A mish-mash of things

Gotta feel for Juan Pablo Montoya. Two years in a row he had the car to beat at the Brickyard 400, and he has little to show for it. Last year, a pit road speeding penalty cost him the win. This year, a bad call on pit road by his crew chief cost him. Someday, Juan will get his first win on an oval track in NASCAR, he's just too good a driver not to.

RAGBRAI went through town yesterday. Lots of bikers. Loads of fun for both riders and towns folk. Maybe someday I'll give it a try. Hmmm.... maybe not.

Newell-Fonda girls placed second at the Girl's State Softball tournament for the second straight year. Three trips in three years, with one win and two seconds. Pretty darn good softball program they have in those two little towns. Hopefully next year will be another win.

I've been letting my older cat, Shadow, wander around outside this summer. She's was an outdoor cat before I adopted her, so I can trust her to not wander off too far. This weekend, I decided to let my youngest, Coal, experience the great outdoors. He's almost three years old and the closest he's gotten to outside was laying in the window. After some gentle nudging to get him out the door, he spent the first half hour sitting on the front stoop, checking things out and freaking out at every sound. So, I brought him back in, and for the next half hour had to listen to him cry and whine at the door wanting back out. So, I went out with him and he actually ventured out into the yard, then got bold and started to head around to the back of the house..... Wait a minute, I'm starting to sound just like the things I hate most: a Tweet.

Anyway, that's all for now. "Til next time....