground to get out of the rain.

Socks are perfect! My socks with holes/no mate go into the rag bin for all sorts of uses—dusting being the usual candidate.

...and I was born in 1978 and never had a male babysitter. Who knows about their timeline. And, as with a lot of research, there is probably an urban/rural divide. In my part of Iowa, my male classmates were expected to be in the fields during most of the year to help plant/harvest/walk beans/etc.

There was article over on The Atlantic last summer that detailed the history of male babysitters. I found it to be pretty enlightening as I only knew one guy in my small town who babysat (not a very large sample size, my hometown is tiny).

Don't Fear the Male Babysitter

Right? Is she the next Elizabeth Taylor (think marriages, not talent)?

...and Paris Hilton.

I don't know what it was about him. Was it the stringy hair? Was it the bike shorts? I just remember watching the November Rain video a lot.

Ugh. I used to live in a high rise apartment building with several forgetful tenants. I can't tell you how many times the fire department got called because someone left a dish towel on their stove or food in the oven. Thankfully the building was mostly concrete. I quit going outside after about 3 months.

Twenty years ago I would have answered with Axl Rose. Now, hmmm, I'm going to have to think about it.

Are you a current GH watcher? What's your take on this whole Robin you have to bring back the Cassadines storyline, and who will be the Jason recast?