1) Traffic was starting to build up when I left the office at noon Friday. When we stopped off at Wal-Mart last night about 9:30 on the way back from Baraboo, it was so crowded we decided to skip it and go back this morning. All the tourists had arrived and moved into their campgrounds or their rented condos and were stocking up for the weekend. From now until after Labor Day, our quiet little semi-burg will be a hotbed of activity and the parking lots will have plates from Iowa, Minnesota, Illinois and the Dakotas almost as much as from Wisconsin.2)Tom has been doing some pro bono computer work for the Screnocks and Joe offered to give him some compost consisting largely of sheep... predigested organic residue? -- for the yard and garden. Tom said he thought he was working for s___ before, but this was the first time he was actually getting paid in it. Anyway, he went over to get a truckload of that this morning while I put in a couple of hours editing Vinko's dissertation. I completed the editing of the first 41 pages and now have to finish putting the changes into the computer and emailing them to him in Boston. Hope to finish that off by noon tomorrow. (See paragraph 4 below.)
3) We had our official beginning-of-summer dinner tonight. Tom cooked pork chops and corn on the cob. I have never seen people eat as much pork as they do in Wisconsin. I guess it's the German influence. Tom's folks on both sides came over from Germany back in the 1840s. The corn on the cob was the first of the season for us, and I love it. Of course, in deference to my doctor I no longer roll it around in butter but instead pour extra virgin olive oil on it -- not one impure thought among these olives -- and sprinkle liberally with pepper. I need to have my teeth cleaned immediately afterwards. You'd think with all the big gaps between my teeth, nothing would get caught in there, but corn manages to do so.
4) Peggy called this afternoon to invite us to a cookout at their place tomorrow afternoon. Rich's family is coming down, and his mother has taken a great liking to Tom and one of his nieces has taken a shine to me. Peggy finds her in-laws a challenge, and we were first invited over as a buffer when they visited last Thanksgiving. She was delighted to discover that we were a sufficient distraction to invite back. For Thanksgiving I took a traditional green bean casserole, which may be why she assured us we didn't need to bring anything this time.
5) If the weather holds up, Monday morning we will go to the Wisconsin Dells Memorial Day Parade and the program at Bowman Park, which the local paper indicates will include "an invocation by Legion Chaplin, Maurice Delmore Jr., [Michael's note: I assume this is a typo and that Mr. Delmore is the chaplain, not a mustachioed cane-swinging comic] the raising of the flag by Scouts, the National Anthem, Pledge of Allegiance, a musical selection, introductions of Legion Vice Commander Bob Alvin, Legion Auxiliary President Doris Randall and VFW Auxiliary President Angie Warnecke, an address by Gary Cooper, [Michael's note: I assume it is a different Gary Cooper] a 
musical selection, closing prayer, a tribute to fallen comrades of a minute of silence, the firing squad salute to fallen comrades and Taps." The most touching part of the program last year was the reading of the names of all the local military personnel who died in wars beginning with the Civil War. For all those who died in World War I and after, they included a brief biography. It was the sort of thing that can probably only happen in a small town where many of the families of those who died are still around. (I probably should not mention that one of Tom's ancestors who is buried in the local cemetery was a veteran of the War of Yankee Aggression and served under a certain General Sherman, so I won't.)
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